Tamil Nadu Raises Non-High-Rise Building Height Limit to 19.5 Metres

State government relaxes norms for height restriction on non-high rise buildings

The State government has raised the height limit for non-high rise buildings from 18.3 metres to 19.5 metres by amending the Tamil Nadu Combined Development and Building Rules, 2019.

The change removes the earlier classification barrier for buildings that cross 18.3 metres but remain within the revised limit.

Revised height limit and completion certificates

Before the amendment, any building exceeding 18.3 metres was categorised as a high rise building.

Such buildings were required to follow more stringent construction norms than non-high rise buildings.

The earlier height restriction had created difficulties for many builders seeking completion certificates for homes in the non-high rise category.

The amendment is expected to address those difficulties by allowing eligible buildings to remain within the non-high rise category up to a height of 19.5 metres.

The change will also allow homes to have better ventilation and aesthetics, according to the source.

It will further support an improved ceiling height in such homes.

The revised height limit therefore links the classification of buildings with the practical requirements involved in completing homes in the non-high rise category.

Road access and commercial-use zoning

The amendment also sets out the treatment of sites based on the width of the roads they abut and from which they gain access.

In the Chennai Metropolitan Area, sites abutting and gaining access from roads that are 12 metres wide or more will be deemed to have been zoned for commercial use.

In the rest of Tamil Nadu, the corresponding threshold is a road width of 9 metres or more.

The provision specifies separate road-width requirements for certain types of buildings.

Buildings including conference halls, exclusive multi storeyed parking lots and air conditioned cinema theatre with single screen must have a minimum road width of 12 metres.

For exhibition halls, community halls and kalyana mandapams in municipal corporations and municipalities, the minimum road width will be 15 metre.

The minimum road width for the same category of buildings will be 12 metres in town panchayats and village panchayats.

Star hotels and multiplexes or malls will require a minimum road width of 18 metres.

How the qualifying road stretch will be measured

The qualifying road width must be available continuously for a length of 100 metres from one side of the site or in a combined stretch on both sides.

The calculation will exclude the plot frontage of the site.

The amendment also requires a road intersection within that 100-metre stretch.

If there is no intersection within the stretch, the qualifying road width must instead be available continuously for at least 3,250 metres in areas within the Chennai Metropolitan Area and the municipal corporations.

In all other areas, the minimum continuous length in such cases will be 100 metres.

The road stretch abutting the site may be straight, curved, zigzag or a combination of these forms.

The amendments have also changed rules relating to swimming pools, although the source does not specify the revised provisions.

Source: The Hindu