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; |
| [Deleted by Act 23 of 2023 wef 18/12/2023] |
| “amended plans” means plans showing any deviation from, or any amendment or addition to, any plans of building works approved or deemed approved under section 5(3) or 5AA(1); [Act 23 of 2023 wef 18/12/2023] |
| “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; |
“escalator” means a machine-powered installation comprising —| (a) | a stairway with continuously moving steps and handrails carrying people between different floors of a building; or | | (b) | a continuously moving walkway for conveying people between different parts of a building or between 2 buildings, |
| and includes a passenger conveyor, and any supporting structure, machinery, equipment, apparatus and enclosure used or designed for use for operating the escalator; |
[Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
“exterior feature”, in relation to any building, means any permanent feature of a building that —| (a) | is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from the roof or exterior of the building; and | | (b) | is prescribed by building regulations; [Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
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“fixed installation” means any of the following machine-powered installations:| (a) | an escalator; | | (b) | a lift; | | (c) | a mechanised car parking system, |
| and includes any supporting structure, machinery, equipment, apparatus and enclosure used or designed for use for operating a fixed installation; |
[Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
“fixed installation owner”, for a fixed installation, means —| (a) | where the fixed installation is part of any common property of a housing estate of the Housing and Development Board —| (i) | the Town Council established under the Town Councils Act 1988* with the duty to maintain that common property in that housing estate; or | | (ii) | where there is no such Town Council — the Board; |
| | (b) | where the fixed installation is part of any common property or limited common property comprised in a strata title plan — the management corporation or subsidiary management corporation having control of the common property or limited common property (as the case may be) or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of that common property or limited common property, as the case may be; | | (c) | where the fixed installation is part of any common property not comprised in a strata title plan and is not described in paragraph (a) or (c) — 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 common property or a mortgagee in possession; | | (d) | where the fixed installation is comprised in a lot of a subdivided building (whether or not in a strata title plan) and is not part of any common property — any person who is the registered proprietor or registered subsidiary proprietor (as the case may be) in the land-register under the Land Titles Act 1993* of the fee simple, estate in perpetuity or leasehold estate of that lot; | | (e) | where the fixed installation is not in a subdivided building and is not part of any common property but is installed or operated in, or in connection with, a building — the owner of that building; or | | (f) | in any other case — a person with a legal or beneficial interest in the fixed installation and who is prescribed in building regulations for that fixed installation or class of fixed installations to which that installation belongs, |
| but excludes a supplier (or an agent of a supplier) of a fixed installation who, by reason only of a contract for the sale or installation of the fixed installation, retains the ownership of the fixed installation pending any payment of the price or other consideration for that sale or installation; |
[Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
“fixed installation works” means —| (a) | the installation of any fixed installation; | | (b) | the carrying out of such major alteration or replacement works as may be prescribed in respect of any fixed installation; or | | (c) | the testing and commissioning, following the completion of any works mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b), of any fixed installation; [Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
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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); |
| “licensed general builder” means a person to whom a general builder’s licence is granted but excludes the person when the general builder’s licence is not in force; [Act 12 of 2020 wef 09/12/2022] |
| “licensed specialist builder”, for any specialist building works, means a person to whom a specialist builder’s licence is granted in respect of those specialist building works but excludes the person when that specialist builder’s licence is not in force; [Act 12 of 2020 wef 09/12/2022] |
“lift” means a machine‑powered installation that —| (a) | is, or is intended to be, installed in or attached to a building or part of a building or without being attached to any building; | | (b) | is designed for raising or lowering people, or people and things in combination; and | | (c) | has a car, cage or platform, the direction or movement of which is substantially vertical and restricted by a guide or guides, |
| and includes any supporting structure, machinery, equipment, apparatus and enclosure used or designed for use for operating a lift, but does not include a mechanised car parking system; |
[Act 12 of 2020 wef 09/12/2022] |
| “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; |
| “lodgment” means a lodgment of plans with the Commissioner of Building Control for the purpose of section 5AA; [Act 23 of 2023 wef 18/12/2023] |
| “lodgment works” means building works which are prescribed as lodgment works in the building regulations; [Act 23 of 2023 wef 18/12/2023] |
| “major building works” means building works other than minor building works; |
“mechanised car parking system” means a machine‑powered installation that —| (a) | is, or is intended to be, installed independently of, or installed in or attached to, a building or part of a building; and | | (b) | is designed solely for the automated vertical or lateral movement of vehicles connected with parking and retrieval of those vehicles, |
| and includes any supporting structure, machinery, equipment, apparatus and enclosure used or designed for use for operating the mechanised car parking system; |
[Act 12 of 2020 wef 09/12/2022] |
| “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 —| (i) | the application under section 5 for approval of the plans of the building works; or | | (ii) | the documents that are lodged together with the plans of the building works for the purpose of section 5AA, |
| as the case may be, including any goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work; |
[Act 23 of 2023 wef 18/12/2023] |
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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] [*Updated to be consistent with the 2020 Revised Edition] |
| (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, or such extended period or time as the Commissioner of Building Control may allow under subsection (6); [Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] | | (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] |
| (6) The Commissioner of Building Control may, upon an application, grant an extension of time within which the person is required by or under this Act or any subsidiary legislation made under this Act to do or not to do any thing (whether for the same or less than the period of extension applied for), upon being satisfied that there are good reasons to do so. [Act 12 of 2020 wef 01/01/2022] |
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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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