On 6 August 2024, the Building Control (Amendment) Bill (“Bill“) was introduced in Parliament. The Bill was subsequently passed by Parliament on 10 September 2024. The Bill will amend the Building Control Act 1989 (“Act“) for the following main purposes:
- to expand the existing regime in Part 3B of the Act relating to environmental sustainability measures for existing buildings; and
- to regulate façade inspections within the meaning of Part 5 of the Act.
The amendments follow the announcement made by the Building and Construction Authority (“BCA“) on 2 March 2023 regarding the introduction of the Mandatory Energy Improvement (“MEI“) regime by the end of 2024. Initially, the MEI regime will apply to the most energy-intensive commercial buildings, healthcare facilities, sports and recreation centres and institutional buildings with a gross floor area of 5,000 m2.
Currently, the existing regime in Part 3B of the Act only relates to environmental sustainability measures for buildings that undergo a major energy use change. The new regime, which will be added to Part 3B of the Act, involves identifying existing buildings which are energy-intensive buildings and requiring the owners of these energy-intensive buildings to make improvements to the energy efficiency of these buildings.
Under the Bill, the new regime requirements will consist of two components:
- Energy Audit. Building owners will be required to appoint a professional to review the major energy-consuming systems in their building, and identify possible measures to improve energy efficiency and optimise energy use. The audit report will also contain a cost-benefit analysis of the measures to help building owners in their decision making.
- Energy Efficiency Improvement Plan. Based on the audit findings, building owners will be required to develop and implement measures to improve their buildings’ energy use intensity (“EUI“). These measures can range from straight-forward low-cost maintenance measures, such as replacing faulty parts or sensors and installing monitoring instruments, to more complex retrofitting works. Building owners will be required to undertake the energy efficiency improvement measures within a stated timeframe and to maintain their EUI over a minimum stated period.
Failure to comply with the proposed energy audit and energy efficient improvement plan requirements will be an offence, punishable by way of substantial fines. Relevant building owners should be mindful of the need for energy optimisation and consider the necessary steps that they can take to minimise energy wastage.
Click on the following links for more information:
- Building Control (Amendment) Bill (available on the Parliament Singapore website at parliament.gov.sg)
- BCA Media Release titled “Strengthening Resilience of the Building Environment Sector for Next Bound of Industry Transformation” (available on the BCA website at bca.gov.sg)
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