Urban Land Regulations in Spain

Designated approved building/development land and described as such on the government approved General Plan of the area. This plan, which is revised periodically, is a public document and can be viewed freely by anyone who cares to enquire at the appropriate department in the local Town Hall.
Because this type of land has been already approved for building, outline planning permission is not necessary. The building project process can begin almost immediately.

Plot Sizes
building plots range in size from 600m2 to 2,000m2 depending on the conditions applied to the urbanization plan (Plan Parcial). Usually urbanizations comprising individual houses are made up of plots of 800-1000m2.

Area occupancy
The maximum size of the property to be built is governed by another set of rules, again this varies from Town Hall to Town Hall.
As a general rule, the building may not occupy more than 20% to 30% of the area of the building plot.

EG. A building plot of 1,000m2 with an area occupancy restriction of 25% would allow a building to have a ground floor of 250m2.

Total construction
Another regulation to be considered is the total construction factor, this governs the maximum number of square metres in total allowed to be built on the plot.
This factor again usually ranges from around 20% to 30% per m2.

Therefore if we take the example above, given an:
Area Occupancy restriction of 25%
and a Total Construction factor of 0.3 and a plot size of 1,000 m2.

The Maximum ground floor occupancy is 1000 x 0.25 = 250m2
The Maximum overall construction is 1000 x 0.3= 300m2.

This would allow a house with a large ground floor area of 250m2 plus a small upstairs of 50m2 (Total constructed area 300m2.)
Or alternatively and possibly a more practical arrangement might be two floors of 150m2 each. (Total constructed area 300m2.)

It should be noted that these are the maximum areas of occupancy and construction however they exclude a cellar, (which may be the same area as the ground floor,) terracing, porches and a swimming pool.

There are other rules governing the maximum height of the building, usually between 6 and 7 metres, and the distance from the boundary usually between 3 and 7 metres. Rules also restrict the height of sold boundary walls typically 1 to 1.80 metres.

Sometimes the ascetic appearance of the building is restricted, but generally speaking unless an outrageous design is planned this usually does not present a planning problem.

Spanish Building Guide Essentail Information to Building in Spain.

Building permits (licencias) are necessary before any construction occurs. Even if the foundations are already in place, a portion of the building is already in place, the home is a pre-fab (pre-fabricated) or the building is a primary home, the building permits must be finalised first. Remember that even additions require licencias.
In Spain, there are 2 different forms of permits for building:
Minor Works Permit for walls, terraces, and barbecue areas. These can be obtained at the Town Hall. Ask for a licencia de obra menor. You will need to provide a summary of the construction you plan to have completed and an estimate of the final costs so that the Town Hall can calculate the taxes. Usually the tax costs upwards of 6% of the building costs.
Major Works Permit for new buildings, demolitions, or remodeling. For this form of permit, you must have a written account from an architect who is registered with the Spanish Architecture College. Your architect must have a technical architect who works as the Site Manager during the construction. Finally, a builder must be lined up already. These three workers must each sign the building permit paperwork.

An application for the building permit (Solicitud de Licencia) must be submitted in person to the Town Hall Offices or by registered post. The clerk on duty will hand you a receipt. Make sure you have this receipt before you leave, as it is the only proof you will have for now that proves you have submitted the application. It takes approximately two months for an application to be processed.
Once the application has been received, the Town Hall will post you a notification letter along with an application number. From here the Town Hall makes sure all of the information is on the application, that the information is correct, and then the details of your request are posted on a bulletin board. The application is combed over to ensure you are meeting the area's building codes. If all goes well, approval is posted back within 8 to 10 weeks from the time you submitted the paperwork and a building permit is included with this approval letter.
If you have not received the official notification within ten weeks, you automatically receive your building permits providing your plans meet the area building codes and all information was correctly submitted.

Below Decks

Below Deck
Originally uploaded by projectmarbella

A beautiful basement bar in Elviria. Use every centimeter of your home.

Contact projectmarbella@yahoo.com for a free quotation for all your construction needs.

Tech Wood

Tech Wood
Originally uploaded by projectmarbella

Tech-Wood® is a sustainable, ecological, low maintenance and recyclable wood-a-like product.

Tech-Wood® Wood Polymer Composite, durable and with excellent mechanical characteristics, is suitable for many different applications.

Tech-Wood products are used by the Building Industry, the Infra Structure and Waterway Industry, the Marina Industry and the Industry in general, in search for Custom Specific profiles. These days Tech-Wood also has been discovered by the DIY market and is available under the brand name Garden-Deck®.

Tech-Wood provides decking and railing profiles suitable for terraces, pontoons, landing-stages, balconies, patios, galleries, bridges (pedestrian), roof-terraces, marinas and swimming pools.

For façade applications a Tech-Wood® Siding program has been developed. Several different cladding profiles, frequently used for private houses, office buildings and leisure homes, are produced or lacquered in any colour that is required.


All Tech-Wood products are from sustainable forest management and PEFC certified.

Project Marbella

If you want to :-

Deck it, paint it, landscape it, eat it, celebrate it, marry it, move it, buy it, build it, shade it, sell it, rent it, cool it. heat it, tile it, swim in it, install it, cook in it, sleep in it, store it, remove it, resolve it, check in to it, glaze it, light it, plant it, listen to it, floor it, decorate it, design it, light it, watch it, drive it, service it, or clean it we can help you.

Please contact us at projectmarbella@yahoo.com we have people waiting to help you now

At last Decking designed for the climate on the Costa Del Sol

Contact Project Marbella for more details.

Beautiful range of colours, 25 year guarantee we supply and fit this beautiful to the highest standard and at competitive prices

Not effected by sun or by rain

projectmarbella@yahoo.com

Key Holder Service

Project Marbella are delighted to offer a new key holder service. For only 100€ per year we will hold your key to your property. 

Never be without your keys again.

Solar tanks from Project Marbella

Solar tanks
Originally uploaded by plesbit

Help the environment, save money. In summer all your hot water for free.
contact Project Marbella.

projectmarbella@yahoo.com

Under Floor Heating Systems

If you are refurbishing your villa, it may be the perfect time to consider a new underfloor heating system.

These systems are very efficient and take the chill of the ceramic, marble tiles commonly used for flooring in Spain.

You can also use tese systems to ep cool your home in summer

Please contact Project Marbella at projectmarbella@yahoo.com

Swimming Pools and Spas

If you want a new swimming pool or spa installed in your home, please consider contacting us at projectmarbella@yahoo.com for a free quotation.

We will design and build your new swimming pool at a very competitive cost and with the minimum of disturbance. It will soon be summer call us for your new pool now.

Blinds and Awnings on the Costa del Sol

If the sun shining in your window is a problem, give us at Project Marbella a call, we will measure your new window blind or awning and give your a free quotation.

We offer a full range of both hand and electric blinds for you to chose from.

Gas Fire and Barbecues

Even though Spain in general and the Costa del Sol in particular are much warmer than the UK you will still feel quite a chill in the evenings. Older Properties suffer from poor insulation and high rates of heat loss. 

To help keep you warm on these chilly nights we stock a large range of beautiful and very efficient gas fires. The brand leader in the USA. These fires are designed for use in kitchens and in Bedrooms as well as your living room.

Please contact us at projectmarbella@yahoo.com for a free technical survey. 

Ask our Experts

If you have any general construction queries or questions about life in Marbella, please drop us an email with your question and we will answer it as soon as we can.

projectmarbella@yahoo.com

Ask the builder, Ask the Expert,  is a free service from Project marbella and we want to help you.

Our Guarantee

All our design and build projects come with a full ten year guarantee. This guarantee covers all our construction and architectural services.