REVISED NATIONAL BUILDING CODE TO EMPHASISE
ON SAFETY & DURABILITY ASPECTS
The revised National
Building Code (NBC), which is expected to be finalised by this
year-end, will emphasise more on the safety and durability aspects
in building structures taking into consideration the
frequent occurrence of natural calamities like earthquakes and
cyclones. This would be the second revision of the third edition
of the National Building Code of India. This was indicated at
a two-day Workshop (29-30 October) on National Building Code -
New Directions for Revision here today. The Workshop, which is
being organised by National Council for Cement and Building Materials
(NCB) jointly with Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), was inaugurated
by Shri Nirmal Singh, Director General, BIS. Dr H C Visvesvaraya,
Chairman, BIS Committee for Revision of NBC and Shri Shiban Raina,
DG, NCB also addressed the Workshop, which is being attended by
a large number of professionals from the building and construction
industry.
Various Speakers at the Workshop appreciated the inclusion of
health safety, structural safety, fire safety and public safety
in the proposed revised Code. Impact of NBC on construction activities
in terms of
planning, design, execution and maintenance was also discussed
at the Workshop. National Building Code is a single document in
which, like a network, the information contained in various Indian
Standards is woven into a pattern of continuity and cogency with
the interdependent requirements of Sections carefully analyzed
and fitted in to make the whole document a cogent continuous volume
to be used for planning and design of buildings.
The Code would contain regulations, which can be immediately adopted
or enacted for use by various departments, municipal administrations
and public bodies. In the last two decades, substantial experience
has been gained in the areas of building planning, design and
construction. Also, lot of developments have taken place in the
techno-legal regime and techno-financial regime, apart from the
enormous experience gained in dealing with natural calamities
like super cyclones and Earthquakes faced by the country. Also,
some new provisions need to be included to cover the planning/design
needs of hilly regions and rural areas apart from safer developmental
requirements against natural events like earthquakes, cyclones,
floods, landslides, etc., integrated water management also resorting
to rain water harvesting and aquifer recharging, integrated waste
management, maintenance and repairs accountability for professionals
like architects and engineers responsible for planning, design,
and construction.
Considering these, it was decided to take up a comprehensive revision
of the National Building Code of India at the earliest and bring
out in that the latest state-of-the-art, modern and contemporary
features of development. Also, it was proposed to suitably dovetail
the important aspects relating to energy efficiency, and maintenance,
repairs and retrofitting, etc. Accordingly, a mammoth exercise
of revision of NBC is going on under the aegis of the National
Building Code Sectional Committee, CED 46 of BIS.
This important national Workshop is being organised to obtain
views and feedback from all the professionals including engineers,
architects, local bodies such as municipalities/municipal corporations/
development authorities, public works department and other center
and state construction departments, builders and developers, etc.
This is the second Workshop jointly being organised by NCB with
BIS.
