New building and construction rules to raise productivity

THE Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has introduced requirements for labour-efficient construction methods and building design to raise productivity in the construction sector.

The new requirements, which fall under the Building Control (Buildability and Productivity) Regulations, are effective from Nov 1.

Projects are required to meet higher minimum buildable design and constructability standards to make buildings easier to construct and encourage the use of efficient construction methods and processes.

All non-landed residential developments are required to adopt drywall as internal partitions for dry areas. New projects will require standardised floor heights and building components such as precast staircases, precast refuse chutes and doors.

Projects under the Government Land Sales (GLS) programme are also required to adopt high-impact productive technologies. These include the adoption of prefabricated bathroom units in residential (non-landed) sites, including executive condominiums, and the residential (non-landed) component of mixed-use sites sold under the GLS programme.

Prefabricated pre-finished volumetric construction (PPVC) will also be imposed on selected GLS sites. PPVC involves the assembly of whole rooms or apartment units complete with internal fixtures that are produced off-site and installed on site in a Lego-like manner.

Two upcoming GLS sites at Yishun Avenue 4 and Jurong West Street 41 - they are scheduled to be released for sale in November and December respectively - will need to meet the new requirements including the adoption of PPVC. PPVC is also being adopted in several projects in Singapore, namely a student hostel at Nanyang Technological University and a building extension to the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport Hotel.

City Developments Limited will be the first developer in Asia to adopt PPVC for a large-scale residential project - an executive condominium at Canberra Drive.

The first sale site that is required to meet the new requirements is the land parcel at Upper Serangoon Road. The tender for the land parcel was launched on Sept 25.

To provide more time for prospective tenderers to take these new requirements into consideration before submitting their bids, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) is extending the tender closing date for the land parcel at Upper Serangoon Road to Nov 27 from Nov 13 previously.