SYDNEY, Oct. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The City of Austin has entered into a landmark contract with Archistar for the deployment of its innovative automated building permit assessment software. This 5-year contract represents a significant step forward in leveraging AI to streamline the city's building permit assessment processes.
Dr Benjamin Coorey, Founder of Archistar
Archistar, an industry leader in AI-driven property and planning solutions, has been at the forefront of digitizing planning and building codes for seven years. Originally based in Australia, Archistar has experienced overwhelming demand in North America, with Austin becoming the first U.S. City with a contract to fully implement Archistar's AI-powered platform after a successful three month pilot. Over 30 cities globally are now piloting or using Archistar to improve their permit assessment process.
"We are thrilled to be working with the City of Austin, a recognized leader in innovation within the U.S.," said Dr. Benjamin Coorey, Founder of Archistar. "Our AI technology will significantly improve approval times, reduce costs, and allow the city to focus on more complex evaluations, creating a more efficient and effective permit review process."
About Archistar eCheck
Archistar's eCheck technology plays a pivotal role in this transformation. The process begins when an applicant submits their design for a pre-check assessment before they apply for their permit. The eCheck platform reads the designs directly from the submitted drawings and evaluates the design against digitized planning and building codes. The outcome of this assessment is a comprehensive, standardised compliance report, which is then included with the permit application demonstrating compliance. This automated, data-driven process simplifies complex regulatory frameworks, enabling faster, more consistent decision-making for both applicants and city planning authorities.
Typical Challenges in Permitting
The process for reviewing and approving permits can be lengthy, especially when dealing with high volumes or complex projects. The permitting process continues to face a variety of challenges, including:
- Inconsistency in Submission Completeness and Quality: Applications often vary significantly in their completeness and adherence to requirements, leading to delays and added complexity.
- Multiple Submissions Due to Non-Compliance: Applicants often need to re-submit their applications multiple times to address non-compliance issues, which adds further delays.
- Costly Delays: Delays in the approval process not only slow down project timelines but also add significant costs to applicants, including holding costs and project overruns.
Benefits of Archistar's Platform
The pilot program proved the value of Archistar's eCheck technology, particularly in addressing the complexities of zoning bylaws within the permit assessment process. The full platform deployment promises further benefits, including:
- Faster approval times for permits, allowing the City to accelerate the pace of housing development.
- Reductions in requests for information and rework between city staff and the submitter, reducing friction between applicants and staff.
- A faster initial assessment means more bandwidth to process additional applications and a significant reduction in time to assess.
- An independent, standardised and thorough initial audit check using computerised systems.
- Standardise measurements and report on all submissions regardless of the quality of submission.
- Benefits to the wider property ecosystem including more transparency and certainty in the approval process and reduced timelines, holding costs and more effective supply chain management.
- Increased customer satisfaction and a better customer experience.
The City of Austin faces challenges including managing complex zoning by laws and ensuring timely compliance in its permitting process. "With Archistar's platform, we will be able to provide faster and more informed feedback on building plans, and that's crucial in our journey to improve the development process," said José G. Roig, Director of Austin's Development Services Department. "The eCheck technology will transform the building plan review process, helping us deliver a smoother process for applicants and better service to our community."
The City of Austin continues to collaborate with Archistar, being one of ten cities to also participate in a pan-USA pilot focused on automating the International Building Code compliance review. This collaboration between key cities in the US, the International Code Council and Archistar is a project that will likely shape the future of building code permit assessment across the country.
Dr. Coorey added, "We're excited to partner with the City of Austin, and the benefits will extend to developers, homeowners, and city staff alike. Our platform's AI-driven capabilities are designed to not just streamline processes but to deliver a digital transformation resulting in more housing for the City."
About Archistar:
Archistar is a global leader in AI-driven property technology, specializing in automating zoning and building code compliance, 3D generative building design, and providing data-driven insights for city planning and property development. The company operates globally with clients across Australia, the U.S., Canada, and the Middle East.
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