Tweaking Building Regulation Can Reduce Housing Cost By 34%

In a research paper by urban planners from CEPT University — Bimal Patel, Auburn University, US and Sweta Byahut — and independent planner Brijesh Bhatha, the experts have claimed that rationalizing existing building regulations can reduce housing cost by 34% and incr

BY Realty Plus
Published - Friday, 05 Mar, 2021

Tweaking Building Regulation Can Reduce Housing Cost By 34%

In a research paper by urban planners from CEPT University — Bimal Patel, Auburn University, US and Sweta Byahut — and independent planner Brijesh Bhatha, the experts have claimed that rationalizing existing building regulations can reduce housing cost by 34% and increase supply by as much as 75% without significantly lowering quality or compromising safety. The much needed tweaks that experts have suggested is an alternative layout plan which can accommodate 1,120 housing units, organized in 20 buildings of four floors each, each floor having 8 units as against the present affordable housing plans where only 640 units have been constructed on the same site. The experts have also suggested that since most affordable houses refuse to go beyond 3 floors to avoid elevators, an existing floor can be constructed to take total building height to 15 metres and avoid elevators. “The total area of internal streets in the urban housing should be increased form 29% to 32%. Also by decreasing minimum distance between two buildings from existing 4.5 metres to 3 metres can save space,” claims paper. Also the FSI for affordable houses has been suggested to be raised to 1.8 from present 1.2 for buildings for optimum use of space. The experts point out that only 40% Amdavadis can actually afford the existing formal sector housing in the city.