Section 2
Interpretation
(1)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
“accredited checker” means a person who is registered as an accredited checker under section 20, whether acting on his own behalf or on behalf of an accredited checking organisation;
“accredited checking organisation” means an accredited checking organisation registered as such under section 20;
“amendment plans” means the plans showing any deviation from, or any amendment or addition to, any plan of building works approved by the Authority under section 5(3)(a);
“analyst” means an analyst approved by the Authority;
“Authority”, in relation to this Act or any Part or provision of this
Act or regulations made thereunder, means any Authority appointed under section 3(1) to be responsible for the administration of this Act or that Part or provision or regulations made thereunder, as the case may be;
“authorised officer” means any person authorised by the Authority under section 3(2);
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“builder” means any person who undertakes, whether exclusively or in conjunction with any other business, to carry out any building works for his own account, or for or on behalf of another person (referred to in this definition as A), but does not include any person who contracts with a builder for the execution by that person of the whole or any part of any building works undertaken by the builder for or on behalf of A under a contract entered into by the builder with A;
“builder’s licence” means a licence granted under Part 7 to a builder;
“building” means any permanent or temporary building or structure and includes —
(a)
a hut, shed or roofed enclosure;
(b)
a kiosk or stall, movable or otherwise;
(c)
an earth retaining or stabilising structure, whether permanent or temporary;
(d)
a dock, wharf or jetty;
(e)
a floating structure, not being a boat or vessel, constructed or to be constructed on a flotation system that —
(i)
is or is to be supported by water;
(ii)
is not intended for or useable in navigation; and
(iii)
is or is to be permanently moored;
(f)
a culvert, crossing, access road, bridge, underpass or tunnel;
(g)
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; and
(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 regulations” means any regulations made under section 74;
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“building works” means —
(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 air-conditioning service or ventilating system in or in connection with a building;
(d)
site formation works (which includes earthworks such as any act of excavation, levelling, cutting and filling with any material, piling, the construction of foundations, or site clearance, on any land, or any other act of dealing with or disturbing any land) which may or may not be connected with or carried out for the purpose of paragraph (a), (b) or (c); and
(e)
structural works.
“common property” has the same meaning as in the Land Code
(Strata) Act (Chapter 189);
“developer”, in relation to any building works, means the person for whom or on whose behalf the building works are carried out;
“earth retaining structure” means any structure, structural system or other means used to maintain the shape of excavation during construction, earth filling or cutting;
“exterior feature”, in relation to any building, means any of the following features that is permanent or temporary and is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from the roof or exterior of the building —
(a)
any air-conditioning unit, including any window air-conditioning unit and any condensing equipment of an air-conditioning unit;
(b)
any window, with or without movable parts;
(c)
any grille or shutter, with or without movable parts;
(d)
any tile, cladding, curtain wall, siding, plaster, bracket or cornice;
(e)
any gutter, rainwater down-pipe, or part of the roof;
(f)
any awning or sun-shading device;
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(g)
such other feature that is permanent or temporary and is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from the roof or exterior of any building as the Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette, declare to be an exterior feature for the purposes of this Act;
“general building works” means any building works other than specialist building works;
“geotechnical aspects”, in relation to any underground building works, means —
(a)
an analysis of the geological structure and earth materials of the site of the underground building works and its influence on the underground building works;
(b)
an analysis of the ground-water regime and its influence on the wall stability and integrity of the 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;
“geotechnical engineer” means a professional engineer who is registered under the Architects, Professional Engineers and
Quantity Surveyors Order, 2011 (S 33/2011) which includes a structural engineer in the specialised branch of geotechnical engineering;
“immediate supervision”, in relation to any building works or part thereof, means personally and directly exercising oversight, control and inspection of the carrying out of the building works or part thereof;
“insignificant building works” means such building works as are prescribed under section 4(d);
“key structural elements” means the geotechnical aspects, 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” means such building works referred to in section 10(1)(b) and as are prescribed for the purposes of section 14;
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“major building works” means building works other than large building works and minor building works;
“Minister” means the Minister of Development;
“minor building works” means building works (not being underground building works) that are prescribed in the building regulations as building works the plans of which do not require a certification from an accredited checker for the purposes of section 5 or 6;
“occupation permit” means a permit issued under section 16;
“occupier”, in relation to any building, means the person in occupation of the building or having the charge, management or control thereof, either on his own account or as agent of another, but does not include any lodger within the building;
“owner”, in relation to —
(a)
any premises or building, means the person for the time being receiving the rent of the premises or building, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee or as receiver, or who would receive the same if the premises or building were let to a tenant and includes a mortgagee in possession;
(b)
the common property of any subdivided building, includes the strata corporation having control of the building, or the person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance of that common property; and
(c)
the common property of any building which is not subdivided, includes any person receiving any rent or charge for the maintenance and management of that common property;
“person responsible”, in relation to an exterior feature of a building, means —
(a)
the owner of the building which the exterior feature is installed on, forms part of or projects outwards from, unless otherwise provided by paragraph (b), (c) or (d);
(b)
subject to paragraph (c), where the exterior feature is part of the common property of any other land (whether or not comprised in a strata title plan), the owner thereof, unless otherwise provided by paragraph (d);
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(c)
where the exterior feature is a window, grille or shutter that is part of a principal unit, the owner of that principal unit;
or
(d)
such other person as may be prescribed under section 29 as the person responsible for the exterior feature;
“plans”, in relation to any building works —
(a)
includes drawings, details, diagrams, structural details and calculations showing or relating to the building works; and
(b)
if prepared in electronic form, includes the medium in which the plans of building works have been stored;
“premises”
includes buildings, lands, easements and hereditaments of any tenure;
“principal unit” has the same meaning as in the Land Code
(Strata) Act (Chapter 189);
“qualified person” means a person who is registered as —
(a)
an architect under the Architects, Professional
Engineers and Quantity Surveyors Order, 2011 (S 33/2011) and has in force a practising certificate issued under section 25 of that Order; or
(b)
a professional engineer under the
Architects,
Professional Engineers and Quantity Surveyors Order, 2011
(S 33/2011) and has in force a practising certificate issued under section 25 of that Order;
“retrofit”, in relation to an exterior feature, means to modify or re-install the exterior feature as if installing the exterior feature for the first time;
“short-lived materials” means any building materials which are, in the absence of special care, liable to rapid deterioration or are otherwise unsuitable for use in the construction of permanent buildings;
“site supervisor” means a person appointed (whether alone or as a member of a team of site supervisors) under section 14 to be a site supervisor in respect of any small-scale or large building works;
“small-scale building works” means such building works referred to in, and as are prescribed for the purposes of, section 10(1)(c);
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“specialist building works” means —
(a)
piling works comprising installation and testing of pre-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, contiguousbored piles or secant piles;
(b)
ground support and stabilisation works, including installation and testing of ground anchors, soil nails, rock bolts, ground treatment like chemical grouting and jet-grouting, reinforced-earth, shotcreting and tunnel supports;
(c)
site investigation work comprising field investigations, exploratory drilling or coring, logging, sampling, coring, in-site 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;
(d)
structural steelwork comprising —
(i)
fabrication of structural elements;
(ii)
erection work like site cutting, site welding and site bolting; and
(iii)
installation of steel supports for underground building works;
(e)
pre-cast concrete work comprising fabrication of pre-cast structural elements;
(f)
in-site post-tensioning work comprising setting out of tendon profiles, laying of conduits, anchorages and bursting reinforcement, pulling or stressing of cables, pressure grouting of conduits; and
(g)
such other building works as the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, declare to be specialist building works;
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“structural elements” means those parts or elements of a building which 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 but does not include doors, windows and non-load bearing walls;
“structural works” means works in relation to the structural elements of the building works;
“temporary building” means —
(a)
any building or structure constructed of short-lived materials; or
(b)
any other building or structure permitted to be used by the Authority or such other authority appointed by the Minister for a period not exceeding 3 years or such other period as may be prescribed (if prescribed) in the building regulations, but does not include any bridge, any decking for a bridge, or any retaining structure;
“temporary occupation licence” means a temporary licence given by the Government to occupy a specified portion of state land for certain purposes;
“temporary occupation permit” means a temporary occupation permit granted under section 16(3);
“unauthorised”, in relation to a building or building works, means any building erected, or any building works commenced or carried out, in contravention of any provision of this Act or the building regulations;
“underground building works” means any of the following building works, the carrying out of which starts on or after the date to be specified by the Minister by order published in the
Gazette —
(a)
any excavation or other building works to make —
(i)
a tunnel with a diameter, width or height of more than 2 metres; or
(ii)
a caisson, cofferdam, trench, ditch, shaft or well with a depth of more than 6 metres;
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(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;
“value”, in relation to any building works, means —
(a)
for any underground building works, the total cost to be expended in carrying out those building works estimated at the time of, and contained in, the application under section 5 for approval of the plans of those building works; or
(b)
for any other building works, 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 for approval of the plans of the building works;
“ventilating system” means a mechanical system for introducing or exhausting air.
(2)
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to a building includes a reference to a part of a building.
(3)
The Minister may, by notification published in the Gazette, vary any of the following referred to in the definition of “underground building works” in subsection (1) —
(a)
the diameter, width or height of any tunnel;
(b)
the depth of any caisson, cofferdam, trench, ditch, shaft or well;
(c)
the depth or height of any earth retaining structure in or for a trench, ditch, shaft or well; or
(d)
the number of storeys in a building.
(4)
Any reference in this Act to a person being an associate of a developer or builder of building works shall be —
(a)
any partner of the developer or builder;
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(b)
if the developer or builder is a body corporate, a director, secretary or similar executive officer of the body corporate;
(c)
any body corporate of which the developer or builder is a director, secretary or similar executive officer;
(d)
where the developer or builder is a trustee, a beneficiary or an object of the discretionary trust;
(e)
any employer or employee of the developer or builder.
(5)
Where —
(a)
by or under any provision of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made thereunder an act or thing is required or directed to be done within a particular period or before a particular time;
(b)
failure to do that act or thing within the period or before the time referred to in paragraph (a) constitutes an offence; and
(c)
that act or thing is not done within the period or before the time referred to in paragraph (a), the obligation to do that act or thing shall continue, notwithstanding that that period has expired or that time has passed, until that act or thing is done; and if the failure to do that act or thing within the period or before the time referred to in paragraph (a) is an offence, a person is guilty of a separate offence in respect of each day (including the day of a conviction for any such offence or any later day) or part thereof during which the person continues to refuse or fail to comply with that requirement or direction.