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Vandana Ramnani [email protected]

India has five tall buildings,the highest being the 117-sto-

rey World One project in

Mumbai, that have made itto the recently released Council

on Tall Buildings and UrbanHabitats list of 100 tallest

buildings under construction

in the world 2013. The countryhas over 100 tall structures that

are ready and another 200 are

in the pipeline.What is alarming is that

despite the country not having

a tall buildings code, both Noidaand Gurgaon, which are part

of the high-risk seismic zone4, are building 50-storey-plus

structures, and Delhis Master

Plan 2021 focuses on verticaldevelopment as the only way

forward.

Structural and seismicengineering experts lay great

emphasis on the fact that a

specialised tall buildings codeis the need of the hour. In its

absence, most tall projects in the

country are being constructedin consultation with interna-

tional experts who h ave workedon similar projects abroad.

While theres nothing wrong

in following international bestpractices or codes, nobody can

be held accountable if an even-

tuality like an earthquake wereto occur and destroy or damage

buildings, say experts.

They also point out that mostbuilding codes in the country

are almost a decade-old or moreand applicable to structures of

up to only nine to 10 storeys.There are also no mandatory

specialised provisions for wind

or earthquake loads that are

prerequisites for construct-ing tall structures. What this

means is that in the eventuality

of an earthquake in the zone3 or zone 4 areas, nobody can

be held accountable if there is

damage to the structures, asthese have been built according

to the existing code. Developersattempting to build structures

above 50 storeys should know

that the outcome will be similarto an automobile manufacturer

attempting to make aircraft, the

experts warn.Mumbai has tried to make

up for the absence of a tall

buildings code by setting upa tall buildings committee

which reviews the projects. TheNational Management Disaster

Authority (NDMA) had also pro-posed the setting up of a Delhi

Tall Buildings Council to the

Delhi government in 2011. That,

at best, can only be a stop-gaparrangement. The need of the

hour is a tall buildings code,

say experts.Rama Raman, CEO, Noida

Authority, agrees. As of now,

developers planning to buildtall structures are expected

to submit no-objection certifi-cates with the auth ority. These

include clearances from the

airport authorities and thefire department. We, too, may

consider setting up a council

Continued on page 12

Related stories on page 12

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N E W D E L H I , S A T U R D AY , J A N U A R Y 2 5 , 2 0 1 4 , 1 4 P A G E S w w w . h i n d u s t a n t i m e s . c o m

takefive

what are the codes all about?

* The rates, in rupees, are indicative only Source: Makaan.com

RENT AND CAPITAL RATESFARIDABAD (RESIDENTIAL)

Location Rental (per sq ft*) Capital (per sq ft*)

Ashoka Enclave 9-11 6000-10000

Badkal Lake 8-10 4000-9000

BPTP 7-14 3000-4000

Charmwood Village 18-20 9000-11000

Green Field 10-13 3000-6000

Nahar Par 8-10 3000-4000

NIT 7-11 4000-6000

Palwal 5-10 2000-3000

Codes versus guidelines:Codes are legallyenforceable but guidelines are for designers and are notlegally enforceable. India has neither a tall building code norguidelines

Ensuring earthquake protection: There are anumber of advanced technologies available in the world forprotecting buildings from earthquakes shock transmissiondevices, dampers, etc

Zero accountability: The Bureau of Indian Standardscodes are for general buildings that are up to nine to 10storeys high. While following an international code is fine,using the existing building code meant for 10 storeys is funda-mentally wrong. Both cases offer zero accountability

Responsibilities of a developer: Any developerconstructing a tall building has to submit a detailed plan of theproject. He is also expected to carry out surveys such as windload, earthquake load, environment impact, traffic impact etc

What is required: Awareness and updation of codesevery two to three years. Public should also be made awarethat even if the code prescribes that the building adheres to thelowest level, it can be designed to the next level

Talk to us

Should India have a tallbuildings code?Why or why not?Write to us on facebook.com/htestates

SPECIAL ISSUE

SAFELIVES,SAFEBUILDINGS

SAFETY BE DAMNED

Safety standards set low for Delhi buildings


The highlight of Delhis

Master Plan 2021 is verti-cal growth to accommo-

date the Capitals growing popu-

lation. Despite that, a formalcode for tall buildings does not

exist in the country, and mostbuildings are designed at col-

lapse prevention level which

is a minimum performance

standard.

The National DisasterMa na gem ent Autho ri ty

(NDMA) has, however, come up

with a proposal to set up a Delhitall building council (DTBC) on

the lines of the Mumbais Tall

Building Committee.The proposal was sent to

the Delhi government for itsapproval in 2011. The idea

behind the document will be

to ensure that Delhi is prepared

to meet the challenges related

to tall structures and use it asa tool for better management

of tall buildings much before

such projects come up on theground, says an NDMA source.

The role of the tall build-ing council, as proposed in the

document, will be to guide the

city as it transits from low-rise/medium height structures to

safer tall buildings. As more

tall buildings come up in thecity, a higher level of techni-

cal knowledge and stringentrequirements that may not

be laid down in the municipal

bylaws will be required, the

proposal says.

The draft proposes thatevery agency that wishes to

construct a tall building on the

land that falls under the Delhigovernment, will be required

to present a technical dossier tothe proposed tall building coun-

cil of the government of Delhi.

Potential members of theDTBC could include senior

structural engineers with wind

and earthquake design expe-rience, senior architects with

architectural design and facadedesign experience, senior fire

engineers, senior geophysicists,

green building engineers.

Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon, all part of the high-risk seismic zone 4,are getting ready to go as high as 80 floors. What is alarming is thatthe city does not have a tall buildings code for safety of structures

NDMA has proposed the setting up of atall building council for the Capital

TALL BUILDINGS CODES AROUND THE WORLDChina: The Chinese code iscalled JGJ 3-2010 TechnicalSpecification for ConcreteStructures of Tall Building. Thisis considered the best code inthe world by expertsUS: Tall Buildings Initiative:Guidelines for performance-based seismic design of tallbuildings; Los Angeles TallBuildings Structural DesignCouncil: An alternative proce-dure for seismic analysis and

design of tall buildings located inthe Los Angeles region;Recommendations for the seis-mic design of high-rise buildingsby the Council of Tall Buildingsand Urban Habitat (CTBUH)Japan: The document usuallyreferred to as the JapaneseCode is the Building StandardLaw, including its enforcementorder, which contains require-ments enabling implementationof the Building Standard Law

THINKSTOCK

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12htestatesHINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHI,SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2014

on the lines of the Mumbai tallbuildings committee, Raman

adds.Interestingly, local bylaws

do not define tall buildings.Anything above 15 m in height

is generally classified as a high-rise. There is confusion overthe definition of a high-rise

structure and a tall building.Both, a 10-storey building and a

structure above 50 -storey, comeunder the same category. This

is a big loophole, say experts,adding that the Real Estate

(Regulation and Development)Bill, 2013 also does not mention

this issue at all.Most codes in India are 10 to

20 years old. For example, theBureau of Indian Standards

code (BIS) IS 1893 (part 1):2002lays down the criteria forearthquake resistant design

of structures. This is as oldas 2002. Even countries like

Pakistan, Bangladesh andPhilippines have their codes

updated every three years. Whyhave we not updated our codes

for over a decade? The fact thatour codes are not updated is a

big drawback,saysSandeepDonald Shah, managing director,Taylor Design and Engineering

Consultants Pvt Ltd & TaylorDevices India Pvt Ltd, a com-

pany that manufactures earth-quake-absorbing devices such

as dampers.According to Sanjay Prakash,

principal consultant at SHiFt:Studio for Habitat Futures,insurance companies are unpro-

fessionally managed in India.What is needed is an ombuds-

man under the National DisasterManagement Authority, which

might be able to assure that abuilding has been designed and

constructed as per the propercodes.

The issue of accountabilityneeds to be addressed in a bigway. Strangely enough, no engi-

neer in India can be held respon-sible for damage to structures

in any court of law as there isno engineering council such

as the council of architectureunder which architects across

the country are registered. Thecouncil keeps a tab on the stand-ards of practice to be complied

with by the practising architects.A draft of the engineers bill that

proposes setting up a council forengineers has been pending with

the MHRD since 2007, says anNDMA source.

Continued from page 1

SAFETY BE DAMNED

What is a tall building?There is no absolute definition ofwhat constitutes a tall building. Itis a building that exhibits someelement of tallness in one or moreof the following categories:Height relative to contextIt is not just about height, but aboutthe context in which it exists. Thus,

whereas a 14-storey building maynot be considered a tall building in ahigh-rise city such as Chicago orHong Kong, in a provincial European

city or a suburb this may be distinct-ly taller than the urban norm

ProportionAgain, a tall building is not justabout height but also about pro-portion. There are numerousbuildings which are not particular-ly high, but are slender enough togive the appearance of a tall build-ing against low backgrounds.

Tall technologiesIf a building contains technologieswhich may be attributed as being aproduct of tall (eg, specific vertical

transport technologies, structuralwind bracing as a product of height,etc), then this building can beclassed as a tall building. Althoughthe number of floors is a poor indica-tor of defining a tall building due tothe changing floor to floor heightbetween differing buildings andfunctions (eg office versus residen-tial usage), a building of perhaps 14or more storeys or over 50 meters(165 feet) in height could perhaps

be used as a threshold for consider-ing it a tall building.

Source: Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat(CTBUH)

TALL FACTS


Its a safety standard thats bare-

ly there, say housing experts.Most buildings in India are

designed at a collapse preventionlevel which is a minimum per-

formance standard. In countriesaround the world safety of lifeis prioritised.

Developers adhering to suchlow standards can take the easy

way out and not be held respon-sible in case there is extensive

damage to their buildings aftera calamity like an earthquakes.It also costs money to maintain

stringent safety standards. Thecode should clearly state that one

is free to design buildings of ahigher grade, experts add.

Th e N ation al DisasterManagement Guidelines for

ensuring disaster resilient con-struction of buildings and infra-structure financed through banks

and other lending institutionswere brought out in 2010. These

clearly spell out the expected per-formance of buildings (8.2.1) and

assess the safety of buildings infour categories (see box below).

The guidelines mention that thebuilding should be designed so asto meet the minimum perform-

ance level, but it does not stateanywhere that people are free

to design for higher standards.These are some of its administra-

tive flaws, says a seismic expert.Today, low safety standards

are set despite the modern tech-nologies being available to designsafe buildings and maintaining

immediate occupancy (a solidstructure which has all chances

of surviving a quake). In theunfortunate event of a building

collapsing the structural design-er can claim that he cannot be

held accountable as he has fol-lowed the code which requiresminimum safety standards. Hell

simply say that the structure isweak because it conforms to

the minimum requirement, theexpert adds.

The cost of building a struc-ture at an immediate occupancy

level comes to`300 per sq ft morethan collapse prevention level.

Indias structures are built forminimum damage control

Safety compromised in buildingsTHE FOUR PERFORMANCE LEVELS OF BUILDINGS

Fully opera-tional level:This means thebuilding in theaftermath of aquake has everychance ofremaining oper-

ational with electricity, air condi-tioning, lifts etc all working. Nodamage is likely in the buildingand its functions are not likely tobe disrupted

Immediateoccupancy per-formance levelmeans a buildingcan remainintact after anearthquake butits services are

likely to get damaged. The function-ing of such buildings are likely toresume immediately after a quake

Life safety per-formance levelmeans the struc-ture can getdamaged in anearthquake butsuch damagesare likely to be

minor and can be repared. Therecould be significant damage to thebuilding but it would not collapsedand could be retrofitted

Collapse pre-vention per-formance levelmeans the build-ing and its utili-ties can sustainmajor damage inan earthquake.

The structure can also be in thedanger of collapsing completely.The building can also becomeuninhabitable after a quake

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