Report on Two Day Workshop on NationalBuilding Code
The UP State Centre of the Institution in association with Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi organized a two day All India Workshop on National Building Code: Provisions & Latest Developments under the aegis of Civil Engineering Division, IEI during May 12-13, 2013 at Lucknow. The Chief Guest Prof. (Dr.) Abhishek Mishra, State Minister for Science & Technology, UP Govt. inaugurated the Workshop. Dr. Mishra, in his inaugural address said that the buildings are seen as synonymous to development all over the world. But it is imperative that all rules, regulations & byelaws are truly followed in building construction so that cities may not convert into concrete jungles in the name of development. He urged engineers to evolve such norms so that objectives of safety, sustainability and ensuring health & proper ambience for it’s users are achieved. He also released Souvenir brought out on the occasion. The Guest of Honour, Mr. R. P. Singh, I.A.S., Housing Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh said that the U.P. Housing Board is keen to adopt the latest safety norms recommended by National Building Code in order to protect it’s buildings from natural calamities like earthquakes, cyclones, landslides and man made disasters like fire, electricity etc. Earlier, Mr V.B. Singh, Chairman of U.P. State Centre welcomed the dignitaries and the participants and briefed the audience about the activities of Institution. Mr. M K Goel, Convener spoke about the objectives of the Workshop. Mr. J. S. Mishra, Hony. Secretary of the Centre proposed vote of thanks.
Mr Sanjay Pant, Director (Civil Engg.), BIS gave an overview of the National Building Code. He informed that new chapter on ‘Approach to Sustainability’ has been included in NBC which provides guidance on sustainable and green building construction. The code also makes provision for preservation of existing local flora, fauna, water bodies and allows further construction without tampering the natural environment. The sustainability chapter also provides information on selection of appropriate building materials & technology such as fly ash based bricks, plantation timbers instead of forest trees & those grown under agro and social forestry. Mr. R. C. Wason, Former General Manager, National Council for Cement & Building Materials spoke about the advancement in concrete and codal provisions. He advocated for mechanized method of concrete production where all the raw materials are rigorously tested, weighed in sophisticated electronically controlled weigh batchers and mixed in centralized batching plant. Mr. Aman Deep Garg, M.D., Creative Design Consultants, talked about creating a sustainable world. He dealt in detail about structural design & management related standards. Prof. Subodh Shankar from AmityUniversity expressed the need of including guidelines for public buildings like hospitals, schools, sports complexes and residential apartments. Col. S. R. Prasad talked about structural safety norms in construction. Mr. Khazan Chandra, Chairman, Institution of Valuers gave presentation about plumbing services norms as envisaged in NBC. Mr. A.L. Kalra expressed need to educate new builders about provisions of NBC. Prof. Jamal Nusrat talked about blatant violation of NBC provisions in public buildings constructed by govt. deptts and expressed need to enforce provisions religiously.
On the 2nd day valedictory session was graced by Maj. Gen. R. K. Sanan, VSM(Retd), Secretary & Director General, IEI during which reports on various technical sessions were placed and recommendations were made. Recommendations that emerged included: Plumbing services part needs to be re-looked. There is need for working out details for residential apartments. The details relating to specified public utility buildings like hospitals, schools, sports complexes should also be included. The existing code should be updated by incorporating UNDP and other world class standards. Finally implementation of NBC must be made mandatory by an act of parliament.