“The workload and lack of staff are putting ABF services in difficulty”

The architects of buildings in France (ABF) suffer “administrative overload“. This is what underlines a report adopted in October 2024 and summarizing the work of a senatorial information mission on the scope of intervention and the skills of the ABFs. France has only 189 ABFs, which emit, on average , 13 decisions per day.

Each year, nearly 150,000 pre-project advice is provided by ABFs, and 500,000 work authorizations benefit from their expertise (of which 200,000 are subject to their agreement), according to the National Association of Building Architects of France (ANABF) . Its president, Fabien Sénéchal, describes to us the conditions, sometimes alarming, in which these professionals work.

Batiactu: The Senate carried out an information mission on the scope of intervention and the skills of architects of buildings in France (ABF), which ended on October 3, 2024. It is estimated that in 40% of the territory, there is only one ABF per department in France. Do you think there are too few?

Fabien Sénéchal: Yes, this is what we expressed during the various hearings of the information commission. Our services are understaffed. There is a lack of architects of French buildings, technicians and engineers in our services to carry out our work in correct conditions. This creates strong tension among public service reception staff, technicians and ABFs and has several consequences.

We must first remember that we are small departments, often made up of five to six people. The agents’ commitment and sense of public service are very strong. As in the health sector, these are motivated and committed people. The workload and lack of staff are putting services in difficulty. The subject is very important. It concerns the health of our employees.

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