6.36 Every licensed builder is required to have no fewer than one ‘technical controller’, who is a person appointed to supervise the execution and performance of any building works undertaken by the builder. The builder has to appoint an adequate number of technical controllers to ensure that all the building works he undertakes are supervised by a technical controller.
Appointment of Technical Controller
6.37 Any technical controller appointed has to be –
a) in the case of a builder who is a natural person, the builder himself or an employee of the builder
b) in the case of a partnership, one of the partners or one of its employees, being a person employed in such a manner and with such similar duties and responsibilities as a partner or
c) in the case of a corporation, a director of the corporation or a member of its board of management, or one of its employees, being a person employed in such a manner and with such similar duties and responsibilities as a director or member of its board of management.
Qualification and Experience BCR (LOB) R13, R15
6.38 A technical controller must meet the prescribed training and practical experience summarized in the Table below:
BCR (LOB) Part II Second Schedule
License Training And Practical Experience
Class 1 The technical controller is required to satisfy the following conditions:
a) he has a Bachelor or higher degree in a construction-related field and
b) he has obtained at least 5 years (in
aggregate) of practical experience in the execution of construction projects (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) after attaining the above qualifications.
Class 2 The technical controller is required to satisfy the following conditions:
a) he has a diploma in a construction-related field or any Bachelor or higher degree in a construction-related field and
b) he has obtained at least 5 years (in
aggregate) of practical experience in the execution of construction projects (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) after attaining the above qualifications.
Specialist Builder
The technical controller is required to satisfy the following conditions:
a) he has a Bachelor or higher degree in the field of civil or structural engineering from a recognised institution and
b) he has obtained at least 5 years (in
aggregate) of practical experience in the execution of specialist building works of that class (whether in Singapore or elsewhere) after attaining the above qualifications.
Other Requirements for Technical Controller BCR (LOB) R7, R8
6.39 A person who is to be appointed as a technical controller of a licensed general builder or licensed specialist builder shall declare that he:
a) has not acted as an approved person or the technical controller of a builder whose licence has been revoked in the 12 months preceding the date of the application and b) is not acting, and for so long as he is the technical
controller for the applicant that he does not intend to act, as a technical controller for any other holder of a licence.
Ceasing to be Technical Controller BCR (LOB) R16
6.40 If, for any reason, any technical controller for a holder of a builder’s licence becomes unwilling or unable to carry out his duties, the holder of the licence concerned shall notify the Commissioner in writing of the person ceasing to carry out those duties within 28 days after such cessation. Failing to do so is prescribed as an offence under the Building Control (Licensing of Builders) Regulations.
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GLOSSARY
Act S2(1)
There are new definitions in the Building Control (Amendment) Act 2007. Many of them are connected with the new provisions introduced in the Act, like licensing of builders and requirements for underground building works. Some are to make the meanings of the terms used in the Act clearer. This chapter elaborates on the meanings of these definitions.
The following Table summarizes and explains all the new definitions, arranged alphabetically.
NEW DEFINITIONS IN THE BUILDING CONTROL ACT builder’s licence
One of the new provisions in the Act is that builders have to be licensed to carry out building works. The builder’s license is granted under Part VA of the Act.
There are two types of licence: the general builder’s licence and the specialist builder’s licence. Details on licensing of builders can be found in Chapter 6.
building
The Act elaborates on the term ‘building’ because the provisions apply to more than the common meaning of a building. Under the Act, the term refers to any permanent or temporary building or structure and it includes the following:
a) a hut, shed or roofed enclosure
b) an earth retaining or stabilizing structure, whether permanent or temporary (this includes the temporary earth-retaining structures used to support the sides of any excavation)
c)
d) a floating structure, not being a boat or vessel, under the Maritime and Port Authority) and iii. is or is to be permanently moored
e) a culvert, crossing, bridge, underpass or tunnel
f) a sewage treatment plant, sewer, drain, swimming pool or any non-proprietary type of concrete tank for the storage of any solid, liquid or gaseous product g) a shelter provided under the Civil Defence Shelter
Act (Cap. 42A)
h) such other erection or structure (whether permanent or temporary) as the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, declare to be a building.
building works
The provisions in the Act apply to building works and the term refers to all of the following:
a) the erection, extension or demolition of a building b) the alteration, addition or repair of a building c) the provision, extension or alteration of any works are carried out. It includes a housing developer as defined in the Housing Developers (Control and Licensing) Act as well as a home owner who –
a) builds on his own, or engages others to build, any building for his own use or for any other purposes and
b) carries out, or engages others to carry out, any building works.
earth retaining structure
This term refers to any structure, structural system or other means used to maintain the shape of an excavation in the ground during construction, earth filling or cutting. It includes all earth retaining structures, whether the structure is to be removed after construction or left in place as part of a permanent structure.
general building works
This term refers to any building works except those works that are defined as specialist building works.
geotechnical aspects
For underground building works, there are special requirements relating to the geotechnical aspects of the works. The Act defines the term to mean:
a) an analysis of the geological structure and earth underground building works over time and
c) such other applications of earth sciences to and engineering aspects of the underground building works as may be prescribed.
See Chapter 5 for details on these works.
geotechnical engineer
In the Act, this term refers to a professional engineer who is registered under the Professional Engineers Act (Cap. 253) as a specialist professional engineer in the specialized branch of geotechnical engineering. He is commonly referred to as the PE (Geo) by the industry.
insignificant building works
This term is used in the Act to refer to building works given in the First Schedule of the Building Control Regulations (see Schedule A). Insignificant building works may be carried out without any approval of plans or permit from the Commissioner of Building Control.
key structural elements
This term refers to the foundations, columns, beams, shear cores, structural walls, struts, ground anchors and such other parts of a building which are essential for its support and overall structural stability.
large building works
Large building works are those that have a value of more than $7.5 million. For such works, the Act requires qualified site supervisors to be appointed to carry out full-time supervision of the structural works.
limited liability partnership
A limited liability partnership is a body corporate which is formed by being registered under the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Cap. 163A) and which has legal personality separate from that of its partners. This term has the same meaning as that given in section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Cap. 163A). This term is used in conjunction with the licensing of builders.
major building works
The Act uses this term to refer to those works that require an accredited checker to check the structural plans and design calculations. This applies to all works except minor building works. However, if there are underground building works, a specialist accredited checker is required to check the geotechnical aspects of those underground building works, irrespective of whether the works are major or minor.
minor building works
This term refers to those building works that do not require checking of the structural plans by an accredited checker. Minor building works are given in the Fourth Schedule of the Building Control Regulations (see Schedule B). All underground building works are not considered as minor building works, hence the geotechnical aspects of these underground building works require checking by a specialist accredited checker.
person responsible
This term is used in the Act in relation to an exterior feature of a building. It generally means the owner of the building which the exterior feature is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from. Exceptions to this general meaning are summarized in Table below.
Description Person Responsible is
a) Except for a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat, where the exterior feature is part of the common property of any housing estate of the Housing and Development
b) Except for a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat, where the exterior feature is part of the common property or limited common property of any other land (whether or not comprised in a strata title plan)
the owner thereof
c) Where the exterior feature is a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board
the owner of the flat as defined in the Housing and Development Act (Cap. 129)
d) Where the exterior feature is a window, grille or shutter that is part of a flat not in any housing estate of the Housing and Development Board
the owner of that flat
qualified site supervisor
This term refers to a person appointed (whether alone or as a member of a team of qualified site supervisors) to act as a qualified site supervisor under section 10 of the Act.
small-scale building works
Small-scale building works are those where the value of the building works does not exceed $7.5 million. The carrying out of structural works in small-scale building works requires only immediate supervision (not full-time) by an appropriate qualified person, a resident engineer or a resident technical officer.
specialist accredited checker
This term refers to an accredited checker who is registered to undertake duties required for the geotechnical aspects of underground building works.
He is commonly referred to as the AC (Geo) by the industry.
specialist builder
The term refers to any person who is licensed as a specialist builder under Part VA of the Act. There are six types of specialist building works. Each type can only be carried out by a specialist builder licensed in that
Specialist building works comprising installation and testing of cast reinforced concrete or pre-stressed concrete piles, steel piles, bored cast-in-place reinforced concrete piles, caissons and special pile types like micro-piles, barrettes piles and composite piles, embedded retaining wall piles like diaphragm walls, contiguous bored piles or secant piles.
(2) Ground Support and Stabilization Works
Specialist building works that include installation and testing of ground anchors, soil nails, rock bolts, ground treatment like chemical grouting and jet-grouting, reinforced-earth, shotcreting and tunnel supports.
(3) Site Investigation Works
Specialist building works comprising field investigations, exploratory drilling or boring, logging, sampling, coring, in-situ plate-loading tests, pressure meter tests, penetration tests, vane shear tests, probing tests, permeability tests, geological mapping and geophysical surveys, and installation and monitoring of instruments measuring forces, deformation, displacements, pore and earth pressures, and ground-water levels.
(4) Structural Steelworks
Specialist building works comprising the fabrication of structural elements, erection work like site cutting, site welding and site bolting, and installation of steel supports for underground building works.
(5) Pre-cast Concrete Works
Specialist building works comprising fabrication of pre-cast structural elements.
(6) In-situ Post-tensioning Works
Specialist building works comprising the setting out of tendon profiles, laying of conduits, anchorages and bursting reinforcement, pulling or stressing of cables, pressure grouting of conduits.
structural elements
This term refers to those parts or elements of a building that resist forces and moments, and includes foundations, beams, columns, shear cores, structural walls, struts, ground anchors, slabs, trusses, staircases, load bearing walls and all other elements designed to resist forces and moments. The term specifically excludes doors, windows and non-load bearing walls.
temporary building
A temporary building is any building or structure that is:
a) constructed of short-lived materials, or
b) permitted by the competent authority or Commissioner of Building Control to be used for a period not exceeding 36 months, or such other period as may be prescribed (if prescribed) in the building regulations.
The Act specifically excludes from this definition any bridge, decking for a bridge, or any earth retaining structure.
Building works for a temporary building, and its occupation, are exempted from Part II of the Act.
Instead, the construction and occupation of a temporary building need to comply only with the Building Control (Temporary Buildings) Regulations, which involves applying for a permit to erect a temporary building.
underground building works
This term refers to any of the following building works:
a) any excavation or other building works to make — i. a tunnel with a diameter, width or height of
more than 2 metres
ii. a caisson, cofferdam, trench, ditch, shaft or well with a depth of more than 6 metres
b) any building works for constructing, altering or repairing any earth retaining structure in or for a trench, ditch, shaft or well with a depth or height of more than 6 metres, or
c) such type of foundation works as the Minister may prescribe in the building regulations for buildings of 30 or more storeys (The Minister has prescribed all types of foundation works applicable).
A geotechnical engineer and a specialist accredited checker have to be appointed to undertake duties relating to the geotechnical aspects of underground building works.
value of building works
This term has different meanings for two types of building works as follows:
a) for underground building works, the value is the total cost to be expended in carrying out those underground building works, estimated at the time of, and contained in, the application under section 5 of the Act for approval of the plans of those building works, including any goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work.
b) for any other building works, the value is the total cost to be expended in carrying out the building works (including the foundations, basements, structural frame, finishes and the installation of building services) estimated at the time of, and contained in, the application under section 5 of the Act for approval of the plans of the building works, including any goods and services tax payable in relation to the supply of the work.
Essentially, the term refers to the estimated total cost to be expended in carrying out the building works in question. In the case where only underground building works are considered, then the estimated cost is limited to that cost required for carrying out the underground building works alone.
This term is relevant as a measure for compliance to several provisions in the Act, such as appointment of accredited checkers and accredited checking organisations, and fixing the minimum number of qualified site supervisors required in the supervision team.
EXAMPLE
As an example, the value of building works is used to compute the minimum number of qualified site supervisors a qualified person or QP has to appoint for the structural works under his charge.
Let’s take a case of a building project where the total cost is, say $100 million, inclusive of the total cost of the underground building works of $30 million. If a qualified person is appointed for all aspects (i.e. the structural as
well as the geotechnical aspects) of the underground building works, the geotechnical QP will appoint qualified site supervisors based on the value of $30 million for the underground building works. The qualified person appointed for the rest of the structural works will appoint qualified site supervisors based on $70 million.
If two qualified persons are appointed for the underground building works, i.e. one for the structural aspects and another for the geotechnical aspects, the
$30 million value of the underground building works will have to be appropriately apportioned between them to compute their respective number of qualified site supervisors to appoint.
The example is based on the arrangement that the various QPs wishes to make their own appointments of qualified site supervisors. However, the Commissioner of Building Control will deem that the supervision team requirements are complied with if the prescribed number of qualified site supervisors based on the total cost of the building works has been appointed and the supervision of the various relevant aspects of the building works are done by the appointed team. This means that as long as the supervision team based on the total value of works has been appointed, all aspects of the works in the project may be supervised by this team, even though there may be different QPs for various aspects of the building works in the project.
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