Explainers

    How Construction Plan Verification Actually Works in 2026

    What plan verification means, who does it, how it differs across France, the UK and the US, and why full-coverage review is replacing sampling.

    May 167 min read

    Editor's Picks

    Long reads, briefings and explainers our team thinks are worth your time this month.

    Risograph-style architectural illustration of a mid-rise civic building anchored at the centre of a warm light-grey paper-tone field, with a single red band marking its recessed colonnade entrance.Explainers
    May 137 min readPlan Verification

    Plan Verification, Technical Audit, Contrôle Technique: What Each One Actually Does in 2026

    Three terms that get used interchangeably on French construction projects describe three different services. Here is what each one does, when each one is required, and where they overlap.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Illustrated multi-story residential building with one floor of windows marked in red, signalling the 20% of apartments that must be accessible under French residential regulation.Explainers
    May 77 min readAccessibility

    French Residential Accessibility Regulation Explained (2026)

    How three texts — the arrêté of 24 December 2015, Loi ELAN of 2018, and décret 2019-305 — govern accessibility in French residential construction, what the 20% accessible / 80% evolutive split actually requires, and where projects most often go wrong.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Atmospheric risograph-style architectural illustration of a mid-rise mixed-use commercial building on a quiet urban plaza, rendered in warm grey paper tones and near-black, with the recessed threshold of one ground-floor exit marked in brand red.Explainers
    May 49 min readFire Safety

    ERP Fire Safety Verification in France: How It Actually Works (2026)

    A practical guide to how fire safety verification works for ERP-classified buildings in France: the five categories, the types of risk, what gets checked on the plan versus on site, and the role of the commission de sécurité.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud

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    Stylised illustration of a stepped civic plaza with a layered streetwall of mid-rise buildings rising behind it, one facade marked in red, suggesting layered regulation accreted across decades.Editorial
    May 228 min readFire Safety

    Fire Safety Regulation Has Outgrown Its Workforce — Here's What Comes Next (2026)

    Fire safety regulation has expanded for forty years in response to catastrophe. The expert workforce verifying it has been contracting. This is the structural pressure shaping construction compliance in 2026, and what's emerging in response.

    Peter StarrPeter Starr
    Risograph-style illustration of three adjacent mid-rise civic buildings standing as a continuous streetwall, with a red threshold accent at the central building's entrance.Explainers
    May 167 min readPlan Verification

    How Construction Plan Verification Actually Works in 2026

    What plan verification means, who does it, how it differs across France, the UK and the US, and why full-coverage review is replacing sampling.

    Peter StarrPeter Starr
    Risograph-style architectural illustration of a mid-rise civic building anchored at the centre of a warm light-grey paper-tone field, with a single red band marking its recessed colonnade entrance.Explainers
    May 137 min readPlan Verification

    Plan Verification, Technical Audit, Contrôle Technique: What Each One Actually Does in 2026

    Three terms that get used interchangeably on French construction projects describe three different services. Here is what each one does, when each one is required, and where they overlap.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Illustrated elevation of a French residential building with a recessed accessible entrance approached by a gentle ramped forecourt, rendered in flat planes of near-black on warm paper-grey with a single red band marking the threshold.Explainers
    May 107 min readAccessibility

    PMR Accessibility Verification in Design Phase: A 2026 Guide

    How accessibility for personnes à mobilité réduite is actually verified on French residential plans before permit submission — what gets checked, against which texts, and why design-phase catching is the only phase that matters.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Illustrated multi-story residential building with one floor of windows marked in red, signalling the 20% of apartments that must be accessible under French residential regulation.Explainers
    May 77 min readAccessibility

    French Residential Accessibility Regulation Explained (2026)

    How three texts — the arrêté of 24 December 2015, Loi ELAN of 2018, and décret 2019-305 — govern accessibility in French residential construction, what the 20% accessible / 80% evolutive split actually requires, and where projects most often go wrong.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Atmospheric risograph-style architectural illustration of a mid-rise mixed-use commercial building on a quiet urban plaza, rendered in warm grey paper tones and near-black, with the recessed threshold of one ground-floor exit marked in brand red.Explainers
    May 49 min readFire Safety

    ERP Fire Safety Verification in France: How It Actually Works (2026)

    A practical guide to how fire safety verification works for ERP-classified buildings in France: the five categories, the types of risk, what gets checked on the plan versus on site, and the role of the commission de sécurité.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Illustration of three building types side by side — a public hall, a high-rise tower with a single red floor band, and a low industrial volume — representing ERP, IGH, and ICPE classifications.Explainers
    May 17 min readFire Safety

    ERP, IGH, ICPE: Which Classification Applies to Your Building in 2026

    France classifies buildings into three major fire-safety frameworks — ERP, IGH, and ICPE — each with its own code, regulator, and review process. This explainer disambiguates the three and shows how an owner determines which applies.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Risograph-style cross-section of a mixed-use building showing residential floors, a retail ground floor, and underground parking, with a red band marking the regulatory interface between residential and ERP frameworks.Explainers
    Apr 289 min readFire Safety

    Fire Safety in Mixed-Use Developments: Three Frameworks, One Building (2026)

    Apartments above a shop above a car park trigger three different French fire safety frameworks. Here is how they interact, where the conflicts emerge, and what verification has to cover before the permit is filed.

    Augustin PerraudAugustin Perraud
    Three residential building facades rendered side by side in risograph-style architectural illustration on a textured grey ground, each marked with red accents on accessible or covered units according to French Loi ELAN, UK Part M, and US Fair Housing Act.Editorial
    Apr 257 min readAccessibility

    PMR, Part M, and the FHA: Comparing Accessibility in 2026

    France, the UK, and the US share the same accessibility goal but enforce it through three different frameworks. An owner expanding across borders has to relearn what 'accessible' actually means in each jurisdiction.

    Peter StarrPeter Starr

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