Cement, Energy and Environment

international practices. The salient features of this latest revision of the Code are: 1) Inclusion of a complete philosophy and direction for successfully accomplishing the building projects through Integrated Multidisciplinary Approach right from conceptual stage through planning, designing, construction, operation and maintenance stages. 2) A series of reforms in building permit process. 3) Provisions for ensuring and certification of safety of buildings against natural disaster by engineer and structural engineer. 4) Provision for two stage permit for high rise residential and special buildings. 5) Provision for periodic renewal certificate of occupied buildings from structural, fire, electrical and health safety point of view. 6) Provision for empowering engineers and architects for sanctioning plans of residential buildings up to 500m 2 . 7) Inclusion of detailed town planning norms for various amenWes such as educational facilities, medical facilities, distribution services , police, civil defence, fire services, etc. 8) Revision of parking requirements for metro and mega cities . 9) Updating of special requirements for low income housing for urban areas 1 0) Inclusion of special requirements for low income housing for rural habitat planning . 11) Inclusion of guidelines for development planning for hilly areas. 12) Revision of the provisions for buildings and facilities for physically challenged. 13) Fire safety norms completely revamped through detailed prov1s1ons on Fire Prevention, Life Safety and Fire Protection. 14) Inclusion of new categories of starred hotels, heritage structures and archeological monuments for fire safety provisions. 15) Substitution of halon based fire extinguishers/fire fighting system. 16) Promotion to new/innovative building materials/technologies. 17) Inclusion of latest provisions for earthquake resistant design and construction. 18) Inclusion of details on multi– disaster prone districts. 19) Inclusion of new chapter on design and construction using bamboo. 20) Chapter on prefabricated and composite construction for speedier construction. 21) Updating of provision of safety in construction 22) Complete rev1s1on of provision on building and plumbing services in line with applicable international practices. 23) Provisions on rain water harvesting 24) Inclusion of new chapter to cover landscaping needs. Actual coverage The National Building Code lays down a set of minimum provisions designed to protect the safety of the public with .regard to structural sufficiency, fire safety and health aspects of buildings; so long as these basic requirements are met, the choice of material, methods of design and construction is left to the ingenuity of competent professionals. It covers, inter alia the following important aspects: a) Integrated approach through multi-disciplinary team work to obtain maximum benefits in terms of quality, timely completion and cost effectiveness by utilizing appropriate knowledge and experience of qualified professionals right from the conceptualization through design, construction and completion stages of a building project and in deed during the entire life cycle. b) Administrative provisions which pertain to the efficiency and effective application of the Code defining powers, duties and responsibilities of those concerned; c) Requirements to ensure safety from fire and health hazards related to the occupancy and use of buildings; d) Stipulations with regard to use of accepted and new building materials from consideration of safety. performance, compatibility, durability and economy; e) Design practices for structures as a whole using various materials like reinforced and prestressed concrete, structural steel, timber, bamboo, masonry, etc, and guidelines for design of prefabricated structures and mixed/composite constructions , duly taking into account the various loads, forces and effects 32 - • ...