NBC Guidelines

Shreenidhi Kulkarni
Housing Studio
Fourth Year B.Arch
Sinhgad college of architecture
NBC Guidelines
• NBC guidelines related to kitchens
• Every kitchen must have provision for washing utensils, with proper connection to drainage.
• The kitchen must be provided with an impermeable floor.
• The kitchen must open into an interior or exterior open space and should not be less than one sq metre.
• The kitchen should not open into a shaft.
• No chutes to be used in buildings above 15 metres.
• NBC guidelines related to bathrooms
• Minimum area of kitchen per person - 0.60 m2
• Number of bathrooms, min 1 unit per 15 person
• One of the walls should have an opening to the open air. Minimum ventilation or window space should be provided measuring up to 0.37 sq metres.
• A bathroom must always be over another bathroom or washing place or the terrace space and not over another room. Watertight floors can be an exception to this rule.
• The seat should be made of non-absorbent material.
• Bathrooms should be enclosed by partitions/walls, provided with an impervious surface with a height prescribed as not less than one metre.
• The floor covering should be impervious too but sloping towards the drain and not towards any other room or balcony space.
• NBC guidelines related to lofts
• Apart from shops, lofts are permitted in residential buildings only.
• The area of the loft should be restricted to 25% of the covered area.
• The height between the loft and ceiling should not be less than 1.75 metres.
• NBC guidelines related to basements
• The minimum height of the basement should be 2.5 metres and the maximum height 4.5 metres.
• The ceiling height should be a minimum of 0.9 metres and maximum of 1.2 metres above the road surface.
• Ventilation is must for the basement and could be in the form of blowers, exhaust fans, air-conditioning, etc.
• The basement should not be accessed directly from the road. It should be accessed only from the main entrance or an alternative staircase that provides access to the building.
NBC Guidelines
• Guidelines related to building sites
• In case of damp sites, the surface of the ground and space between the walls has to be declared damp-proof, to the satisfaction of the authority.
• Building sites should be away from electric lines
• The Master Plan and land development rules and regulations of the authority decide the minimum size of the site.
• Guidelines related to building exits
• The NBC has guidelines for the entry, as well as exit points in buildings.
• An exit must be provided in every building, so as to permit safe escape of residents in times of fire or earthquakes, etc.
• Exits are compulsory and these should be clearly visible to all and must be illuminated. These cannot be reduced in number, width or by any other means. The requisite number is
dependent on occupancy load, capacity, travel distance, etc.
• Alarms are necessary to ensure those in danger are evacuated promptly.
• Exits should be continuous, leading to the exterior of the building.
• Exits can be horizontal or vertical.
• Lifts and revolving doors are not exits.
• NBC guidelines regarding fire safety
• In large-sized buildings where accidents due to fire may not be easily noticed, automatic fire detection and alarm facilities are a must and should be provided.
NBC Guidelines
• Guidelines for staircases in residential buildings
• For group housing, where the floor area does not exceed 300 sq meters and the height of the building is not over 24 meters, a single staircase may be acceptable.
In buildings that are identified in Bye-Laws No 1.13 VI (a) to (m), a minimum of two staircases are compulsory.
• In a residential low-rise building, the minimum width for the stairways is 0.9 meters.
• For flats, hostels, group housing, guest houses, it is 1.25 meters.
• Guidelines for stairways in residential structures
• The interior stairs must be constructed of non-combustible material only.
• It must have one side adjacent to an external wall and should be completely enclosed.
• It is the chief fire officer who needs to approve of the staircase’s location.
• The minimum height of handrails should be 100 CMS.
• The minimum width of treads, staircase, its arrangement, headroom, needs to follow the standards as prescribed by the NBC.
• Living spaces and stores cannot open up into the staircase.
• The main staircase and fire escape staircase must be continuous from ground floor to the terrace level.
• No electrical shafts or AC ducts and gas pipelines can run through the staircase.
• Nothing that is combustible can be used for decoration or paneling of the staircase.
• Beams and columns should not reduce the headroom or width of the staircase.
• Guidelines on open areas in residential structures
• Every room, habited by people, should open into an exterior or interior open space or verandah.
• Open spaces should be counted in the FAR, as per the master plan.
• These areas should be free of erections of any kind, except cornice, chajja or weather shade that is not more than 0.75 meters wide.
• Every interior or exterior or air space should be maintained for the benefit of such building exclusively and shall be entirely within the owner’s own premises.
NBC Norms for Parking standards for residential building :
• Clause 9.6.3.3 : One car parking space for every two flats up to 90 sqm floor area and one for every flat for 100 sqm or more
shall be provided.
• Clause 9.6.4 : With a view to providing adequate parking for occupancies and the vehicular load, appropriate off-street
parking provisions have to be made in the building/on-site.
• Clause 10.3 : Each off-street parking space provided for vehicles shall be as follows:
a) For car, the minimum parking space to be 3m x 6m when individual parking space is required and 2.75 m
x 5 m when common parking space is required.
b) Space for scooter/two wheeler and bicycle to be not less than 1.25 sqm and 1.00 sqm
respectively.
• Height: 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 (bottom of slab).
• Size : The area of habitable room shall not be less than 9.5 sqm, 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 sqm and the other not less than 7.5 sqm, with a
minimum width of 2.1 m
• Parking space shall be provided for within the residential plot as follows: a)2 Equivalent Car Space (ECS) in plots of size 250-
300 sq.m. b)1 ECS for every 100 sqm built-up area, in plots exceeding 300 sqm. 7

• : Fire & Lift Safety, Clause 3.4.5 (Note: 4a)

The FAR specified maybe increased by 20 percent for the following:
– A basement or cellar and space under a building constructed on stilts and used as a parking space, and air-
conditioning plant room used as accessory to the principal use.

General parameters for Stilt/Basement Parking

• Parking provision for all permissible dwelling units [as per MPD-2021 (Part-2, Chapter3, clause 4.4.3)] in plots less than or
equal to 250 sqm has been calculated as per NBC (Part-3, clause 9.6.3.3) since MPD-2021 does not specify parking
requirement for smaller plots.
• Stilt parking is maintained within the building line, i.e. ground coverage in addition to spaces beneath shafts, internal
courtyards and balcony projections.
• Since parking in stilts is not enclosed, therefore single entry/exit for vehicles could be provided (as per observation from
NBC).
• Stilt parking size: minimum of 5 M x 3 M (ref. NBC).
• Basement parking bay (min.) should be 5 M x 2.5 M
• Vehicular aisle width = 6.1 M (min.) when its doubly loaded at 90 degree (ref. NBC & Neuferts), and vehicular aisle width =
4M (min.) when its singly loaded.
• Internal turning radius = minimum 3m (ref. Neuferts).
• To meet the ECS requirement, driveway has been provided within set-back area.
• Ramp to stilts to be no be steeper than 1:8 as per Times Savers Standards.
• Minimum ramp width is 3 M as per Neufert’s Parking standards.
• Minimum ramp gradient should not exceed 15%, which is 1:8 slope, as per Neufert’s Parking standards.