The Indian government on Thursday replaced the National Building Code (NBC) with the National Building Construction Standards (NBCS), withdrawing the earlier code. The new standards will serve more as guidelines, following directives from the Deregulation Cell under the Cabinet Secretariat.
Reasons for Replacement
The Times of India has learned that one of the main reasons for replacing NBC with NBCS was that despite NBC being voluntary, the term “Code” indicated that its provisions were legally binding, leading to matters reaching courts. The Deregulation Cell had recommended to the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) that the “fire and life safety” section be kept out of the standards. However, it has been made a part of NBCS following strong pushback from fire safety experts.
Key Changes in Fire and Life Safety
There is a notable change in language: while provisions dealing with fire and life safety in NBC used the modal verb “shall”, NBCS has replaced it with “should”. Experts said this is a significant shift as “should” indicates what is desirable without being mandatory.
Another change concerns the applicability of these provisions. In NBC, residential buildings above 15 metres in height had to adhere to norms for fire and life safety. In NBCS, these apply to buildings that are 24 metres high or more. “While state fire authorities could earlier simply follow norms specified in NBC, now they have to make detailed provisions for compliance. It remains to be seen how this plays out,” an expert involved in the revision of NBC said.
Context and Evolution
The new standards, notified on Thursday, mention that since the last revision of NBC in 2016, many things have changed, including per capita land availability, growing infrastructure requirements, socio-economic conditions, and technological advancements.
NBCS also notes that with construction being a state subject, state governments and local authorities should have a say on issues dealing with administration, height, and space requirements. The document mentions that the nature of standards and codes has changed from a prescriptive regime, under which states and local authorities required handholding, to a “more performance-oriented outlook, giving ample scope for innovation and decision-making”.
On fire and life safety, it said that though it is a state subject, it has been included in NBCS due to its importance for the safety and well-being of occupants as well as the common public.
