SPECIAL RULES FOR MULTI-STOREYED AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS RULES, 1974

SPECIAL RULES FOR MULTI-STOREYED AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS RULES, 1974

PREAMBLE

In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 230 and sub-Section (1 of Section 347 of the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 Tamil Nadu Act IV of 1919), the Governor of Tamil Nadu hereby makes the following rules to regulate and restrict buildings and use of sites as multi-storeyed buildings in the City of Chennai the same having been previously published by clause (a) of Section 348 of the said Act:-

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1. Short title, extent and commencement:--

(1) These rules may be called the Special Rules for the Multi-storeyed and Public Buildings, 1974.

(2) They shall extend to the City of Chennai.

(3) They shall come into force at once.

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2. Definitions:--

In these rules, unless there is anything repugnant to the subject or context:

(1) "Corporation" means the Chennai city Municipal Corporation"

(2) "Floor Area Ratio" means the quotient obtained by dividing the total covered area (plinth area) on all floors and 100 by the area of the plot:

		Total Covered area of all floors * 100
Floor Area Ratio	=	________________________________
		Plot area

(3) "Height of buildings" means the height measure from the average level of the central line of the street on which the site abuts:--

(a) in the case of pitched roof, up to skyward surface of the roof.

(4) "Multi-storeyed Buildings" means and includes all buildings with more than four floors (including the ground floor) or whose height is 15 meters or more measured from the average level of the central line of the street on which the site abuts, provided that staircase rooms, lift rooms, chimneys and elevated tanks above the top most floor and architectural features shall not be included in the number of floors in calculating the height of the building.

(5) "Public Building" means a building used or intended to be used either ordinarily or occasionally as a church, temple chapel, mosque or any place of public worship, choultry, college, school, library, theatre, cinema, public concert room, pubic hall, kalyana mandapam, public bath, hospital, nursing home, hotel, restaurant, lodging, lecture room or any other place of public assembly.

Explanation 1:- The terms used in these Rules, unless otherwise expressly stated or specially defined under this rule, will have the same meanings as defined in the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 (Tamil Nadu Act IV of 1919).

Explanation 2:- Any term not specifically defined in this Rule shall have its ordinarily accepted meaning or such meaning as the context may imply; and if any dispute arises as regards the interpretation of any term, the decision of the Corporation Commissioner shall be final."

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3. Application of rules:--

Every multi-storeyed building or pubic building to be contructed, reconstructed, added or altered shall comply with these special rules in addition to the Madras City Corporation Building Rules, 1972.

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4. Application for approval sites and buildings:--

Every application for approval of a site and for permission to construct or reconstruct or add or alter a building made under rule 3 of the Madras City Corporation Building Rules, 1972, shall be accompanied by the following additional particulars:--

1. Site Plan showing:--

(a) the existing and proposed buildings in relation to the boundaries of the site and adjacent streets within a distance of 100 meters.

(b) the means of access from the street or streets to all the buildings existing and proposed in the site, to the parking spaces and facilities provided in the site for scavenging and fire protection.

(c) the spaces to be left about the building for access, arking circulatin, air, light and amenity.

(2) Building plan showing:-

(a) floor plans of all floors and covered area, indicating clearly the line and spacing of all framing members and sizes and arrangement of forms and the position of staircases, ramps and lift wells;

(b) the general layout of the columns and load bearing walls showing the estimated loads, including moments and torques comng on the foundation units;

(c) longitudinal and cross section of the building to show size of footings, basement and superstructure, framing members and details of buildings and room heights and of staircases, etc;

(d) in the case of constructions using steel structures complete design drawings, showing sizes, sections and relative location of the various steel members, floor levels, column centres and off-sets;

(e) in the case of prefabricated buildings, drawings describing the elements of the structure or assembly including all required data of physical properties of component materials with details of joints to an enlarged scale, location of services such as installation of pipes, wiring or other accessories in site or in the prefabricated element and location of handling arrangements for lifting and handling the prefabricated elements; and

(f) plans and sectional details of water-supply and sewage systems of the building;

(g) plans and sectional details relating to the fire safety, detection and extinguishing system.

(3) Detailed specifications giving:

(a) type and grade of materials to be used;

(b) detailed computations and stress diagrams to show the efficiency and correctness of the design; and

(c) type and condition of soil or rock to which the foundation transfers the loads.

4A

4A. Water Conservation. --

For effective conservation of rain water, application for permission to construct a reconstruct or alter or add to a multi-storeyed or public building, shall contain water conservation proposals as detailed below :-

(A) Multi-storeyed Buildings. -- 

(1) Percolation pits of 30 to 45 centimetres diametre and depth adequate, not less than one metre, to recharge the ground, shall be made. This pit shall be filled with suitable filter material such as well-burnt broken bricks (for pebbles) upto 15 centimetres from top. The top 15 centimetres shall be filled up with coarse sand. The top of this pit shall be covered with proforated reinforced concrete cement (RCC) slab or of any other material, wherever considered necessary. The number for such percolation pits shall be provided on the basis of one pit per 30 square metres of available open terrace area or plinth area. The cross distance between the pits shall be minimum 3 metres.

(2) Wherever an open well or borewell is available within the building premises the rain water collected from the open terrace shall be collected through pipes of 150 millimetres diametre or other suitable sizes and led to a filter pit of size 60 centimetres x 60 centimetres x 60 centimetres (with appropriate filter material) and then led into the openwell or borewell through 150 millimetres diametre or other suitable pipes, after filling up a storage tank of sump.

(3) Wherever existing water storage sumps are available, the rain water so collected, after it passes through the filter, shall be allowed to flow to the sump through closed pipes. An over-flow pipe shall be provided to the storage sump to that the surplus water is led into the nearby openwell or borewell or percolation pit.

(4) In addition to the percolation pits of 30 centimetres diametre to be provided at 3 metre interval, a pit of 1 to 1.5 metres width and appropriate depth, so as to recharge the ground, shall be provided all along the plinth boundary depending upon the soil classification below ground. This pit shall be filled with appropriate filter material namely, broken bricks, pebbles, broken stones, etc at the bottom and the top 15 to 25 centimetres shall be filled with coarse sand. The ground or pavement surface around the building shall be sloped towards the percolation pit so that the surplus rain water from terrace and sides, open spaces etc., flow over this sloped surfaces and spread into the filter bed all around masonery dwarf walls of 5 to 7.5 centimetres or of suitable height depending upon the site conditions shall be constructed, if necessary, at the entrance and exit gates to allow the surplus rain water collected within the compound to recharge the ground within the premises itself and from draining out to the road.

(5) If the sub soil is not a Permeable one (namely, clay or black cotton) appropriate recharge structures, narnely recharge shaft or borepit shall be provided below the filtration pits so as recharge the ground.

(B) Multi-storeyed Group Developments with more than one block with the site. -- 

(1) For multi-storeyed ground developments, irrespective of its use, the specifications detailed in item (A) above shall apply.

(2) The surplus surface run-off rain water, in the open spaces within the ground development or industrial or institutional premises shall be allowed to run towards collection drains of suitable size and these drains shall be constructed as rain water-friendly storm water drains. All the approach and access roads to the buildings within the group development or industrial or institutional premises shall also be provided with rain waster-friendly storm water drains. These rain water-friendly storm water drains shall not have paved bottom. If adequate spaces are available in low lying areas, percolation ponds of suitable size shall be formed and these rain water-friendly storm waste drains shall be led into the percolation ponds for recharging the ground.

(3) For other localized lowlying areas, recharge pits of size of minimum 1 metre x 1 metre x 1 metre or 1 metre diametre shall be provided wherever needed, so as to prevent rainwater stagnation around the building. For other places catch water pit structures of size 30 centimetres diametre and 30 centimetres depth or higher depth as necessary shall be provided wherever necessary. For existing paved storm water drains, catch-water pits of 30 centimetres diametre and 30 centimetres depth or higher depth, as necessary, shall be provided at the bottom of these drains at 10 to 15 metre intervals. These catch water pits shall be filled with appropriate filter material as described in item 'A' above for multi-storeyed building.

Explanation. -- For the purposes of these rules, in regard to rain water harvesting structures are concerned any other modifications, additional structures or alternative designs, furnished by the applicant shall be considered for approval, if it conforms to ram water harvesting concept to the satisfaction of the competent authority for building plan approval. Provision of water harvesting structures for reuse of used water like water emanating from kitchens and bathrooms for flushing toilets, gardening shall be considered for approval on its merits.

4-B Provision of Rain Water Harvesting Structure

4-B Provision of Rain Water Harvesting Structure.--

Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, -- (1) in every building owned or occupied by the Government or a statutory body or a company or an institution owned or controlled by the Government, rain water harvesting structure shall be provided in the manner specified in rule 4-A on or before the 10th October, 2003.

(2) (a) Subject to sub-rule (1), every owner or occupier of a building shall provide rain water harvesting structure in such building in the manner specified in rule 4-A on or before the 31st August, 2003. If the owner or occupier of the buildings fails to provide the said rain water harvesting structure by the said date, the Commissioner or any person authorised by him in this behalf may, after giving notice to the owner or occupier of the building, cause rain water harvesting structure to be provided in such building and recover the cost of such provision along with the incidental expense thereof in the same manner as property tax. This however, does not absolve the liability of the owner or occupier of the building from providing the rain water harvesting structure before the 10th October, 2003.

4C

4C. Separation of bath and wash basin water and reuse.--

Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules, every multi-storeyed and public building shall be provided with separate pipelines, one for collecting waste water from bath and wash basins and the other for connecting the toilets. The waste water from the toilets alone shall be connected to the street sewer. Each building shall have a separate downward pipeline to collect waste water from bath and wash basins and the collected waste waster shall be treated adequately by organic or mechanical recycling and taken to a sump for onward pumping to the exclusive overhead tank or to a separate compartment of over head tank for exclusive use of toilet flushing through cisterns. The excess waste water not reused for toilet flushing, shall be suitably connected to the rain water recharge structures for ground water recharge.

Explanation.-- For the purposes of these rules in regard to recycling systems are con-cerned, any other modifications, additional structures, alternative designs furnished by the applicant shall be considered for approval, if it conforms to recycling concept to the satisfaction of the competent authority for building plan approval."

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5. Conformance to National Building Code of India 1970.--

(1) In so far as the determination of sufficiency of all aspects of the structural design, building services, plumbing, fire protection, construction practices and safety, are concerned the specifications, standards and code of practice recommended in the National Building Code of India, 1970, shall be fully conformed to and any breach thereof shall be deemed to be a breach of the requirements under these rules.

(2) In so far as sufficiency of all aspects of structural design is concerned, the specifications, standards and all other details given in Part VI of the National Building Code of India, 1970 (vide Appendix B of these rules) shall in particular be fully conformed to.

(3) The Commissiner shall while according his approval or permission follow the code of practice and standard requirements recommended to the National Building Code of India, 1970.

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6. Fire safety, detection and extinguishing systems:--

(1) all buildings in their design and construction shall be such as to contribute to and adhere individually and collectively the safety of life from fire, smoke, fumes and panic arising from these or similar other causes.

(2) in buildings of such size, arrangement or occupancy that a fire may not itself provide adequate warning to occupants automatic fire detecting and alarm facilities shall be provided where necessary to warn occupants of the existence of fire, so that they may escape, or to facilitate the orderly conduct of fire exist drills.

(3) Fire protecting and extinguishing system shall conform to the requirements in the National Building Code of India, 1970 as shown in Appendix 'U' to these Rules, and

(4) "A No objection certificate shall be obtained from the Director of Fire Services, Chennai, while submitting the application for permission to construct or reconstruct or add to or alter a building, regarding compliance with the provisions, of sub-rule (3).

(5) The person concerned shall, after the completion of the construction obtain a certificate from the Director of Fire Services, Chennai, to the effect that the fire protecting and extinguishing systems have been installed in accordance with these rules and forward the same to the Commissioner, Corporation of Chennai"

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7. Means of Access and Circulation. --

(1)     (a) There shall be provided from the street a clear way of not less than 5 meters in width separately for entrance and for exit, as a means of access to and from the building or buildings within the site, provided that where a site does not abut on a street the means of access to the site shall not be less than 12 meters from an existing public street.

(b) The access way so provided, shall be maintained free from any obstruction or overhang or projection from the building below a height of 3 metres from the level of such access way.

(c) The space so set apart as means of access shall be separately distinguished from any house gully or open space fo amenity requirement prescribed under these rules.

(d) Every such means of access shall be made drained and lighted to the satisfaction of the Commissioner and manhole covers or other drainage, water-supply or any other fittings laid in such means of access shall be flush with the finished surface level so as not to obstruct the travel over the same.

(e) Any person who undertakes any construction, reconstruction, addition or alteration to any building shall not reduce the access to any building previously existing below the minimum width prescribed under these rules.

(2)     (a) Every building meant for human occupation shall be provided with exists sufficient to permit safe escape of occupants in case of fire or other emergency.

(b) An exit may be a doorway, corridor, passageway to an internal staircase or external staircase or to a verandah or roofs or terrace having access to the street or a staircase.

Explanation:-- Lifts and escalators shall not be considered as exits.

(c) Exists shall be arranged as to provide continuous means of egress to the exterior of a building or exterior open space leading to a street, without passing through any occupied unit.

(d) Exits shall be so located that the travel distance on the floor shall not exceed 22 meters in the case of residential and public buildings and 30 meters in the case of commercial, industrial and other buildings. There shall be at least two exits serving every floor and at least one of them shall lead to the staircase.

Explanation:-- Travel distance means the distance from any point of one floor area to any exit measured along the path of egress travel except that when floor areas are sub-divided into rooms used singly or no of rooms and served by corridors or passages, the travel distance to be measured from the corridor entrance of such rooms or suits to the nearest staircase or Verandah having access to the street.

(e) Width of any exit shall not be less than 100 cm, and shall be determined for the total number of occupants as specified in the following table. The unit of exit width for measuring the capacity of exits shall be 25 cms. A clear width of 25 cm, shall be counted as an additional half and any width less than 25 cm, shall not be counted for calculating widths:--

THE TABLE

S. No	Type of Occupancy	Number of Occupants per unit size width
		Stair case	Doors
(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
1.	Residential	25	75
2.	Mixed and other uses including buildings permitted in special areas notified.	50	75

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8. Exits for Public Buildings:--

(1) Every place of assembly, every tier balcony and every individual room use as a place of assembly in a public building shall have exits sufficient to provide for the total capacity thereof leading directly outside the building or to the staircases and ramps both.

(2) There shall be at least two separate exists as remote from each other as practicable for each room, hall or place of assembly with a capacity of 600 persons, at least three separate exits when the capacity is between 600 to 1,000 and at least four separate exits when the capacity is over 1,000.

Provided that when the capacity is less than 100 persons, and no part of the room or hall of place or assembly is 15 meters from the doorway in the line of travel, a single doorway of 100 cm, may be permitted.

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9. Aisles and spacing rows of seat:--

(1) Clear aisles not less than 1.2 meters in width shall be provided at right angles to the line of seating in such number and manner that no seat shall be more than 3.8 meters away from an aisle measure in the line of seating.

(2) Where all the aisles do not directly meet the exit doors, cross aisles of minimum 1 meter width and at the rate of one cross aisles for every 10 rows of seats shall be provided parallel to the line of seating so as to provide direct access to the exit.

(3) Rows of seats between aisles shall not have more than 14 seats and in the case of such rows opening to an aisle at one end only, the number of seats shall not be more than 7,

(4) There shall be a minimum space of 85 cm. between the backs of any two rows of seats and a minimum of 35 cm, between the back of any seat and the front of the seat immediately behind it as measured between plumb lines.

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10. Floor Area Ratio and Maximum Plot Coverage. --

The maximum floor area ratio and the minimum permissible plot coverage for different occupancies shall be as in the following Table:--

THE TABLE

	Floor Area Ratio	Plot Coverage
(i) Residential	200	50
(ii) Mixed and other use	250	50
(iii) Special areas notified by the Council with the approval of the Government	275	75

Explanation:-- The following services and structures shall not be included in the determination of the floor area ratio and maximum plot coverage:-

(a) A basement or cellar and space under a building constructed on stilts and used as parking space, store room and air-conditioning plant room used as accessory to the principal use;

(b) Electric cabin or sub-station, watchman's booth, pump house and garbage shaft; and

(c) Staircase room and lift rooms above the topmost storey, architectural features, chimneys and elevated tanks;

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11. Open Space:--

(1)     (a) There shall be a permanent open space forming an integral part of the site and of a minimum extent specified in this rule, between each of the boundaries of the site and building proposed within the site.

(b) The extent of the open spaces specified in the above sub-rule which shall be co-extensive with the site boundaries, shall be as follows:-

Height of building above ground level	Required open spaces
(In Meters)	(In Meters)
15	4
20	5
25	6
30	7
35	8
40	9
45	10
50	11
55	12
60	13
65	14
70	15
75 meters and above	16

(c) The space specified above shall be kept open to the sky and free from erection of any building other than a fence or compound wall.

Provided that these open yards may be used for the provisions of open access ways to the buildings, parking facilities and common amenity open spaces.

(2)     (a) In the special areas notified where increased floor area ratio and plot coverage are allowed under rule 10, it shall be sufficient if the requirement of open spaces specified under clause (b) of sub-rule (1) is provided along the boundary of the site abutting the road and along any one of the other side boundaries of the site and building:

Provided that where the site abuts two roads, the open spaces verified shall be provided along the two site boundaries abutting these roads:

Provided further where the site does not abut on to any public street, the open spaces specified shall be provided between any two boundaries of the site and building.

Provided further where the site does not abut on to any public permittd under these rules shall not exceed 30 meters:

Provided that the buildings of over 30 meters height may be permitted with the special approval of the Government subject to such special conditions as may be stipulated by the Government.

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12. Lift. --

(1) Every multi-storeyed building erected shall be provided with atleast due lift in addition to the required staircase; provided that in case of existing buildings on additional floor over and above the height of 15 meters may be permitted without insisting on the provision of lift as long as the additional floor space does not exceed 110 sq.ms.

(2) The Corporation Commissioner may insist on more than one lift in each case on merits with reference to height, number of families door space use to which the building is put to;

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13. Parking and parking facilities:--

(1)     (a) For the use of the occupants and the persons visiting the premises for the purpose of profession, trade, business, recreation or any other work, parking space and parking facilities shall be provided within the site, to the satisfaction of the Corporation Commissioner and conforming to the standards specified in Appendix A to these Rules, and

(b) Necessary provision shall also be made for the circulation of vehicles gaining access to and from (i) the parking spaces and facilities and (ii) the premises, into the street.

(2) The parking spaces facilities provided under this rule shall be maintained as such to the satisfaction of the Commissioner and conforming to any by-law that may be made by the Corporation from time to time in this regard.

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14. Architectural Control:--

(1) "The design and plans of the building shall be made and countersigned by a qualified civil or structural Engineer and an Architect who should posses the qualification referred to in the "Architects Act, 1972 (Central Act 20 of 1972) "so as to become a member of the profession of Architects under the provisions of the said Act" .

(2) The design and plan shall be scrutinized and approved by a panel comprising of the following members:--

(i) Chief Engineer, Corporation of Chennai

(ii) Joint Director of Town and Country Planning, Government of Tamil Nadu

(iii) Senior Town Planner of Chennai Metropolitan, Development Authority

(iv) The Chief Architect of the State Government.

(v) "Director of Fire Services;

(vi) Deputy Commissioner of Police" (Traffic)

(vii) Chief Engineer (Metro Board)

(viii) Chief Engineer (Distribution), Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, the Chief Engineer, Corporation of Chennai, shall be Chairman and Convener of the Panel

(3) Any suggestions or alterations recommended by the panel shall be incorporated in the plans and shall be conformed to.

Explanation:-- The design and plan of all building shall be scrutinized and approved by the panel referred to in sub-rule (2) above. Where the height of any multi-storeyed building exceeds 30 meters in height, the special sanction of Government referred to in the proviso of Rule 12 shall also be obtained by the Corporation Commissioner before according approval under Rule 5(3)

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15. Areas for multi-storeyed buildings. --

(1) Any construction, re-construction, alteration or addition of or to a multi-storeyed building, shall be permitted only within the area approved for the construction of multi-storeyed building, in a Town Planning Scheme made under the Tamil Nadu Town Planning Act, 1920 (Tamil Nadu Act VII of 1920) or in a Development Plan under the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971 (Tamil Nadu act 35 of 1972) or in areas so declared by a special resolution by the council with the approval of Director of Town and Country Planning for the purpose and shall not exceed the maximum number of storeyes or maximum height prescribed for the individual area.

(2) The minimum extent of site for construction of multi-storeyed buildings shall not be less than 4 grounds in extent and should have the shortest side not less than 24 meters and shall either abut on a street not less than 12 meters in width, or gain access from a public street of a width not less than 12 meters through a passage of not less than 12 meters.

Provided that the height of multi-storeyed buildings shall be regulated with reference to the extent of the site as given hereunder:--

Height of building	Minimum extent of the site.
15 meters 20 meters 25 meters 30 meters	892 Sq. meters 1338 Sq. meters 1338 Sq. meters 2230 Sq. meters

Note: -- For every additional height of 5 meters or part thereof beyond 30 meters, the sit must have a minimum additional extent of four grounds.

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16. Penalties:--

Non-compliance with the provisions of these rules shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions contained in the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act, 1919 (Tamil Nadu Act IV of 1919).

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17. The Commissioner shall cause periodical inspection of multi-storeyed buildings to ensure that the fire safety, detection and extinguishing systems are maintained properly and continue to be operative. It shall be the duty of the persons in charge of the building to provide adequate and reasonable facilities for inspection at any time on any day between sunrise and sunset".