From 1 January to 20 October 2026, the Spata–Artemida Building Authority issued 119 building permits, almost as many as during the same period in 2025 (120) and slightly more than in 2024 (108). The increase is in the number of smaller-scale projects: approvals for small-scale building works reached 282, up from 260 last year and 178 in 2024 – a 58 per cent increase over two years. The figures are derived from the documents published on the ‘Diafania’ transparency portal for each municipal permit, which we counted by type for the same period each year.
The figures
From 1 January to 20 October, for 2024, 2025 and 2026:
- Building permits: 108, 120, 119
- Preliminary building permit approvals: 19, 16, 18
- Approvals for small-scale works: 178, 260, 282
- Updates to building permits: 57, 62, 93
- Demolition permits: 0, 0, 7
Throughout the year, in 2024 and 2025, the Council issued 146 and 145 planning permissions respectively. If the last fortnight of October, November and December follow the same pattern as in previous years, 2026 will end at the same level.
What is ‘small-scale’?
The approval of small-scale building works is the simplest procedure handled by the Building Authority, for works that do not require a full building permit. In the descriptions of the 282 approvals issued in 2026, 79 relate to repairs or work on façades, 77 relate to internal alterations, 29 to fencing, 26 to changes of use and 21 to canopies or pergolas. A single approval may cover more than one type of work.
Energy efficiency stands out: 50 approvals this year relate to thermal facades, thermal insulation, energy upgrades or heat pumps, compared with 47 in 2025 and 24 in 2024.
Further updates, the first demolitions
Building permit updates are the procedures by which changes to existing permits are recorded, such as an amended design. The number has risen to 93, up from 62 last year, indicating that more permits are currently being processed.
There were no demolition permits issued during the same period in 2024 and 2025. This year, there are seven. Four of these relate to single-storey houses, including a wooden prefabricated dwelling. The other three relate to a single-storey building with a basement, the end of a stairwell with a penthouse flat, and three storage sheds with a canopy and a boundary wall. The planning permissions do not specify what will be built in their place. The largest demolition of the year is not on this list, as it was approved under a different type of order: the 26 unauthorised structures on the property of KOKO Grigoriou in Agios Thomas, on 8 October.
What else is being built apart from houses?
Most new planning permissions relate to residential properties. Among the exceptions for 2026 are a low-impact storage and distribution centre with offices, a two-storey confectionery workshop, a single-storey retail building, the reconstruction of a two-storey building damaged by fire, and the completion of the canteen at the ‘Dimitris Dimitriou’ Spata Municipal Stadium. The business park’s data centres are mainly listed as preliminary approvals and revisions, as we reported in September.
What the figures don’t show
We count transactions, not square metres: a single permit may relate to a ground-floor house or a block of flats. The count does not distinguish between Spata and Artemida, and is based on the title of each transaction as published on the Diafania portal.
Source: Technical Chamber of Greece, documents from the Spata–Artemida Municipal Building Authority on the ‘Diaugia’ transparency portal; iartemida data for the period 1 January–20 October in the years 2024, 2025 and 2026, as at 20 October 2026.
