It is a service that aims to grant a permit for the possibility of adding a vertical expansion (adding a floor/or several floors) or horizontal expansion to an existing building or adding a new building to land previously built on, considering that the total area of the addition is 50 square meters or larger.

• Bahraini Citizens
• GCC Citizens
• Real estate owners
• Commercial Entities
• Government Entities

1. Engage Engineering Offices

Property owners must engage an Engineering office licensed by Kingdom of Bahrain’s “The Council for Regulating the Practice of Engineering Professions”, to prepare all necessary drawings and documents required to apply for a big addition building permit. The engineering office shall perform all necessary tasks to obtain a building permit on behalf of the property owners (Click here to view list of the licensed engineering offices).

2. Initial Request Stage

The engineering office should enter the initial information for the request in this stage, which includes:

• The applicant and the property owner or his representer details.
• Other owners or inheritors details (If any).
• Current property details.
• The required addition details.
• Civil aviation details.
• Required documents.
3. Pre-Approval Stage

There are special cases in which applicants must first obtain a pre-approval before starting the process of applying for a big addition building permit. These cases are outlined in the below table:

Entities	Special Cases Details	Government Processing Time
Urban Planning Development Affairs (UPDA)
	Special Projects	30 Working days
	Airport Zone	15 Working days or 30 Working days in Zone Conflict
	Graveyard	15 Working days or 30 Working days in Zone Conflict
	Implementation Stage	60 Working days
Roads Planning & Design Directorate	If the addition in one of the below areas: un-asphalted roads Strategic Roads Roads under development Old areas If the addition type is one of the below: If the addition on the ground floor If the addition on the external setbacks of the building If the addition required open new entrances whether it is on one or more roads and in RPDD fencing area ONLY. If it required to reserve an area of the building for a number of parking spaces (Only for non-residentials areas)	10 Working days
Supreme Council for Environment	If the usage nature: Seaport If the addition is horizontal (Addition to the ground floor)	10 Working days
Ministry of Oil and Environment	If parcels falling under fencing area specified by Tatweer and BAPCO If the addition is on the ground floor and effect the external setbacks of the building	10 Working days
Civil Aviation Authority	Pre-approval is required for buildings exceeding permitted heights	10 Working days
Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiquities (BACA)	If the parcel falling Within BACA fencing area If the building age is 50 year and more or unknown If the building age is less than 50 years and the addition is horizontal or may cause changes to the buildings frontage facing any road	10 Working days

4. Engineering Data Stage

The engineering office (Applicant) should enter the engineering information for the request in this stage, which includes:

• Thermal Insulation (If required)
• Electrical load (If required)
• Water and sewerage details (If required)
• Building entrance and building units
• Building point
• Required documents
5. Application Review by Another Engineering Office (Reviewer)

Before submitting a big addition building permit application electronically through Benayat system, the engineering office (Applicant) must first submit all required drawings and documents to another engineering office (reviewer) (Same category or higher) to review and ensure compliance and fulfillment of all service entities conditions mentioned in the Unified Guide for Building Permits in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Once reviewed and approved by the engineering office reviewer, the applying engineering office (The applicant) must upload the documents into the Benayat system and must select the engineering office(s) that reviewed them.

Note:


• The engineering office that reviewed the documents has 7 working days to electronically verify that they have performed the review, otherwise, the applying engineering office must re-upload the documents and choose engineering officer reviewer.
• Uploading the documents into the system does not constitute a formal submission of an application. Only after the electronic verification of the reviewing engineering office will the application be officially accepted and application number will be generated.
6. Service Connectivity stage - The comments of the service entities mentioned below must be obtained.
• Sanitary Engineering Planning and Projects Directorate (SEPPD): If extra water requested by the applicant, SEPPD will receive an application to determine compatibility of connection and inform the applicant through the system on whether a Septic Tank is required or not.
• Water Distribution Directorate (WDD): If extra water requested by the applicant, WDD will determine availability of water network:
• If the network is not available: WDD will inform applicants of the estimated connection date in the issued building permit.
• If the network is available but there is a mismatch in flow capacity, WDD will provide applicants with the expected connection date.
• Electricity Distribution Directorate (EDD): If extra electricity load requested by the applicant, EDD will determine electricity load availability and inform applicants through the electronic system the estimated connection date if the load is not available. EDD will also perform a site inspection to identify any cable network conflict, and inform applicants the following:
• If a “Customer Request” (CR) is required
• The cost of the CR.
• Approvals take a maximum of 5 working days.
7. Payment stage
• Building Permit Fees: These fees are to be paid online via the building permit system.
• Building Permit insurance Deposit: The deposit fees are to be paid online via the building permit system.
• Civil Aviation Fees (If applicable): These fees are to be paid in the event the height of the building exceeds 30m from sea level. The fees are fixed at (BD 100).
• Big addition permit fees is being calculated as per building permit fee schedule [Click here]
8. Issue Big Addition Building Permit Electronically

Once the big addition building permit fees are paid, the system will instantaneously issue an electronic big addition building permit. The building permit is valid for one year from the date of issuance.

9. Auditing Building Permits Issued for Big Addition

The permit is subjected to random audit at any stage of construction after the date of issuance.