Frequently asked questions
Find the most asked questions about work on a protected site
Most common questions
Check out the Heritage Atlas.
How to navigate the Heritage Atlas?
To locate your project in the Atlas, you must use the mode Simple search to write your address.
Compose your map by selecting only:
- Protection in the Vicinity of Historic Monuments - pink
- Remarkable Heritage Site - in blue
- Classified site - in green
- Registered site - in green
If the address of your project is in a colored area, it is because you are on a protected site.
The principles to be respected are then adapted to heritage protection issues. They apply to each type of work (for example: roof, pool, extension, shutters, signs, etc.).
The colors (and shapes) to respect vary according to the history and culture of each region or municipality. We advise you to contact your town hall or intercommunality. The planning document may include a communal/inter-municipal colour chart or a façade charter, etc.
You can also contact the departmental unit of architecture and heritage, within the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs.
The deadlines vary according to the type of protected area and the authorization requested: for example, the deadline is 2 months for a prior declaration in a remarkable heritage site and 8 months for a permit in classified site.
Find below the investigation deadlines for each authorization.
Historic Sites, Remarkable Heritage Site, Listed Site | Classified site | |
---|---|---|
Prior declaration | 2 months | 2 months |
Demolition permit | 3 months | 8 months |
Building permit for individual house | 3 months | 8 months |
Building or development permits | 4 months | 8 months |
Thearchitect of the Buildings of France (ABF) and its employees ensure the conservation and enhancement of heritage and the promotion of architectural quality in connection with local authorities.
In the regional directorates of cultural affairs (DRAC), the departmental units of architecture and heritage (UDAP) are for the collectivities essential interlocutors on the questions of heritage, architecture, urbanism, landscape and spatial planning. The UDAP, in which the architects of Les Bâtiments de France and their collaborators work, provides its expertise on all files located on protected sites (near historic monuments, remarkable heritage sites, listed and classified sites).
If your project is located in one of these protected sites, the municipality will send your application for planning permission (prior declaration, building permit, etc.) for expertise.
The departmental unit of architecture and heritage can advise you in the preparation of your project.
Learn more
If you want to better understand the missions of architects of Buildings of France and departmental units of architecture and heritage, click here.
To better prepare your planning authorization application, you can contact the departmental unit of architecture and heritage (UDAP), which operates within the regional directorate of cultural affairs.
This public service consultation is a free support to help you understand your project of work in protected space.
Depending on your department, the consultation can be done online or in person at a permanence.
If you have hired an architect, make an appointment together to discuss with the UDAP.
Before submitting your application for authorisation (prior declaration, building permits, etc.), you can consult the departmental unit of architecture and heritage (UDAP) of your department.
Attention: this consultation can guide you in the development of your project but the UDAP cannot guarantee at this stage that a favorable opinion will be automatically given on the application for planning authorization that will be filed thereafter.
Am I concerned by a protected site?
Your application for urban planning permission (prior declaration, building permit, etc.) will be sent to the architect of Les Bâtiments de France and his collaborators if your project is located in protected site.
To find out if your project is relevant, you can consult the Heritage Atlas.
How to navigate the Heritage Atlas?
To locate your project in the Atlas, you must use the mode Simple search to write your address.
Compose your map by selecting only:
- Protection in the Vicinity of Historic Monuments - pink
- Remarkable Heritage Site - in blue
- Classified site - in green
- Registered site - in green
If the address of your project is in a colored area, you are in protected space.
The principles to be respected are then adapted to heritage protection issues. They apply to each type of work (for example: roof, pool, extension, shutters, signs, etc.).
Depending on the work you are planning, you will have to file an application for a planning authorization with your town hall: prior declaration, building, development or demolition permit (and in some cases, special authorization).
The Protected Space process is similar to any authorization, but:
- The departmental architecture and heritage unit will provide its expertise on your project;
- You can exchange with the UDAP, within the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs, to prepare your project before submitting it to the town hall.
All projects located on a plot concerned by a protected site, even partially, fall under the expertise of the Service des architectes des Bâtiments de France.
Special attention is paid to the alpine chalets. A file must be sent to the departmental directorate of territories (DDT) of the department.
The request will be studied jointly by the departmental directorate of territories and the departmental unit of architecture and heritage (UDAP).
For all repair and restoration work carried out on a listed or listed building, the use of a competent architect is mandatory.
Before concluding the project management contract for the restoration of a listed or listed historic monument with an architect, the owner must seek the observations and recommendations of the Regional conservation of historic monuments, within the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs.
Contact the regional archaeological service, within the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs (DRAC).
Financial aid
The Malraux scheme governed by the tax code provides for a reduction in income tax in favour of expenses incurred for the complete restoration of a built building located in certain protected areas including remarkable heritage sites.
Regional or departmental councils grant grants to local heritage associations, depending on the location. Some departments provide financial assistance to individuals for work on protected sites. Consult the website of your departmental council.
The Heritage Foundation helps owners (communities, associations and individuals) to find public and private funding.
To find out more, we invite you to Heritage Foundation site.
How do I prepare my project?
Remarkable heritage sites induce a regulation with requirements to be respected.
For other protected sites, the Service des architectes des Bâtiments de France will study on a case-by-case basis according to the specific issues of the protected site and the precise location of your project within it.
Consult the pages corresponding to each planning authorization on the site service-public.fr:
- prior declaration (DP)
- building permit (PC)
- development permit (PA)
- demolition permit (PD).
All the external modification works under the planning code must be the subject of an application for authorization, even for regularization. Any person carrying out work without authorization is liable to prosecution, fines, or even restoration obligation.
And after the filing of my application for urban planning permission?
The deadlines vary according to the type of protected area and the authorization requested: for example, the deadline is 2 months for a prior declaration in a remarkable heritage site and 8 months for a permit in classified site.
Find below the investigation deadlines for each authorization.
Historic Sites, Remarkable Heritage Site, Listed Site | Classified site | |
---|---|---|
Prior declaration | 2 months | 2 months |
Demolition permit | 3 months | 8 months |
Building permit for individual house | 3 months | 8 months |
Building or development permits | 4 months | 8 months |
If the project submitted does not guarantee the compatibility of the planned work with the conservation of the protected area, the architect of Les Bâtiments de France may issue an opinion with prescriptions or a refusal.
To avoid a refusal, do not hesitate to discuss your project during a consultation of the UDAP upstream, before the official filing of your application for urban planning authorization in town hall.
After a refusal by the architect of Les Bâtiments de France (ABF), you can submit a new project to the town hall taking into account the recommendations made by the latter. The town hall will consult the ABF again.
You can contact the departmental unit of architecture and heritage to explain the notice of refusal and discuss your new project with you.
Any work project located in a protected area is submitted to the architect of Les Bâtiments de France (ABF) for expertise. There are two types of "opinions":
- theagreement or assent, to which the town hall must comply, for projects located in remarkable heritage sites and near historic monuments;
- theopinion or simple opinion, which the town hall can choose to follow or not, in the sites registered under the environmental code (except demolitions that fall under the agreement of the ABF).
In all cases, the final decision is issued by the competent urban planning authority: the mayor, the president of the intercommunality or the prefect depending on the case.
Covisibility is a notion that appears on the edges of historical monuments, when a delimited perimeter of the edges has not been set up.
In this case, all projects located within 500 m of a historic monument must lead to consultation with the UDAP. Only the architect of Les Bâtiments de France or one of his collaborators is entitled to determine whether or not covisibility exists.
Thanks to the digital archiving of opinions, the architects of Les Bâtiments de France and their collaborators have the knowledge of the authorizations previously given by their predecessors. Opinions may differ from one building to another in the same area for different reasons: the covisibility, the scope of the work, the heritage quality of the building, its architectural style, etc. For the same building, several years apart, the regulations in force may have evolved, which may require different opinions.
For any request for clarification on the opinion, it is possible to contact the departmental unit of architecture and heritage.
Like any administrative decision, the opinion of the architect of Les Bâtiments de France may be appealed.
It is possible to deposit a amicable remedy with the departmental unit of architecture and heritage by contacting her.
Prior administrative recourse is also possible with the regional prefect in case of refusal of authorization or opposition to prior declaration based on a refusal of the ABF. This administrative appeal to the regional prefect is mandatory before any appeal to the competent administrative court.
The final urban planning authorization is issued by the mayor, the president of the intercommunality or the prefect depending on the case.
If your urban planning permission is refused following a refusal by the architect of Les Bâtiments de France, you cannot carry out the planned work.
We advise you to review your project, exchanging with your town hall and the departmental unit of architecture and heritage.
If you engage in work without having the appropriate planning authorization (not opposed to prior declaration, building permits, etc.), your criminal and civil liability are incurred.
When your work is completed, you must send a DAACT to the Town Hall (or the Intercommunality) stating that the work has been completed and is in compliance.
The procedure is explained on the public service site.
This conformity of the work is done in connection with the architect of the Buildings of France when the project is located in a remarkable heritage site, a classified site or pending classification, or on a listed historic monument.
Prevention
You may request the Regional conservation of historic monuments (CRMH) to ask for an opinion and an expertise on the file; to study the possible possibility of a protection of the building and to initiate a dialogue with the local elected representatives in order to bring them arguments to oppose it possibly, or even re-examine the advisability of such a demolition if it is a project led by the community.
You can contact the town hall to find out about the permits issued under the urban planning code for exterior work – facades, carpentry, roofs. Other possible damages (nuisances, views, etc.) are covered by the Civil Code.
The felling of remarkable trees (identified in the PLU as a heritage element or as a Classified Wooded Area) is subject to authorization. The authorization that was issued can be consulted at the town hall. It specifies the modalities (health status of trees, possible compensation modalities, etc.).
Development works, roads and public spaces near monuments are subject to authorization. The authorization that was issued can be consulted at the town hall. It specifies the modalities (planned work, future condition, restoration, etc.).
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