Architectural committee of KalymnosArchitectural committee of Kalymnos
Basically, the idea is good: make an architectural committee for the 8 islands of the north of the Dodecanese to decide on your project and its architecture and that it matches with the local traditional architecture. About every month the members meet at the Polodomia of Kalymnos and they evaluate the projects presented with what is called a photorealistic visual. A bad 3D rendering that gives pretty much the illusion of your project. The technical evaluations of the house are not done at any time! But the system has great limits.
The committee does not take into account any environmental data of your project, nor of the surroundings of your future building.
The members of the committee do not necessarily know the other islands and their specificities because they have never been there even though each island is very different. Even if the distances are very small.
There is no appeal to the decision and you can only do what is imposed on you.
Even more problematic, the opinion of this committee is superior to the urban planning of your island and there is absolutely no institutional exchange. A decision is made, period and even the Mayor of the island cannot intervene. Except in paradoxical cases, the Mayor of Lipsi, renowned in Greece for its dynamism, wants to keep control of what he is building on his island and has arrogated to himself the power of the final decision. For this reason, when you walk the streets and coasts of Lipsi there is a beautiful uniformity of style of the white and clean houses that are a feast for the eye.
In Leros, on the other hand, in recent years projects that completely break with local style have been granted. A house with a plant roof, a modern uttra house, troglodyte accommodations while destroying the hill.
When you receive Kalymnos’ favourable opinion, this notice is sent electronically to the Polodomia de Leros to open its pre-approval file. The electronic aspect is longer than a normal treatment, it can take a month to open an electronic file.
All this is a painfully experienced feedback. Despite your questions either to your civil engineer or to the institutions, you almost never get clear and transparent information. There is a real complicit motivation on the part of others to keep a great opacity to this whole process. It must also be kept in mind that the rules in Greece are not always written, not necessarily official either.
Finally, to support the point in March 2025, about forty people were put in prison in Rhodes because of their actions as architects, civil engineers but also and especially at the Polodomia office on the island. More than 600,000 euros in cash were found at the homes of civil servants for the establishment of false building permits.
