Introduction to National Building Code and Steps in a Construction project

1) Below are the essential of building codes for the modeling of drawings in Revit.

• The building code is the required standards, set into law, that protect the safety and welfare of the public as related to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures. It is used in the occupations of architects, engineers, builders and contractors, interior designers, regulators, safety inspectors, developers, subcontractors, building product manufacturers, and environmental scientists. It is also employed by insurance companies, building and facility managers, tenants and others.
• Building codes are regulations governing the design, construction, alterations, and maintenance of structures. These codes specify the minimum requirements to safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the buildings occupants. They are enforced to make buildings safer to withstand earthquakes and other natural disasters.
• Building codes are very important because they ensure that architects and contractors are making their structures as safe as possible. Safety and the wellbeing of tenants and residents is the ultimate goal for these regulations. This is why they are so important to implement in our structures.
• And also the building codes are to provide minimum standards to protect the public health, safety, and general welfare as they relate to the construction and occupancy of buildings and structures.
• It also provides protection from tragedy caused by fire, structural collapse, and general deterioration. These rules specifically call out the standards in all aspects of the construction of buildings.

2) The below are the groups from National Building Code that are essential when you begin modeling in Revit.

Group A: Residential

The type of building in which sleeping, accommodation is provided to the people for residing temporary or on permanent basis.

For example: Bungalows, Private houses, Apartments, Hostels, Hotels, Cottages, and Villas etc.

These buildings are further divided into 5 another groups.

1. Family Private Dwellings.
   2. Flats.
   3. Hotels.
   4. Dormitories.
   5. Lodging Houses.

Group B: Educational

The type of building in which educational activities takes place are called as Educational Buildings. It includes education from nursery to university. The best example of educational buildings is schools, colleges, universities, training institutes etc.

Group C: Institutional

This types of buildings are used for the purpose of activities related to health, medical, recovering health from injuries or illness, care of old people and infants etc. Generally these types of buildings provide sleeping facility for the occupants.

Group D: Assembly

The type of buildings in which groups of people gather together for the purpose of worship, for amusement, gymnasium, museum, cinema hall, club, swimming pools, transportation services etc. It is the type of building where people from all classes are gathered together.

Group E: Business

This type of building is constructed for carrying out business related activities. The main purpose of such buildings is to carry out business transactions, keeping of important records and accounts etc. It includes city halls, dispensaries, clinics, libraries etc.

Group F: Mercantile

These types of building are basically used for trading activities and for display of products or waves either wholesale or retail. It includes shops, stores, markets etc.

Group G: Industrial

In this types of buildings or structure activities related to fabrication takes place. It may be assembling or processing of different products. Examples of industrial buildings are refineries, laboratories, assembly plants, gas plants etc.

Group H: Storage

These type of buildings are generally used as go down, warehouse or a storage structure. The primary purpose of these buildings is storage of goods or products, waves or merchandise, vehicles or animals etc.

Group I: Hazardous

The types of buildings structure in which storage, handling, processing or manufacturing of materials which are harmful to living kind and has the potential to burn with extreme rapidity and cause harm to living health are called as hazardous buildings. Hazards may be due to accidental fire, fumes or gases, explosion etc. Buildings which are used for the storage of such harmful gases and highly flammable liquids, fireworks, explosives etc are included in this type of buildings.

3) The below are the main five steps that occur in project cycle.

1. Location / site inspection
2. Conceptualization and planning,
3. Designing and detailing,
4. Construction/execution,
5. Operation and maintenance,
6. Final Stage.

4) The different disciplines involved in construction of a project are

• Construction
• Finance and estimating
• Contracts and bid
• Managements
• Surveying
• Architect
• Civil engineer
• Structural engineer
• Geotechnical engineer
• Electrical engineer
• Plumbing engineer
• Fire protection engineer
• Heating, ventilation and air conditioning engineer
• Lift, escalator and moving walk specialist
• Acoustics specialist
• Information/communication technology engineer
• Health, safety and environment specialist
• Environment/sustainability specialist
• Town planner
• Urban designer
• Landscape architect
• Security system specialist
• Interior designer
• Quantity surveyor
• Project/construction manager
• Accessibility and universal design specialist
• Asset/facility manager
• Other subject specialist

5) The National Building Code of India has classified the buildings as follows:-

• Classified based on their occupancy
• Classified based on method of load transfer
• Classified based on materials used
• Classified based on Fire resistance

In the following buildings are placed respective category

Building	Category
Four unit apartments	Group A (Residential Building) Subdivision A-4
School with capacity of 1000 students	Group B (Education Building) Subdivision B-2
A single unit shop.	Group F (Mercantile Buildings) Subdivision F-1
Multi story Shopping complex	Group D (Assembly Buildings) Subdivision D-6
Steel machine factory	Group G (Industry Buildings) Subdivision G-1

6) The roles of Design team and Management team are

Design Team:

• Providing production information (i.e. details of building components).
• Commenting and approving working drawings being provided by specialist contractors.
• Responding to site queries raised by the contractor.
• Inspecting the works to check compliance with the drawings and specification.
• Inspecting the works to check an acceptable quality standard has been achieved.
• To ensure proper implementation of design during the execution stage in the project
• Helping in Finalize the plan.
• Implementation of design.
• Issuing of design information.
• Issuing of variations.
• Instructions on standards of work and working methods.
• Arbitrating on contractual issues.
• Issuing practical completion certificate.

Management Team:

• Accomplishment of project
• Developing a project plan
• Managing deliverables according to the plan
• Recruiting project staff
• Leading and managing the project team
• Determining the methodology used on the project
• Establishing a project schedule and determining each phase
• Assigning tasks to project team members
• Communicating with upper management
• Contributing to overall project objectives
• Completing individual deliverables
• Providing expertise
• Working with users to establish and meet business needs
• Documenting the process
• Making key business decisions for the project
• Approving the project budget
• Ensuring availability of resources
• Communicating the project’s goals throughout the organization
• Approving all changes to the project scope
• Providing additional funds for scope changes
• Approving project deliverables
• Carrying ultimate responsibility for the project
• To achieve satisfactory completion of project with regard to cost, time and quality

7) Modeling requirements of the project

Height and Area Limitation:

Occupancy Class: Residential

Type of Construction: Type 1

Floor Area Ratio: U.L

Height: The maximum height of building shall not exceed 1.5 times the width of road abutting plus the front open space, subject to the requirement of front open space of a maximum of 16 m.

Passageways:

Corridors and passageways shall be of width not less than the calculated aggregate width of exit doorways leading from them in the direction of travel to the exit

Thickness based on fire life and safety:

For RCC material construction:

Masonry Walls: Solid (Required Resisting Fire from One Side at a Time)

Fire Resisting Rating (in Minute)	Minimum Thickness (mm), Excluding any Finish for a Fire Resistance (min) of Load bearing walls	Minimum thickness of actual cover to reinforcement.
60	120	25
90	140	25
120	160	25
180	200	25
240	240	25

Room Sizing:

Height of the Room:

• The height of all rooms for human habitation shall not be less than 2.75 m measured from the surface of the floor to the lowest point of the ceiling
• The area of habitable room shall not be less than 9.5 m², where there is only one room with a minimum width of 2.4 m.
• Where there are two rooms, one of these shall not be less than 9.5 m2 and the other not less than 7.5 m² , with a minimum width of 2.1 m.

Kitchen:

• The area of a kitchen where separate dining area is provided shall be not less than 5.0 sq.m. With a minimum width of 1.8 m. Where there is a separate store, the area of the kitchen may be reduced to 4.5sq.m.
• A kitchen, which is intended for use as a dining area also, shall have a floor area of not less than 7.5 m2 with a minimum width of 2.1 m.

Bathroom:

• The height of a bathroom or water-closet measured from the surface of the floor to the lowest point in the ceiling (bottom of slab) shall not be less than 2.1 m.
• The area of a bathroom shall not be less than 1.8sq.m with a minimum width of 1.2 m.
• The floor area of water closet shall be 1.1sq.m with a minimum width of 0.9 m.
• If bath and water-closet are combined, its floor area shall not be less than 2.8sq.m with a minimum width of 1.2 m.

About my model:-

Height:- The height of my building model is 13m which is less than 15m. Hence it follows NBC Guidelines.

Area limitation:- The area covered by my model is 58'x21' i.e 113.15sq.m which is greater than 40sq.m. Hence it follows NBC Guidelines.

Room size:- In my model the number of rooms are 8 and the total area is 113.15sq.m. Which is greater than the value mentioned in the code? Hence the building is safe.

Wall height:- In my model the wall height is 3.1m which is greater than the specified height in the code. Hence satisfied.

Thickness of wall:- In my model the thickness of the wall is 200mm which is greater than the specified thickness in the code. Hence satisfied.

Passageway:- There is no passage way in my current week 4 model.

8) The modeling requirements as per NCB in the week 2 and week 4 all are satisfied. The week 4 has been mentioned in detail above and the week 2 also passes and satisfied.