Building Interior

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

1.   Building works carried out for or in connection with —

(p)   the demolition, restoration or reinstatement of any non-load bearing wall.

A “non-load bearing wall” refers to a wall which supports no load other than its own weight.

When restoring or reinstating any existing non-load bearing wall, owners shall ensure that the weight of the material used is not heavier than that of the existing wall material.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

2.   Replacement or changing of windows and doors.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

4.   Replacement or changing of any false ceiling with lightweight material.

“Lightweight material” means any sheet or board material such as timber board, plywood, fibreboard, plasterboard, aluminium sheet, corrugated metal sheet or polycarbonate sheet.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

3.   Replacement of existing floor and wall finishes.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

1.   Building works carried out for or in connection with —

(v)   any loft that —

(i)    has only timber flooring; and

(ii)   does not exceed an area of 5 square metres.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

1.   Building works carried out for or in connection with —

(o)   the creation of any opening in a non-load bearing wall or the sealing up of any wall opening.

A “non-load bearing wall” refers to a wall which supports no load other than its own weight.

Owners shall make sure that the wall in which the opening is created is not a load bearing wall that supports the structure of the building.

Owners shall make sure that the weight of the material used for sealing up the opening is not heavier than that of the material of the existing wall.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

6.   Erection or alteration of —

(a)   any partition or partition wall in any bungalow, semi-detached, terrace or linked house; or

(b)   any partition or partition wall constructed of lightweight material in any other building.

"Partition" means a temporary or an easily removable vertical panel of lightweight construction for the subdivision of spaces within a building.

“Lightweight material” means –

(a)   any sheet or board material such as timber board, plywood, fibreboard, plasterboard, aluminium sheet, corrugated metal sheet or polycarbonate sheet;

(b)   any hollow concrete block, hollow glass block, autoclaved aerated concrete block and the like.

Masonry walls that are made up of units of the following materials, which are then laid to a bond in and joined together with mortar, are heavy. Therefore, owners shall consult BCA before using these materials for erecting partition walls.

(a)   Brick;

(b)   Concrete;

(c)   Stone; or

(d)   Materials of equivalent weight.

URA has mandatory requirements pertaining to the subdivision of spaces within a building. We advise owners to refer to and abide by URA’s requirements before installing such partition walls.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

1.   Building works carried out for or in connection with —

(s)   the replacement or reinstatement of any railing, balustrade or similar barrier constructed of any material other than non-laminated glass, using the same material, design and fixing details.

The “non-laminated glass” refers to glass other than laminated glass.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

7.   Construction of any raised floor or the topping up of balconies, and the like, with lightweight materials.

“Lightweight material” means –

(a)   any sheet or board material such as timber board, plywood, fibreboard, plasterboard, aluminium sheet, corrugated metal sheet or polycarbonate sheet;

(b)   any concrete product made with lightweight aggregates such as pumice, perlite or vermiculite.

The following building works are considered insignificant building works:

2.   Replacement or changing of windows and doors.

Owners are required to make a submission of plans to BCA for any window that is used as a barrier to prevent people from falling from heights (i.e. from a vertical drop of a height of 1.0m or more).

The installation of windows is to be carried out by an approved window contractor registered with the BCA Contractors Registry under the Regulation Workhead (RW01 – Window Contractors) or a licensed builder.

Please click here for more information on window installation.