Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Group 2
CONTENTS
1. Classification of Residential Buildings
2. Parking requirements for Residential Buildings
3. Explanation of General Terms
4. Regulations for Group Developments
5. Regulations for Multi-Storeyed Buildings
6. Regulations for Ordinary Residential Buildings
7. Regulations for Special Buildings
8. Regulations for Layouts and Subdivisions
9. Case Studies
PAGE 1
What are development regulations?
To ensure planned development in the city, the Chennai Metropolitan
Development Authority (CMDA) prescribes a set of rules to be followed
whenever any building, public space or infrastructure is designed.
Residential Buildings
Residential buildings are divided into four categories:
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Ordinary Residential Buildings:
Buildings which have less than 300 sq. m
plot area and a maximum of G+1 structure in
height are classified as Ordinary Residential
buildings.
Group Developments:
A development where the dwelling
units are in at least two or more blocks
and have minimum plot extent 300 sq.
m are called Group Developments.
Multi-storeyed Residential
Buildings
Any building that has more than 4
floors or 15.25 m height is a multi-
storeyed Building. These can also be
group developments.
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Parking Requirements
The parking requirement for all residential buildings, regardless of the site and type of
development, depends on the size of the dwelling unit.
PAGE 4
Additionally, parking spaces for visitors should be provided as 10% of the existing
parking spaces there are more than 3 car spaces.
PAGE 5
GENERAL TERMS
In order to understand the standards, we should have an understanding of the general
terms used in the upcoming topics:
Setbacks
In land use, a setback is the minimum
distance which a building or
other structure must be set back from a
street or road, a river or other stream, a
shore or flood plain, or any other place
which is needs protection. Usually,
standards are given for rear, front and side
setback.
If the non- continuous projecting structures in the setbacks exceed 50% of the
side/length of the building, they won’t be allowed in the minimum prescribed setback
spaces.
Motor room of area not exceeding 2 sq.m. each and height not exceeding 1.8m,
without affecting parking and driveway requirements.
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Frontage
The side of the plot which faces the road.
a strip or extent of land abutting on a
street or water.
Passage Roads
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OSR – Open Space Reservation
As per current regulations, 10% of the total plot area should be reserved for open
space.
For plots with area 3000 sq.m to 10,000 sq.m, the owner/developer can either reserve
10% of the plot for OSR or get an exemption from OSR, if there is no provision to
reserve open space because of physical restrictions. To get exemption, the equivalent
land will be valued by the Registration Department and the market value should be
paid by the owner/developer. As per CMDA, the amount paid will be used for
environment related causes.
Plot Area
The FSI for Ordinary Buildings is 1.5. This means, the total Plinth Area shall not exceed
1.5 times the Plot area in which the construction takes place.
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To arrive at the Floor
Area that could be
constructed, the
calculation must also
take into account the
following:
Plot Coverage
Set back space
Abutting Road width
etc.
Premium FSI
Premium FSI is a tool to encourage vertical growth in a metropolis. In a city like
Chennai, where every inch of space counts Premium FSI is expected to ease the
pressure on land at least to a small extent by allowing construction of more floor area.
The premium FSI for plots abutting roads that have a width of
PAGE 3
REGULATIONS FOR GROUP DEVELOPMENTS
Group Developments:
Residential or Commercial developments
which have at least two or more blocks.
The blocks can be interconnected. But if
two blocks are solidly connected for more
than 1/3 of their width, they will be
considered as a single block.
Access Road:
4. If the site is not directly abutting a public road, but has a passage road from a
public road of 10 m width, the width of the passage should be:
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Description Width
1. When it serves up to 6 units and length is less than 80 metres 3.6 m
2. When it serves up to 8 units and length is less than 100 metres 4.8 m
3. When it serves up to 10 units and length is less than 120 metres 7.2 m
4. When it serves up to 20 units and length is less than 240 metres 9m
5. When it serves more than 20 units 10 m
Rules for Upper Level Parking:
1. They should not be enclosed by walls, except for RCC parapet maximum height
1.2 m.
2. Should have adequate natural ventilation and lighting.
3. Water Closet or toilet facility and security cabin is allowed for each floor.
4. Minimum floor height should be 3 m.
Site Regulations:
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Spacing 6m
3m (EWS)
Frontage
6m (CBA)
12m (CMA)
10 M (EWS)
FSI for Economically Weaker Sections:
FSI = Total covered area on all floors/Plot area
If the unit is, 1. < 30 sq. m: the FSI = 1.5 times the normally permissible FSI
2. < 50 sq. m: the FSI = 1.3 times the normally permissible FSI
Electrical Room:
1. Electrical Room should be provided on the ground floor of the building within
the built-up space or within the premises.
2. Width of access road to should be at least 3 m.
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3. Electrical Room with RCC roof should have minimum 6x4 m floor area and 2.75
vertical clearance between electric wires and roof.
4. Room should be enclosed on three sides with wall and fourth side should have
M.S Rolling Grill Shutter. This side should face the approach road.
5. Electrical Room should have two exhaust fans, one on either side of the shutter.
6. It should have raised cement flooring with cable duct of width (450-750mm)
depth all around the inside of the room and close to the shutter. This should be
covered with RCC slabs minimum 75 mm width.
Sewage Treatment Plant:
1. If there are more than 50 units, sewage treatment plant should be provided and
maintained.
2. If there are less than 50 units, septic tank with up-flow filters should be
provided.
Basement Floor:
1. Height of the basement floor should not be more than 1.2 metres above ground
level
2. Headroom should be minimum 2.4 metres
3. Sufficient provision for lighting and ventilation should be made.
Other Regulations:
1. Security Cabin, water closet / pump room, transformer room, transformer yard,
electric room can be built in setback area, provided they do not block the
driveway and their height is less than 4 m.
2. These facilities can be built only if transformer and electrical rooms floor area
does not exceed 15 sq.m. and W.C and Pump room per block does not exceed 6
sq.m.
3. Corridor width within the building should be minimum 1 m.
4. If the building has more than 100 units, commercial units may be allowed in the
lower floor levels if they do not exceed 10% of that floor area.
5. If the building has more than 100 units, waste management system should be
provided with storage for solid waste near the access road where the local
authority can collect it.
6. Details of the development should be provided on a display board of minimum
size 60x120 cm.
7. Group development of units more than 50, or site area 10,000 sq. m (1 hectare)
should be designed and have plans signed by a qualified architect.
8. Group development of units more than 50, or site area 10,000 sq. m (1 hectare)
should reserve 10% of the site area to provide housing for lower income groups-
these units should have maximum 45 sq. m floor area.
PAGE 7
REGULATIONS FOR MULTI-STORIED
BUILDINGS
Additional regulations for multi-storeyed buildings area as follows:
PAGE 8
Recreational Space:
1. No requirement for site area less than 3000 sq. m
2. For site area above 3000 sq. m, 10% of the site area should be transferred to the
local authority, which may be allowed to be maintained as a public
park/playground.
Additional Facilities:
1. As per the NBC, lifts should be provided for each block.
2. Stand-by electric generator of adequate capacity for running lift and water
pump.
3. At least one metre room of size 2.4x2.4 m for every three floors.
4. Fire safety, detection and extinguishing systems.
Rainwater Conservation:
1. Pebble bed of 1 m width and 1.5 m depth all around the building with pebbles of
5 to 7.5 cm size.
2. Concrete paving around the building sloped in 1:20 ratio towards pebble bed for
surface runoff.
3. Dwarf walls height 7.5 cm constructed at entrance and exit gates to prevent
rainwater from the compound from draining onto the road.
4. Any of the given methods given in the DCR are to be adopted. For example,
PAGE 9
REGULATIONS FOR ORDINARY RESIDENTIAL
BUILDINGS
Plot extent: Maximum 300 sq.m
PAGE 10
REGULATIONS FOR SPECIAL BUILDINGS
Building with more than 2 floors or more than 6 dwelling units.
Description Width
1. When it serves up to 6 units and length is less than 80 metres 3.6 m
2. When it serves up to 8 units and length is less than 100 metres 4.8 m
3. When it serves up to 10 units and length is less than 120 metres 7.2 m
4. When it serves up to 20 units and length is less than 240 metres 9m
5. When it serves more than 20 units 10 m
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Additional Regulations:
Ten per cent of layout area (excluding roads), additionally, shall be reserved for
"Public Purpose" in those layouts, which are more than 10000 sq.m. in extent.
Interested departments shall be given intimation of layout approval by the CMDA
and requested to purchase the land from the owner of developer of promoter, on
paying the cost of plots so reserved. The owner or developer or promoter has
every right to sell the lands for residential purpose if no demand from any public
departments is received within one year.
In cases where the extent of the residential layout exceeds 10000 sq.m. ( 1
hectare) ten per cent of layout area (excluding roads) shall be developed as EWS
plots and the owner or developer or promoter shall sell these plot only for this
purpose. No conversion or amalgamation shall be permissible in these cases of
EWS plots
PAGE 14
CASE STUDIES
Case Study 1: Group Development
Kaveri Apartments,
Thiruvanmiyur
No. of blocks: 3
No. of units: 36
No. of units per block: 12
Spacing between blocks: 3.5 m
No. of parking spaces: 24
Frontage - 70.5m
Width - 48.5m
Road width - 10m
SETBACKS
Front - 6m
Side - 3.5m
rear - 5m
Driveway width - 7.2m, 3.6m
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SECURITY CABIN MOTOR ROOM
UNUSED GARAGE
OSR
PAGE 16
Case Study 2: Special Building
Frontage - 16m
Width - 29.7m
Road width - 10m
Plot area - 475.2 sq.m
Plot coverage - 52.7%
FSI - 0.8
Height - stilt + 4
Driveway – 4m
No. of parking spaces: 8
SETBACKS:
Front-4m
Side-4m
Rear- 5m
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Case Study 3: Multi-storeyed Building
No. of blocks: 6
No. of units: 108
No. of units per block: 18
No. of parking spaces: 268
Frontage - 122m
Road width - 15.2m
SETBACKS
Front - 7.3m
Side - 7m
rear - 7.6m
Driveway width - 3.5m
Spacing between blocks - 6.7m
No. of parking spaces : 268
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