Administrative procedures: 17 days of delay cost up to EUR 25,000

Your office floor falls under the regulations applicable to workplaces for its permanent occupants. It shifts to a 5th-category ERP as soon as it welcomes the public, then to 3rd or 4th category beyond the defined thresholds (decree of 25 June 1980). It comes under the IGH regulation from 50 metres for the tertiary sector (article R.122-2 of the Construction and Housing Code). A coworking space open to the public in a 75-metre tower falls simultaneously under all three regimes.

Article R.4227-5 also conditions the maximum capacity of a floor on the number of passage units: a single emergency staircase of 1.40 to 1.50 m allows 100 people per floor. This constraint guides your decisions on partitioning, smoke extraction, fire resistance, accessibility for people with reduced mobility and signage.

For the Architect and the Office Manager, the ERP threshold is a programming decision. A freely accessible showroom, a public event space or a coworking space without access control shifts your project into ERP status, with about 4 additional months of review. Conversely, invitation-only access with a control airlock keeps your floor under the workplace regime alone. This usage choice, made from the programme stage, conditions your opening date as much as the choice of flooring.

A limit to be aware of. On an exclusively tertiary floor below the IGH threshold, activating an ERP workflow as a precaution adds 3 to 4 months without justification. ERP reclassification is triggered only from a demonstrated public use, never from a mere hypothesis of future evolution.

The prior declaration of works remains the most frequent oversight in tertiary fit-out, a recurring source of schedule slippage on the projects we support. Review durations vary according to your configuration (articles R.423-23 and R.423-24 of the Urban Planning Code):

1. Standard file with no constraint: 1 legal month, up to 3 months observed with requests for documents.
2. ABF opinion in a protected area: 6 months observed.
3. Third-party appeals after posting: up to 12 cumulative months in the event of litigation.

Typical triggering situations: facade modification, sign installation, partial change of use. The condominium regulations add their own layer: a vote at the general meeting to drill through a slab, modify a shared facade, intervene on common technical areas (law of 10 July 1965, article 25). The schedule of general meetings, often annual or semi-annual, becomes a planning milestone in its own right.

For the CFO and the Asset Manager, the condominium general meeting is a disguised cash-flow constraint. A project ready to file in November, whose annual general meeting was held in June, mechanically waits 7 to 11 months before a vote, unless an extraordinary general meeting is held (increased costs and formalism). This latency appears on no standard project-management schedule: it reads as lost asset value and rent carried without operation. Kytom positions this milestone upstream and negotiates, if needed, early inclusion on the agenda.

1. Regulatory mapping at feasibility
   From the feasibility phase, our team identifies the 5 to 12 procedures applicable to your operation: urban planning, ERP, IGH, condominium, landlord, ABF. Each line carries the real review timeline, the named contact and the planning dependency. Deliverable within 5 to 10 working days depending on the complexity of the site.
2. Reverse-planning driven by administrative milestones
   We build your schedule from the review milestones, not the other way around. The 3 critical procedures become the backbone of the design and construction calendar. You obtain a reliable opening date, integrating the schedule of condominium general meetings and ABF timelines if applicable.
3. Assembly and filing of files
   Kytom drafts and files each regulatory file: prior declaration, ERP works authorisation, safety notice, accessibility file for people with reduced mobility, request to the landlord (article L145-40-2). Our files pass first review without requests for additional documents in 80% of cases observed over 2022-2024.
4. Managing reviews and arbitrations
   During the review, we maintain direct contact with the urban planning departments, the safety commissions, the property manager and the landlord. Any request for documents or adjustment is handled within 5 working days. You receive a weekly update on the progress of each authorisation.
5. Securing at delivery
   Before opening, we coordinate the acceptance visit (ERP safety commission if applicable), collect the regulatory certificates and provide you with a complete operating file: authorisations granted, initialised safety register, updated DUERP.