Approval plays a crucial role in Project development. No construction can happen without Approvals from the Government. All the design and development parameters have to be in line with the local government's development control guidelines. The formal Approval is more of a sign off to confirm that the assumptions & considerations in the design are in line with the local development guidelines. The design team must ensure there are no delays at the approval stage, by carefully understanding the developmental guidelines and making sure that there are no deviations. Liaison architect should be engaged to make sure there are no deviations before submitting any application as the laws are difficult to interpret at times. We should also not lose out on additional possibilities by wrongly interpreting the regulations in an unfavourable manner.
Rule 6.18
Following best practices shall be adopted for project approvals (Rule 6.18)
- EC to be applied once concept stage design (internal) is concluded.
- CFE will be applied based on EC approval received.
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Fire & Municipal Application are processed in two phases.
- Initial - To establish the built-up area
- Final - With agreed Budget and design
- Any revision in approval will lead to additional cost & time so should be avoided under all circumstances. It is always better to get the correct one approved in the first instance.
- Liaison architect appointed by the LDC will be responsible for verifying the MEP coordinated drawings, Fire and Municipal approval drawings before submission, and addressing all the concerns raised by the approving authorities.
- The LDC in most cases does not employ a subject matter expert in MEP and depends on the MEP consultant. The MEP consultant due to heavy workload, overlooks certain important criteria of the system. Since the drawings need to be reviewed for compliance as per the statutory norms prior to submission to authorities, it is suggested to deploy a senior mechanical engineer for MEP on LDC roles.
- The CDD team, Approvals (1&2) team and LDC should work together to get the approvals. The role of approvals team is to apply and facilitate meetings with government bodies; LDC to address all the concerns & queries and CDD to support both the teams to make sure the goals are achieved in time.
- Care must be taken to ensure we understand the future development plans of the Government and ensure adequate provisions be made in the plans such that there is no conflict with the future development plans such as road widening etc.
- No design parameters should be considered which is currently not permitted affirmatively in DCR or which doesn’t meet today’s government guidelines and rules. There should not be any design based on Government Orders “under consideration” or “under review”. Once the GO is issued for an expected change, a decision can be made to amend the project design with the relevant time and cost impact versus the additional benefits due to the change.
- Post construction approvals like CFO, Explosives License for HSD and DGs should be processed in time such that they are in place alongside the OC.
- It shall be the responsibility of the GM office to list out all the terms and conditions of the approvals obtained and make sure they are complied with and periodical report is sent to the Approvals team for onward submission to the approving authorities.
Since obtaining approvals is a technical task & involves government organisation, we will not be defining the process at this stage.
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