On 31 March, the Saeima's Public Administration and Local Government Committee backed a bill drafted by the Ministry of Economics, "Amendments to the Construction Law", which provides for a substantial modernisation of the construction process by allowing building work to proceed in parallel with design work.

The bill has been drawn up to improve the current procedure for implementing construction projects, making it more flexible and better suited to the dynamics of modern investment projects. The main aim of the amendments is a shift from the present linear process to a parallel construction process.

The current rules require the detailed design of absolutely every part of a structure to be completed before any physical work can begin, which often creates a bottleneck. The new procedure will allow first-stage construction work to start while the detailing of subsequent stages is still under way. External utility networks and independently stable structures will be able to be set apart as separate stages of construction work. This will allow developers to deploy investment more quickly and to begin actual work sooner, reducing the financial risks posed by loan interest and inflation in material prices.

"Without weakening building safety requirements, the amendments will speed up the construction process, cutting the time needed by as much as six months and allowing construction projects to be carried out in stages. This arrangement will accelerate the actual flow of investment into the Latvian economy and ensure that the construction season is used to the full," emphasises Jurģis Miezainis, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Economics.

To ensure continuity, building authorities will be required to take decisions on each subsequent stage of construction within 10 working days. This will allow businesses to plan equipment and workforce resources more precisely, reducing the risk of downtime.

At the same time, the bill strengthens safety aspects – stages of construction work will have to be set out in an order that guarantees the structural stability of the building, and approvals from third parties and authorities regarding the siting of structures will have to be obtained from the outset, so that risks are averted later on.

The bill approved by the committee will be forwarded to the Saeima for consideration. The new procedure is expected to come into force in 2027 – by which time the necessary changes must be made to the Construction Information System (BIS).