Architect’s advice – expert joins Costa Blanca News team
JOHN Michael Kirby is unique in Spain.
Not because he is a British expat, originally from Essex; or because he has been in the country since 1993 – or even because he is a technical architect, a building engineer and a judicial expert witness for construction and valuations.
It arises from the fact that he has occupied the position of municipal architect for a town hall in Spain (Alborache in Valencia province) – and is more than likely the first Briton to hold such a post.
Not only that, but he currently works for the regional government on their territorial impact minimisation project. He is also the author of The Essential Guide to Construction Management and Building Engineering.
John has very kindly offered to share the wealth of knowledge that he has built up over nearly 30 years in Spain with readers of Costa Blanca News.
He will tackle questions relating to his profession which will have, no doubt, given a large percentage of expats in Spain sleepless nights at some stage of their lives in this country.
Over to you, John.
My view is when studying building codes, legislation, construction theory, legal and court procedures if you’re not at least a bit lost you’re not doing it properly. My not very encouraging advice is, read it again and again until, like the rest of us, you’re thoroughly confused. Unfortunately, that’s where the right track is, not actually in the fog but, you definitely have to go through it to get there.
This stuff, the stuff of construction, licences, property development, penalties, rights and responsibilities and a long etcetera, is complex and multifaceted. There’s also a lot of it. It’s both broad and deep and it’s a moving target with constant updates.
I know a few of the best in the field and no-one comes close to knowing it all. We have to specialise to get anywhere. Choosing to be competent and consequently specialising, despite being the key to societal economic and intellectual growth, is a high risk survival strategy for any individual, even a technician.
A more successful strategy is getting someone to explain it to you. Better still, get someone with first-hand experience of sitting on all sides of the desk – client, public administration and judicial, to explain it to you. If they can do that in your first language all the better. That’s what I intend to do in this column – tackle sometimes complex issues, and sometimes simple but, unknown or misunderstood issues, relating to construction and property in Spain, more specifically in the Valencia region (provinces of Alicante, Valencia and Castellón). In that sense it’s quite likely to be a bit provincial, and if not walk you entirely through the fog to the other side at least shine a light in the right direction.
Not everyone will make it through the fog, not everyone will want to. Some will prefer their starting point, or even the fog, to the answers on the other side. Given the fact it is true to say an ugly fact often ruins someone’s beautiful theory, that’s understandable, but the light will be left on just in case you change your mind.
About those multi facets, there is technical side to projects, there is an economic view, a practical side and even a political side. All my experience has barely scratched the surface of many of these areas. As such, and knowing there is no such thing as an all-knowing or omniscient technician, I will act as a conduit for the experience of others, holding many interviews with relevant experts.
You are going to be pleasantly surprised. A lot of them are great people as well experts and I hope to be on the same learning curve as you, just a couple of seats in front. Some of the funniest, wittiest and most dedicated professionals I have met are civil servants. I wasn’t prepared for that. That was a shock not only to my perceptions but, coming from the private sector also to my ego.
I had hitherto lived under the happy misapprehension that the public sector was the hiding place for the meek, not so. As it turns out the Sir Humphreys of this world really are the ones at the helm and, in my experience, it’s a bloody good job that they are. We’ll meet them and in true Gladiator style no doubt be entertained as well as informed. We’ll also dip our toe in the private sector, the shark tank, and find a Bruce (see Nemo) or two to guide us around the tank.
It’s devastatingly disappointing to me to have to concur that collective intelligence is far superior to any individual’s. Even if the individual has studied like it was going out of fashion and the collective has been sipping Margaritas by the pool, it’s still true. That said, what I do know I’m happy to share and I have no doubt that in the process of doing so I will learn a lot from you all too. If you send a story, if I have time I promise to read it. I look forward to it but, please, I implore you, no anecdotes about terrible things that happened to your untraceable mate Kevin who lives in a different province. Stuff that happened to you that could be illustrative for those of us that live here in the Valencia region only please. Dear John letters will definitely be quoted if they’re deemed by me to be more interesting than me.
Practically all my experience – both academic and professional – has taught me that the more you know the more questions arise, you crack open the window to the known unknowns space just a little
further. I invite you all to explore that space with me every couple of weeks. The aim is to deep dive into a limited number of highly relevant areas to the expatriate community. This will not provide a good overview, for that there are no short cuts but, my hope is that it will provide an insight or two to people that need it, even if they may not need it at that time.
Free interesting stuff is going to be our first port of call. For the next few articles we will explore the online resources we have at our disposal which will provide us, in most cases free of charge, with the information we need to take a decision relating to a property.
We will explore the inland revenue’s property database (catastro), the cartographic institute of Valencia (Instituto
Cartográfico de Valenciano – ICV), local council web-pages and the relevant pages from the regional government. These can be a bit of a rabbit hole. So much really useful information can be overwhelming but, there are some really fun things in there too.
The ICV’s aerial photo comparison tool really is a blast and you will definitely end up playing about with that for a few days/weeks and showing that to your friends. I think the earliest photos go back to 1956 and the latest were last year.
Other topics that will be discussed include – the planning legislative hierarchy (international, national, autonomic, provincial and municipal), a deep dive in municipal town planning, the building code/s and types of building licences and business licences.
We’ll also take a look at any major projects in the pipeline which will are likely to affect many of you, such as the one I am currently working on – the‘Planes Especiales de Minimización de Impacto Territorial’. This is a long name for a good simple idea which is going to benefit hundreds of thousands of property owners in the Valencia region.
In many cases, probably most cases, the articles will be accompanied by links to videos showing how to do things. It will save the articles being 60,000 words long.
I can’t believe this article, with absolutely no insightful or illuminating information, is already 1,300 words. Just imagine when we actually start discussing something useful, i.e. not me.
When the videos are ready a QR code will be provided which will take you directly there. So keep your mobile handy and buckle up. It promises to be quite a ride.