Statistical Gross Floor Area (SGFA) and Plan Fees

How Plan Fees are charged

Plan fees are computed based on the type and extent of building works as stipulated in the Second Schedule of the Building Control Regulations. This approach ensures that fees are proportionate to the regulatory effort.

Rates of fees are also different for Type 1 and non-Type 1 buildings. Type 1 building means any agricultural or industrial building, being a building that is constructed or used, or is to be constructed or used, primarily for one or more of the purposes as outlined in Second Schedule of the Building Control Regulations.

What is SGFA

Statistical Gross Floor Area (SGFA) is used to proxy the extent of the building works.

The type of building works may be further broken down into general buildings and specified buildings.

SGFA of general buildings consist of all floor areas in a development. This includes:

1. All floor areas within the building, such as:

   1. Floor areas, including ledges

   2. Catwalks

   3. Lift motor room

   4. Roof terraces/ Sky terraces/ Maintenance roofs etc., regardless of usage

2. Constructed areas within the development, such as:

   1. Landscape deck

   2. E-deck

   3. Elevated floor areas

3. Covered areas, such as:

   1. Car porches & garages in landed housing

   2. Communal landscaped areas

   3. Entrance canopies and covered main entrances

   4. Public spaces and concourse areas

   5. Drop-off points

   6. Walkways and footways

   7. Linkways and sky bridges

   8. Urban verandahs

   9. Car parks including driveway & ramp up

   10. Loading and unloading bays

Area of plan view of specified buildings, on the other hand mean the areas of the following non-exhaustive list of structures:

1. A bridge

2. A bund

3. A canal

4. A chimney

5. A dry dock

6. A jetty

7. A landing stage

8. A lighting mast

9. A pier

10. A retaining wall

11. A tank (other than a water tank on a roof)

12. A tunnel

13. An underpass

14. A wharf

15. A sewage treatment plant

16. A silo

17. A slip dock

18. A slope

19. A swimming pool

20. Any other similar structure

A building’s SGFA can also be categorised into:

• Above sublevel: 

  • for storey that has a finished floor level  not more than 6 metres below the finished floor level of the first storey.

  • for the first storey of the building.

  • for any storey above the first storey.

• Below sublevel: 

  • for storey that has a finished floor level is more than 6 metres below the finished floor level of the first storey.

For projects in which the first set of plans is submitted to the Commissioner of Building Control (CBC) for approval on or after 1 October 2025, the fee structure have been streamlined such that SGFA within the development are to be aggregated regardless of building type (general or specified building). Please see circular [PDF, 400 KB] for more details below for the Plan Fee Structure for the new rate to be applied.

Please refer to the Second Schedule of the Building Control Regulations for  further details.

Other components in the computation of Plan Fees

For Addition & Alteration (A&A) and reconstruction works, as well as departures and deviations from approved plans, there are also flat fees charged per storey on top of the new SGFA of the development. Please see below for the Plan Fee Structure for more details.

From 21 May 2025, BCA has also streamlined the fees payable for facade A&A works. Instead of a flat fee per storey, fees are computed at a rate of $500 per typical design per building, regardless of the building typology and number of storeys of the building where the proposed façade A&A works will be performed. Please see this circular [PDF, 193 KB] for more details.

Plan Fee Structure

Details of the revised fees structure applicable for all projects whose first set of plans is submitted to BCA for approval on or after 30 December 2024 are tabulated below: