Environmental Conditions for Buildings and Constructions

Sl. No.

Medium

Environmental Conditions

(1)

(2)

(3)

1

Topography and Natural Drainage

The natural drain system shall be maintained for ensuring unrestricted flow of water. No construction shall be allowed to obstruct the natural drainage through the site. No construction is allowed on wetland and water bodies. Check dams, bio-swales, landscape, and other sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are allowed for maintaining the drainage pattern and to harvest rain water.

Buildings shall be designed to follow the natural topography as much as possible. Minimum cutting and filling should be done.

2

Water Conservation, Rain Water Harvesting and Ground Water Recharge

A complete plan for rain water harvesting, water efficiency and conservation should be prepared and implemented.

Use of water efficient appliances should be promoted with low flow fixtures or sensors.

The local bye-law provisions on rain water harvesting should be followed. If local bye-law provision is not available, adequate provision for storage and recharge should be followed as per the Ministry of Urban Development Model Building Bye-laws, 2016.

A rain water harvesting plan needs to be designed where the recharge bores of minimum one recharge bore per 5,000 square meters of built up area and storage capacity of minimum one day of total fresh water requirement shall be provided. In areas where ground water recharge is not feasible, the rain water should be harvested and stored for reuse. The ground water shall not be withdrawn without approval from the Competent Authority.

All recharge should be limited to shallow aquifer.

2(a)

At least 20 per cent of the open spaces as required by the local building bye-laws shall be pervious. Use of Grass pavers, paver blocks, landscape etc. with at least 50 per cent opening in paving which would be considered as pervious surface.

3

Waste Management

Solid waste: Separate wet and dry bins must be provided in each unit and at the ground level for facilitating segregation of waste.

Sewage: Onsite sewage treatment of capacity of treating 100 per cent waste water to be installed. Treated waste water shall be reused on site for landscape, flushing, cooling tower, and other end-uses. Excess treated water shall be discharged as per statutory norms notified by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Natural treatment systems shall be promoted.

Sludge from the onsite sewage treatment, including septic tanks, shall be collected, conveyed and disposed as per the Ministry of Urban Development, Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO) Manual on Sewerage and Sewage Treatment Systems, 2013.

The provisions of the Solid Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 and the e-waste (Management) Rules, 2016, and the Plastics Waste (Management) Rules, 2016 shall be followed.

3(a)

All non-biodegradable waste shall be handed over to authorized recyclers for which a written tie up must be done with the authorized recyclers.

3(b)

Organic waste compost/Vermiculture pit with a minimum capacity of 0.3 kg per person per day must be installed.

4

Energy

Compliance with the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) of Bureau of Energy Efficiency shall be ensured. Buildings in the States which have notified their own ECBC, shall comply with the State ECBC.

Outdoor and common area lighting shall be Light Emitting Diode (LED).

Concept of passive solar design that minimize energy consumption in buildings by using design elements, such as building orientation, landscaping, efficient building envelope, appropriate fenestration, increased day lighting design and thermal mass etc. shall be incorporated in the building design.

Wall, window, and roof u-values shall be as per ECBC specifications.

4(a)

Solar, wind or other Renewable Energy shall be installed to meet electricity generation equivalent to 1 per cent of the demand load or as per the state leve1/local building bye-laws requirement, whichever is higher.

4(b)

Solar water heating shall be provided to meet 20 per cent of the hot water demand of the commercial and institutional building or as per the requirement of the local building bye-laws, whichever is higher. Residential buildings are also recommended to meet its hot water demand from solar water heaters, as far as possible.

4(c)

Use of environment friendly materials in bricks, blocks and other construction materials, shall be required for at least 20 per cent of the construction material quantity. These include fly ash bricks, hollow bricks, Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC), Fly Ash Lime Gypsum blocks, Compressed earth blocks, and other environment friendly materials.

Fly ash should be used as building material in the construction as per the provisions of the Fly Ash Notification, S.O. 763(E) dated 14th September, 1999 as amended from time to time.

5

Air Quality and Noise

Roads leading to or at construction sites must be paved and blacktopped (i.e. metallic roads).

No excavation of soil shall be carried out without adequate dust mitigation measures in place.

No loose soil or sand or Construction & Demolition Waste or any other construction material that causes dust shall be left uncovered.

Wind breaker of appropriate height i.e. 1/3rd of the building height and maximum up to 10 meters shall be provided.

Water sprinkling system shall be put in place.

Dust mitigation measures shall be displayed prominently at the construction site for easy public viewing.

Grinding and cutting of building materials in open area shall be prohibited.

Construction material and waste should be stored only within earmarked area and road side storage of construction material and waste shall be prohibited.

No uncovered vehicles carrying construction material and waste shall be permitted.

Construction and Demolition Waste processing and disposal site shall be identified and required dust mitigation measures be notified at the site.

Dust, smoke and other air pollution prevention measures shall be provided for the building as well as the site.

Wet jet shall be provided for grinding and stone cutting.

Unpaved surfaces and loose soil shall be adequately sprinkled with water to suppress dust.

All demolition and construction waste shall be managed as per the provisions of the Construction and Demolition Waste Rules, 2016.

All workers working at the construction site and involved in loading, unloading, carriage of construction material and construction debris or working in any area with dust pollution shall be provided with dust mask.

For indoor air quality the ventilation provisions as per National Building Code of India.

5(a)

The location of the Genset and exhaust pipe height shall be as per the provisions of the statutory norms notified by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The Genset installed for the project shall follow the emission limits, noise limits and general conditions notified by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change vide GSR 281(E) dated 7th March 2016 as amended from time to time.

6

Green Cover

A minimum of 1 tree for every 80 sq.mt. of land should be planted and maintained. The existing trees will be counted for this purpose. Preference should be given to planting native species.

6(a)

Where the trees need to be cut, compensatory plantation in the ratio of 1:3 (i.e. planting of 3 trees for every 1 tree that is cut) shall be done and maintained.

7

Top Soil preservation and reuse

Topsoil should be stripped to a depth of 20 cm from the areas proposed for buildings, roads, paved areas, and external services.

It should be stockpiled appropriately in designated areas and reapplied during plantation of the proposed vegetation on site.

8

Transport

The building plan shall be aligned with the approved comprehensive mobility plan (as per Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs best practices guidelines (URDPFI)).