PART I | 1. This Act may be cited as the Building Control Act. |
2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —| “accredited checker” means a person who is registered as an accredited checker under section 16, whether acting on his own behalf or on behalf of an accredited checking organisation; |
| “accredited checking organisation” means an accredited checking organisation registered as such under section 16A; [26/2000 wef 01/09/2001] [47/2007 wef 15/02/2008] |
| “amendment plans” means the plans showing any deviation from, or any amendment or addition to, any plan of building works approved by the Commissioner of Building Control under section 6(2); [18/2003 wef 01/01/2004] [47/2007 wef 15/02/2008] |
| “analyst” means an analyst approved by the Commissioner of Building Control; |
| “builder” means any person who undertakes, whether exclusively or in conjunction with any other business, to carry out any building works for his own account or for or on behalf of another person (referred to in this definition as A), but does not include any person who contracts with a builder for the execution by that person of the whole or any part of any building works undertaken by the builder for or on behalf of A under a contract entered into by the builder with A; |
“building” means any permanent or temporary building or structure and includes —| (a) | a hut, shed or roofed enclosure; | | (b) | a wall, earth retaining or stabilising structure, partition, gate, fence, paling, platform, post, pillar, hoarding or frame; | | (c) | a slip, dock, wharf or jetty; | | (d) | a culvert, crossing, bridge, underpass or tunnel; | | (e) | a sewage treatment plant, sewer, drain, swimming pool or any non-proprietary type of concrete tank for the storage of any solid, liquid or gaseous product; | | (f) | a shelter provided under the Civil Defence Shelter Act (Cap. 42A); and | | (g) | such other erection or structure (whether permanent or temporary) as the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, declare to be a building; |
|
| “Building and Construction Authority” means the Building and Construction Authority established under section 3 of the Building and Construction Authority Act 1999 (Act 4 of 1999); |
| “building regulations” means any regulations made under section 49; |
“building works” means —| (a) | the erection, extension or demolition of a building; | | (b) | the alteration, addition or repair of a building; | | (c) | the provision, extension or alteration of any air-conditioning service or ventilating system in or in connection with a building, |
| and includes site formation works and any other kind of building operation connected with or carried out for the purpose of paragraph (a), (b) or (c); |
|
| “certificate of statutory completion” means a certificate of statutory completion issued under section 21; |
| “Commissioner of Building Control”, in relation to this Act or any Part or provision of this Act, means any Commissioner of Building Control appointed under section 3(1) to be responsible for the operation of this Act or that Part or provision, as the case may be; |
| “common property” has the same meaning as in the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004; [47/2004 wef 01/04/2005] |
| “competent authority” means the competent authority appointed under section 5 of the Planning Act (Cap. 232) in respect of the development of land; |
“exterior feature”, in relation to any building, means any of the following features that is permanent and is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from the roof or exterior of the building: | (a) | any air-conditioning unit, including any window air-conditioning unit and any condensing equipment of an air-conditioning unit; | | (b) | any window, with or without movable parts; | | (c) | any grille or shutter, with or without movable parts; | | (d) | any tile, cladding, curtain wall, siding, plaster, bracket or cornice; | | (e) | any gutter, rainwater down-pipe, or part of the roof; | | (f) | any awning or sun-shading device; | | (g) | such other feature that is permanent and is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from the roof or exterior of any building as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare to be an exterior feature for the purposes of this Act; [34/2004 wef 01/10/2004] |
|
| “flat” has the same meaning as in the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 158); [34/2004 wef 01/10/2004] |
| “immediate supervision”, in relation to any building works or part thereof, means personally and directly exercising oversight, control and inspection of the carrying out of the building works or part thereof; |
| “key structural elements” means the foundations, columns, beams, shear cores and such other parts of a building which are essential for its support and overall structural stability; |
| “limited common property” has the same meaning as in the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004; [47/2004 wef 01/04/2005] |
| “occupier”, in relation to any building, means the person in occupation of the building or having the charge, management or control thereof, either on his own account or as agent of another, but does not include any lodger within the building; |
“owner”, in relation to —| (a) | any premises or building, means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises or building, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee or as receiver, or who would receive the same if the premises or building were let to a tenant and includes a mortgagee in possession; | | (b) | premises to which the Control of Rent Act (Cap. 58) applies, includes the tenant of the premises; | | (c) | the common property of any subdivided building, includes the management corporation established under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004 having control of the building, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance of that common property or any body corporate constituted under an order made by the Minister under section 3 of the HUDC Housing Estates Act (Cap. 131); [47/2004 wef 01/04/2005] [47/2007 wef 15/02/2008] | | (ca) | the limited common property of any subdivided building, includes the subsidiary management corporation established under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004 having control of the limited common property, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance of that limited common property; [47/2004 wef 01/04/2005] | | (d) | the common property of residential and commercial property in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board, means that Board; and | | (e) | the common property of any building which is not subdivided, includes any person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of that common property; |
|
“person responsible”, in relation to an exterior feature of a building, means —| (a) | the owner of the premises or building which the exterior feature is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from, except as otherwise provided by paragraph (b), (c), (d) or (e); | | (b) | where the exterior feature (other than any window, grille or shutter) is part of the common property of any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board, either that Board or the Town Council established under the Town Councils Act (Cap. 329A) for that housing estate, as the Minister shall designate for that exterior feature; | | (c) | where the exterior feature (other than any window, grille or shutter) is part of the common property of any other land (whether or not comprised in a strata title plan) not referred to in paragraph (b), the person who has charge of the maintenance of such common property, unless otherwise provided by paragraph (e); | | (d) | where the exterior feature is a window, grille or shutter —| (i) | if the window, grille or shutter is part of a flat in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board (whether or not it is common property), the owner of that flat as defined in the Housing and Development Act (Cap. 129); | | (ii) | if the window, grille or shutter is part of any flat other than a flat under sub-paragraph (i) (whether or not it is common property), the owner of that flat; and | | (iii) | in any other case, such person who ordinarily has daily charge or control over the maintenance and use of such window, grille or shutter; or |
| | (e) | such other person as may be prescribed under section 22C as the person responsible for the exterior feature; [34/2004 wef 01/10/2004] |
|
“plans”, in relation to any building works —| (a) | includes drawings, details, diagrams, structural details and calculations showing or relating to the building works; and | | (b) | if prepared in electronic form, includes the medium in which the plans of building works have been stored; [18/2003 wef 01/01/2004] |
|
| “premises” includes buildings, lands, easements and hereditaments of any tenure; |
“qualified person” means a person who is registered as —| (a) | an architect under the Architects Act (Cap. 12) and has in force a practising certificate issued under that Act; or | | (b) | a professional engineer under the Professional Engineers Act (Cap. 253) and has in force a practising certificate issued under that Act; |
|
| “repealed Act” means the Building Control Act (Cap. 29, 1985 Ed.) in force immediately before 1st May 1989; |
| “retrofit”, in relation to an exterior feature, means to modify or re-install the exterior feature as if installing the exterior feature for the first time; [34/2004 wef 01/10/2004] |
| “short-lived materials” means any building materials which are, in the absence of special care, liable to rapid deterioration or are otherwise unsuitable for use in the construction of permanent buildings; |
| “site supervisor” means a site supervisor of building works appointed under section 10; |
| “structural elements” means those parts or elements of a building which resist forces and moments, and includes foundations, beams, columns, shear cores, slabs, roof trusses , staircases, load bearing walls and all other elements designed to resist forces and moments but does not include doors, windows and non-load bearing walls; [34/2004 wef 01/10/2004] [47/2007 wef 15/02/2008] |
| “structural works” means works in relation to the structural elements of the building works; [18/2003 wef 01/01/2004] |
| “temporary building” means any building or structure constructed of short-lived materials or permitted to be used by the competent authority or Commissioner of Building Control for a period not exceeding 36 months or such other period as may be prescribed; |
| “temporary occupation licence” means a temporary occupation licence issued under section 8(1) of the repealed Act; |
| “temporary occupation permit” means a temporary occupation permit granted under section 21(2); |
| “unauthorised”, in relation to a building or building works, means any building erected, or any building works commenced or carried out, in contravention of any provision of this Act or the building regulations; |
| “ventilating system” means a mechanical system for introducing or exhausting air. [22/91; 23/91; 18/95; 12/97; 3/98; 4/99; 36/99] |
| (2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a building includes a reference to a part of a building. |
|
| 3.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint such person or persons as he thinks fit to be the Commissioner of Building Control responsible for the operation of this Act, either generally or for any particular Part or provision of this Act or for any particular regulations made under this Act, and may in the notification specify the extent of and manner in which that responsibility is to be exercised. [4/99] (2) Subject to the directions of the Commissioner of Building Control, the powers conferred and the duties imposed on the Commissioner of Building Control under this Act and the building regulations may be exercised and carried out by —| (a) | any public officer; and | | (b) | any qualified person who is in the employment of —| (i) | the Housing and Development Board; | | (ii) | the Land Transport Authority of Singapore; or | | (iii) | such other public authority constituted by any written law as the Minister may approve for the purpose, |
|
| generally or specially authorised by name or office by the Commissioner of Building Control. |
[18/95; 4/99] |
(3) Any qualified person who is generally or specially authorised under subsection (2) to exercise the powers or to carry out the duties of the Commissioner of Building Control under this Act shall —| (a) | be deemed to be public officers for the purposes of this Act; and | | (b) | be public servants within the meaning of the Penal Code (Cap. 224). [4/99] |
|
|
|
