A 2-day Workshop on Draft Development and Building Regulations, 2022 for the National Capital Territory of Delhi was organized by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body of India on 26-27 September 2023 in New Delhi. The objective of the Workshop was to:

a) Disseminate the Draft Development and Building Regulations prepared by BIS in line with the National Building Code of India 2016 (NBC 2016) as well as leading national and international practices for better, efficient and transparent building regulation.

b) Bring uniformity in structuring and detailing of provisions in the regulations as well as the key approval processes throughout the country without sacrificing any specific/unique area specific need of the various states/UTs and their concerned bodies.

c) Pave way to orderly development and ensure safety, sustainability, durability and accessibility in buildings and built environment.

The draft development and building regulations have been compiled in a structured and cogent manner for simple understanding and to avoid any scope for multiple interpretations, when adopted by the states/urban local bodies will ensure their effective implementation by the concerned stakeholders particularly by the building professionals and the authorities involved in building regulation The methodology adopted for the preparation of the document involved a comprehensive study of existing regulatory/statutory mechanisms, rules and regulations governing land development and building construction in the country, and mapping these to the provisions available in NBC 2016 and other best national and international practices, for arriving at the various provisions in standardized development and building regulations. Based on the standardized document, a document for each of the States and UTs has been prepared for dissemination and for their consideration for adoption.

The Workshop witnessed active participation from officials of Departments of the Govt of National Capital Territory of Delhi (GNCTD), Gurugram and concerned Central Ministries such as, New Delhi Municipal Committee, Delhi Development Authority, Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Fire Services, Department of Archaeology (GNCTD), Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Power, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, Central Electricity Authority, National Highways Authority of India, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, IRICEN (Railways), Central Public Works Department, NBCC (India) Ltd, National Institute of Urban Affairs and School of Planning and Architecture.

The gathering present welcomed the initiative and also provided some useful suggestions which included, specifying a maximum limit on the area of parking to be provided for a particular building based on occupancy type, inclusion regarding the authority who would be the custodian of the buffer zones, addressing IOT based new technologies for fire and life safety in buildings, amongst others.

Director General, BIS, Shri Pramod Kumar Tiwari, said that the document which when adopted would help the concerned authorities in streamlining their approval processes and also ensure proper implementation of the various provisions in the regulations for safe and sustainable development. He also stressed upon the need for capacity building of the concerned building professionals and officials of the Authority particularly those in the Town and Country Planning Department so that they are well-versed with regular updates being made to standards and Codes for ensuring their implementation. He added that BIS will also support all such activities. He added that standardization on the subject of Town and Country Planning will be given focused attention in BIS so that certain order of uniformity is brought in the practices followed across the country. DG BIS urged the delegates to fully utilize the opportunity provided to examine the Draft Regulations and suggest further improvements, if any in the same.

Shri V. Suresh, Chairman of the National Building Code Sectional Committee, CED 46 and Chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee of the NBC Promotion Project who delivered the Key Note Address during the Workshop, emphasised upon the need for application of the provisions in the Standardized Building Regulations prepared by BIS by the concerned authorities.