In future, building in Luxembourg is set to become faster and simpler. To achieve this, a single, unified building code will be introduced for the whole country, while PAG and PAP procedures will be harmonised and simplified. Interior Minister Léon Gloden presented the corresponding draft law to parliament's Interior Committee on Tuesday morning.
The changes were broadly welcomed by all parties, though a number of detailed questions were raised and some points were viewed more critically. Meris Šehović of the Greens, for instance, fears that protection for certain trees in urban areas could be weakened.
"I actually take issue with the definition of a tree worth protecting as you've drawn it up, because you say that a tree is protected from a crown diameter of 12 metres. Now, I imagine that's probably not a problem in Rosport or somewhere like that, where you have trees of that size. But for [Luxembourg City Mayor] Polfer, or for me, in a very urban area, street trees often don't reach that size, because they don't have enough space to develop."
He noted that this would primarily affect Luxembourg City and Esch.
Frank Goeders, First Government Counselor at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, indicated that the texts could still be fine-tuned further should problems emerge in practice.
To help ensure better permeability of the soil, the draft also provides for a ban on gravel gardens, which prompted several points of confusion for the ADR's Tom Weidig.
"How does this work in practice? Is it really the case that you can't have a front garden that's completely paved over only when you're building a new house, or does this also apply to others? As far as I understand it, it's just new houses. The second point is: if you have a house, and someone else buys that house and then decides to turn the front garden into gravel, they wouldn't need permission to landscape a front garden, would they? Are they allowed to do that or not?"
The response here was that existing gardens can remain as they are. However, if changes are planned, the new rules – which will be enforced by the municipalities – will need to be followed.
The new regulations are due to take effect from 1 January 2028.
