E-Paper
Safety standards set low for Delhi buildings
NDMA has proposed the setting up of a tall building council for the Capital
The highlight of Delhi’s Master Plan 2021 is vertical growth to accommodate the Capital’s growing population. Despite that, a formal code for tall buildings does not exist in the country, and most buildings are designed at ‘collapse prevention level’ – which is a minimum performance standard.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has, however, come up with a proposal to set up a Delhi tall building council (DTBC) on the lines of the Mumbai’s Tall Building Committee.
The proposal was sent to the Delhi government for its approval 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 as a tool for better management of tall buildings much before such projects come up on the ground, says an NDMA source.
The role of the tall building 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 the city, a higher level of technical knowledge and stringent requirements that may not be laid down in the municipal bylaws will be required, the proposal says.
The draft proposes that every agency that wishes to construct a tall building on the land that falls under the Delhi government, will be required to present a technical dossier to the proposed tall building council of the government of Delhi.
Potential members of the DTBC could include senior structural engineers with wind and earthquake design experience, senior architects with architectural design and facade design experience, senior fire engineers, senior geophysicists, green building engineers.
