PART 1 | 1. This Act is the Building Control Act 1989. |
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 or her own behalf or on behalf of an accredited checking organisation; |
| “accredited checking organisation” means an accredited checking organisation registered as such under section 16; |
| “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 5(3); |
| “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 the person’s 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; |
| “builder’s licence” means a general builder’s licence or a specialist builder’s licence granted under Part 5A; |
“building” means any permanent or temporary building or structure and includes —| (a) | a hut, shed or roofed enclosure; | | (b) | an earth retaining or stabilising structure, whether permanent or temporary; | | (c) | a dock, wharf or jetty; | | (ca) | a floating structure, not being a boat or vessel, constructed or to be constructed on a flotation system that —| (i) | is or is to be supported by water; | | (ii) | is not intended for or useable in navigation; and | | (iii) | is or is to be permanently moored; |
| | (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 1997; and | | (g) | such other erection or structure (whether permanent or temporary) as the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, declare to be a building; |
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| “Building and Construction Authority” means the Building and Construction Authority established under section 3 of the Building and Construction Authority Act 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 connected with or carried out for the purpose of paragraph (a), (b) or (c); |
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| “certificate of statutory completion” means a certificate of statutory completion issued under section 12; |
| “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 meaning given by the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004; |
| “competent authority” means the competent authority appointed under section 5 of the Planning Act 1998 in respect of the development of land; |
| “developer”, in relation to any building works, means the person for whom or on whose behalf the building works are carried out; |
| “earth retaining structure” means any structure, structural system or other means used to maintain the shape of excavation during construction, earth filling or cutting; |
“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; |
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| “flat” has the meaning given by the Land Titles (Strata) Act 1967; |
| “general building works” means any building works other than specialist building works; |
“geotechnical aspects”, in relation to any geotechnical building works, means —| (a) | an analysis of the geological structure and earth materials of the site of the geotechnical building works and its influence on the geotechnical building works; | | (b) | an analysis of the ground water regime and its influence on the wall stability and integrity of the geotechnical building works over time; and | | (c) | such other applications of earth sciences to and engineering aspects of the geotechnical building works as may be prescribed; |
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“geotechnical building works” means any of the following building works: | (a) | any excavation or other building works to make —| (i) | a tunnel with a diameter, width or height of more than 2 metres; or | | (ii) | a caisson, cofferdam, trench, ditch, shaft or well with a depth of more than 6 metres; |
| | (b) | any building works for constructing, altering or repairing any earth retaining structure in or for a trench, ditch, shaft or well with a depth or height of more than 6 metres; | | (c) | any earthworks or other building works for constructing or stabilising a slope with a height of more than 6 metres (measured as the vertical distance between the highest level and lowest level of the slope); | | (d) | any type of foundation works that the Minister may prescribe in the building regulations for buildings of 30 storeys or more; |
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| “geotechnical engineer” means a professional engineer who is registered under the Professional Engineers Act 1991 as a specialist professional engineer in the specialised branch of geotechnical engineering; |
| “Housing and Development Board” means the Housing and Development Board established under section 3 of the Housing and Development Act 1959; |
| “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; |
| “insignificant building works” means any building works that are prescribed under section 4(d); |
| “key structural elements” means the foundations, columns, beams, shear cores, structural walls, struts, ground anchors and any other parts of a building which are essential for its support and overall structural stability; |
| “large building works” means any building works that are prescribed for the purposes of section 7(1)(b); |
| “limited common property” has the meaning given by the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act 2004; |
| “limited liability partnership” has the meaning given by section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act 2005; |
| “major building works” means building works other than minor building works; |
| “minor building works” means building works (not being geotechnical building works) that are prescribed in the building regulations as building works the plans of which do not require a certification from an accredited checker for the purposes of section 5 or 5A; |
| “occupier”, in relation to any building, means the person in occupation of the building or having the charge, management or control thereof, either on the person’s own account or as agent of another, but does not include any lodger within the building; |
“owner” —| (a) | in relation to any premises comprised in a strata title plan under the Land Titles (Strata) Act (Cap. 158), means —| (i) | in relation to a lot — any person who is the registered subsidiary proprietor of the lot under that Act; | | (ii) | in relation to the common property — the management corporation having control of the common property, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of that common property; and | | (iii) | in relation to any limited common property — the subsidiary management corporation established under the Building Maintenance and Strata Management Act (Cap. 30C) having control of the limited common property, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of that limited common property; |
| | (b) | in relation to any building in a housing estate of the Housing and Development Board, means —| (i) | in relation to a flat — any owner of the flat as defined under the Housing and Development Act 1959; and | | (ii) | in relation to the common property of residential and commercial property in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board — that Board; |
| | (c) | in relation to any subdivided building other than a subdivided building referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), means —| (i) | in relation to a lot — any person who is the registered proprietor in the land‑register under the Land Titles Act 1993 of the fee simple, estate in perpetuity or leasehold estate of that lot; and | | (ii) | in relation to the common property — every person who is a registered proprietor in the land‑register under the Land Titles Act 1993 of the fee simple, estate in perpetuity or leasehold estate of a lot in that building, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of the common property; |
| | (d) | in relation to any premises which are not subdivided — means any person who is the registered proprietor of the fee simple, estate in perpetuity or leasehold estate of those premises in the land-register under the Land Titles Act 1993; and | | (e) | where paragraphs (a) to (d) do not apply — means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises or building, whether on the person’s 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 the person whose name is entered in the Valuation List prepared under section 10 of the Property Tax Act 1960 as the owner of the premises or building, or a mortgagee in possession; |
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“person responsible”, in relation to an exterior feature of a building, means —| (a) | the owner of the building which the exterior feature is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from, unless otherwise provided by paragraph (b), (c) or (d); | | (b) | subject to paragraph (c), where the exterior feature is part of —| (i) | 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 1988 for that housing estate, as the Minister shall designate for that exterior feature; or | | (ii) | the common property or limited common property of any other land (whether or not comprised in a strata title plan) — the owner thereof, unless otherwise provided by paragraph (d); |
| | (c) | where the exterior feature is a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat —| (i) | in the case of a flat in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board — the owner of the flat as defined in the Housing and Development Act 1959; or | | (ii) | in the case of any other flat — the owner of that flat; or |
| | (d) | any other person that may be prescribed under section 22C as the person responsible for the exterior feature; |
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“plans”, in relation to any building works —| (a) | includes drawings, details, diagrams, digital representations generated from building information modelling, 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; |
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| “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 1991 and has in force a practising certificate issued under that Act; or | | (b) | a professional engineer under the Professional Engineers Act 1991 and has in force a practising certificate issued under that Act; |
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| “repealed Act” means the Building Control Act (Cap. 29, 1985 Revised Edition) in force immediately before 1 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; |
| “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 person appointed (whether alone or as a member of a team of site supervisors) under section 10 to be a site supervisor in respect of any small‑scale or large building works; |
| “small-scale building works” means any building works that are prescribed for the purposes of section 7(1)(c); |
| “specialist accredited checker” means an accredited checker who is registered under section 16 to undertake the work of an accredited checker as regards the geotechnical aspects of any geotechnical building works; |
| “specialist builder” means any person who is licensed under Part 5A as a specialist builder; |
“specialist building works” means the following types of building works:| (a) | piling works comprising installation and testing of pre‑cast reinforced concrete or pre‑stressed concrete piles, steel piles, bored cast‑in‑place reinforced concrete piles, caissons and special pile types like micro‑piles, barrettes piles and composite piles, embedded retaining wall piles like diaphragm walls, contiguous bored piles or secant piles; | | (b) | ground support and stabilisation works, including installation and testing of ground anchors, soil nails, rock bolts, ground treatment like chemical grouting and jet‑grouting, reinforced‑earth, shotcreting and tunnel supports; | | (c) | site investigation work comprising field investigations, exploratory drilling or boring, logging, sampling, coring, in‑situ plate‑loading tests, pressure meter tests, penetration tests, vane shear tests, probing tests, permeability tests, geological mapping and geophysical surveys, and installation and monitoring of instruments measuring forces, deformation, displacements, pore and earth pressures, and ground water levels; | | (d) | structural steelwork comprising —| (i) | fabrication of structural elements; | | (ii) | erection work like site cutting, site welding and site bolting; and | | (iii) | installation of steel supports for geotechnical building works; |
| | (e) | pre-cast concrete work comprising fabrication of pre‑cast structural elements; | | (f) | in-situ post-tensioning work comprising setting out of tendon profiles, laying of conduits, anchorages and bursting reinforcement, pulling or stressing of cables, pressure grouting of conduits; and | | (g) | such other building works as the Minister may, by order in the Gazette, declare to be specialist building works; |
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| “structural elements” means those parts or elements of a building which resist forces and moments, and includes foundations, beams, columns, shear cores, structural walls, struts, ground anchors, slabs, 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; |
| “structural works” means works in relation to the structural elements of the building works; |
“temporary building” means —| (a) | any building or structure not more than 2 storeys high constructed of short‑lived materials; | | (b) | any other building or structure not more than 2 storeys high permitted to be used by the competent authority or Commissioner of Building Control for a period not exceeding 36 months, or any other period that may be prescribed (if prescribed) in the building regulations; | | (c) | any building used as workers’ quarters, a site office, a show‑flat or show‑house, a builder’s shed, store or other shed required in connection with any building works for a permanent building; or | | (d) | any structure used only for the outdoor display of an advertisement or signboard, |
| but does not include any bridge, any decking for a bridge, or any earth retaining structure; |
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| “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 12(3); |
| “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; |
“value”, in relation to any building works, means —| (a) | for any geotechnical building works — the total cost to be expended in carrying out those building works estimated at the time of, and contained in, the application under section 5 for approval of the plans of those building works, including any goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work; or | | (b) | for any other building works — the total cost to be expended in carrying out the building works (including the foundations, basements, structural frame, finishes and the installation of building services) estimated at the time of, and contained in, the application under section 5 for approval of the plans of the building works, including any goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work; |
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| “ventilating system” means a mechanical system for introducing or exhausting air. [26/2000; 18/2003; 34/2004; 47/2004; 47/2007; 22/2012; 4/2021] |
| (2) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a building includes a reference to a part of a building. |
(3) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, vary any of the following referred to in the definition of “geotechnical building works” in subsection (1):| (a) | the diameter, width or height of any tunnel; | | (b) | the depth of any caisson, cofferdam, trench, ditch, shaft or well; | | (c) | the depth or height of any earth retaining structure in or for a trench, ditch, shaft or well; | | (ca) | the height of any slope; | | (d) | the number of storeys in a building. [47/2007; 22/2012] |
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(4) Any reference in this Act to a person being an associate of a developer or builder of building works is a reference to any of the following persons:| (a) | any partner of the developer or builder; | | (b) | any body corporate in which the developer or builder is a substantial shareholder as defined in section 81 of the Companies Act 1967; | | (c) | if the developer or builder is a body corporate —| (i) | a person who is a substantial shareholder of that body corporate as defined in section 81 of the Companies Act 1967; or | | (ii) | a director, secretary or similar executive officer of the body corporate; |
| | (d) | any body corporate of which the developer or builder is a director, secretary or similar executive officer; | | (e) | where the developer or builder is a trustee — a beneficiary or an object of the discretionary trust; | | (f) | any employer or employee of the developer or builder. [47/2007] |
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(4A) For the purposes of subsection (4)(b) and (c)(i) —| (a) | section 7(5) of the Companies Act 1967 does not apply with respect to the determination of whether a person is a substantial shareholder as defined in section 81 of that Act; and | | (b) | in applying section 7(4A) of the Companies Act 1967 to determine whether a person is a substantial shareholder as defined in section 81 of that Act, a person is an associate of another person if the firstmentioned person is —| (i) | a corporation that, by virtue of section 6 of that Act, is deemed to be related to that other person; | | (ii) | a person in accordance with whose directions, instructions or wishes that other person is accustomed or is under an obligation (whether formal or informal) to act in relation to the share mentioned in section 7(4) of that Act; | | (iii) | a person who is accustomed or is under an obligation (whether formal or informal) to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of that other person in relation to that share; | | (iv) | a body corporate that is, or a majority of the directors of which are, accustomed or under an obligation (whether formal or informal) to act in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of that other person in relation to that share; or | | (v) | a body corporate in accordance with the directions, instructions or wishes of which, or of a majority of the directors of which, that other person is under an obligation (whether formal or informal) to act in relation to that share. [35/2014] |
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(5) Where —| (a) | by or under any provision of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made under this Act an act or thing is required or directed to be done within a particular period or before a particular time; | | (b) | failure to do that act or thing within the period or before the time mentioned in paragraph (a) constitutes an offence; and | | (c) | that act or thing is not done within the period or before the time mentioned in paragraph (a), |
| the obligation to do that act or thing continues, even though that period has expired or that time has passed, until that act or thing is done; and if the failure to do that act or thing within the period or before the time mentioned in paragraph (a) is an offence, a person shall be guilty of a separate offence in respect of each day (including the day of a conviction for any such offence or any later day) or part of a day during which the person continues to refuse or fail to comply with that requirement or direction. |
[47/2007] |
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3.—(1) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint any person or persons that the Minister 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.(2) The Commissioner of Building Control may generally or specially authorise, by name or office, any of the following persons to exercise or carry out, subject to such conditions or limitations as the Commissioner of Building Control may specify by directions, all or any of the powers conferred or duties imposed on the Commissioner of Building Control under this Act:| (a) | any public officer; | | (b) | any officer of the Building and Construction Authority; | | (c) | any officer of such other public authority constituted by any written law as the Minister may approve for this purpose. [2/2012] |
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(3) Any person who is authorised under subsection (2) to exercise any power or carry out any duty of the Commissioner of Building Control under this Act —| (a) | must, when exercising that power or carrying out that duty, comply with the directions of the Commissioner of Building Control; | | (b) | is deemed to be a public servant for the purposes of the Penal Code 1871; and | | (c) | if the person is an officer mentioned in subsection (2)(b) or (c), is deemed to be a public officer for the purposes of this Act. [2/2012] |
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