CHAPTER V
OCCUPANCY

(2) All buildings, whether existing or hereafter proposed, shall be classified in one of the following occupancies according to the use or character of occupancy, namely:-
 

Notes:- (i) Any building not specifically covered by any of the occupancies under sub rule (2) shall be in the group which most nearly resembles its exiting or proposed use.

(ii) Any building which accommodates more than one use under sub-rule (2) shall be included under the most restrictive group.,

(3) The description of occupancies are given below, namely:-

(a) Group AI. - Residential Building shall include any building in which sleeping accommodation is provided for normal residential purposes, with or without cooking and or dining facilities. They shall include one or multifamily dwellings, apartment houses or residential flats. Small professional offices or spaces for advocates, doctors, engineers, architects, chartered accountants, beauticians, tailors, photographers, videographers, telephone booth operator, computer professionals, typists, electrical or electronic equipment service professionals, not exceeding 50 sq. metres floor area and used as part of principal residential occupancy are also included in this group. Further, lodging or rooming houses, tourist homes, dormitories, hostels and hotels not exceeding 150 sq. metres floor area are included in this group.

(b) Group A2. - Special Residential building shall include all lodging or rooming houses, dormitories, tourist homes, hostels hotels exceeding 150 sq. metres floor area with or without conference halls, community halls, dining halls or assembly rooms Crèches, day care centres, children's nursery, reading rooms libraries and educational buildings not exceeding 150 sq. metres floor area are also included in this group.

(c) Group B.- Educational building shall include all educational buildings or part thereof exceeding 150 sq. metres floor area, used for school, college, institution, education and or research.

(d) Group C. - Medical or Hospital Building shall including any building or part thereof-exceeding 150 Sq. metres of build up area used for purposes such as medical or other treatment or care of persons suffering from physical or mental illness, disease or infirmity, care of infants, convalescents or aged persons. Hospitals, sanitoria, clinic, homes for the aged and the infirm, convalescent homes, mental hospitals are included in this group.

(e) Group D.- Assembly building shall included any building or part of a building exceeding 300 sq. metres of total floor area where people, congregate or gather for amusement, recreation, social, religious, patriotic, civil, travel and similar purposes such as theatres, motion picture houses or cinemas, assembly halls for educational dramatic or theoretical presentation, auditoriums wedding halls, community halls, exhibition halls, art galleries, museums libraries, skating rings, gymnasiums, congregation, dance halls, club rooms, passenger stations or transport terminals, recreation piers, amusement park structures, viewing stands, grand stands, stadia and circus tents.

(f) Group E. - Office or business building shall include any building or part of a building having a total floor area of more than 300 sq. metres which is used for transaction of public or private business or for accommodating offices of public or private agencies or for the keeping of records, accounts and similar purposes. Local, State and Central Government office and buildings for office purposes constructed by private sector and quasi government agencies and buildings for the use of defence, court houses, public utility buildings, jails and prisons are included in this group.]

(g) Group F. - Mercantile or commercial building shall include any building or part of a building which is used for display and sale of merchandise such as shops, stores, markets, either wholesale or retail. Banking and financial institutions, public and private business houses, professional establishment of doctors, dentist, engineers, architects, lawyers, pathological laboratories, tailor shops, video shops, barbershop, beauty parlors, news stands, milk booths, restaurants and non-nuisance type of small establishment like armature winding shops using power motor or machine of capacity not exceeding 3 horse power are included in this group. Further, buildings or part of buildings used exclusively for parking of vehicles (parking buildings, parking plazas etc.) are also included in this group.

Notes. - (1) Any building with not more than 150 sq. metres built up area accommodating the use under Group C and with not more than 300 sq. metres built up area accommodating the use under Groups D, E and H shall be included in Group F.

(2) Minor merchandising operations in buildings primarily meant for other uses shall be covered by the group under which the predominant occupancy is classified.

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Group G1.- Industrial building shall include any building or part thereof where products or materials of all kinds and properties are fabricated, assembled or processed. It include workshops, assembly plants, laboratories, dry cleaning plants, power plants, pumping stations, smoke houses, laundries, gas plants, refineries, dairies, saw mills, and the like.

(j) Group G2.- Small industrial building shall include any building or part thereof where products or materials of all kinds and properties are fabricated, assembled or processed by a small scale industrial unit. 

 Note:- 'Small scale industrial unit' means an industrial unit carrying on small scale industry classified as such by government from time to time for this purpose but does not include an industry included in schedule 1 of the Factories Act, 1948.

Group H. -Storage building shall include any building or part thereof used primarily for the storage or sheltering (including servicing, processing or repairing incidental to storage) of goods, wares or merchandise (except those involving highly combustible or explosive products or materials), vehicles and the like. Ware-houses, freight depots, transit sheds, store houses, garages, hangers, grain elevators, barns and silos are included in this group. Minor storage incidental to other occupancies shall be treated as part of the predominant occupancy.

(1) Group I (I).- Hazardous building shall include any building or part of a building which is used for purposes which create air and sound pollution of minor nature and or producing effluents which does not cause very adverse environmental effects. Automobile wash stalls, automobile service stations, service garages with repairing facilities, welding workshops, are included in this group. Poultry farms with more than [x x x] 20 hens or ducks, dairy with more than [ x x x ] 6 cattle, kennel with more than [x x xl 6 dogs are also included in this group.

(m) Group 1 (2)- Hazardous building shall include any building or part of a building which is used for the storage, handling, manufacturing processing of highly combustible, explosive, poisonous, irritant, corrosive, toxic or noxious materials or products or any products or materials producing dust. They shall include buildings and yards used for,-

(i) [ x x x ] storage under pressure of more than 1 Kg/cm2 and in quantities exceeding 70 m3 of acetylene, hydrogen, illuminating and natural gases, ammonia, chlorine phosgene, sulphur dioxide, methyl oxide and all gases subject to explosion, fumes or toxic hazard;

(ii) storage and handling of hazardous and highly inflammable liquids:
(iii) storage and handling of hazardous and highly inflammable or explosive materials other than liquids, gas bottling plants, petrol and diesel storage tanks;

(iv) manufacture of plastic goods, synthetic leather, ammunition, explosives and fire works;
(v) crematoria, burial grounds, garbage dumping yards, abuttoirs (slaughter houses), sewerage treatment plants, petrol filling stations, coal, wood and timber yards with saw mills;

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31. Coverage and floor area ratio.-
(1) The maximum percentage of coverage permissible for each occupancy shall limit the maximum area at any floor of a building. The floor area ratio value shall limit the maximum buildable total floor area. Floor area ratio ie, F.A.R. shall be calculated as shown below:

                                      F.A.R= Total floor area on the floors/Plot area

(2) The percentage of coverage and the F.A.R. value of building under different occupancies shall not exceed the maximum specified in Table 2 below.

Note:- The Value of maximum permissible coverage of a building of a particular occupancy group shall be limited by the value given under column (3) and shall be the area covered by the building at any floor after accounting for the exterior open space (front, sides and rear) and interior open spaces.]
 

(3) For permitting for FAR shown in column (5) of Table 2, an additional fee at the rate of Rs.1000 per square meter exceeding the area permissible under column (4) shall be paid.

32.Height of buildings.-

2[(1) The Maximum height of any building or part thereof shall be limited according to the width of the street as follows:-

(a) The maximum height of the building or part thereof shall not exceed twice the width of the street abutting the plot plus twice the width of the yard from the building to the abutting street and this height may further be increased proportionately at the rate of 3 metres for every 50 cms. by which the building or the corresponding portion or floor of the building is set back from the building line;

(b) If a building plot abuts on two or more streets of different width, the building plot shall be deemed to abut the street that has the greater width for the purposes of this rule and the height of the building shall be regulated by the width of that street and shall be continued at this height along the narrower street:

Provided that the height restriction as per this rule shall be compulsory only for buildings or part of building coming within 12 metres of building line:

Provided further that appurtenant roof structures like staircase tower over head tanks, air conditioning rooms, cellular telecommunication equipment or tower structures, cabin rooms, chimneys, parapet walls and similar roof structures other than pent houses shall not be included in the height of the building for the purpose of this rule:

Provided also that architectural features serving no other function except that of decoration shall not be included in the height of the building for the purpose of this rule.]

(2) For buildings, structures and installations in the vicinity of airports the stipulations with regard to height shall be further limited as shown in Table 3. This shall be subject to any notification issued by Government of India under the Aircrafts Act 1, 1934.

[Provided that buildings, structures and installations exceeding the height shown in Table 3 shall be allowed if no objection certificate from the concerned airport authority is obtained and produced before the Secretary for  issuing the permit.]

3[Notes:- (1) No tree shall be allowed to grow above the height shown in column (4) within the distance shown in column (2) and (3) respectively.

(2) For calculation of permissible height as per this sub rule the highest point of the building without any exemption shall be considered.]

(33) Access
(1) The minimum clear width of access to a building and plots as well as the width of the street giving access to the plot from the main street shall be as shown in Table 4.
 

[Provided that wherever off street parking is required for the building as per these rules, motor able access width shall be provided to the plot.]

Provided further that the access width of any building shall be modified to be in accordance with the provisions in any detailed development plan for the area.

(2) No person shall at any time construct or cause or permit to construct or reconstruct any building which in any way encroaches upon or diminishes the area set apart as access to that building.

(3) No person shall construct a building or undertake construction work on a building which reduces the access to any building previously existing, below the minimum width required under these rules.

(4) No building shall be constructed so as to deprive any other building of an existing access.

(5) The space set apart as access shall be separately distinguishable from any house gully or open space required to be provided under any other rule.

(6) Every access shall be drained and lighted to the satisfaction of the Secretary and man-hole covers or other drainage, water or any other fittings laid in such access shall be flush with finished surface level so as not to obstruct safe travel over the same.

34. Parking, loading and unloading spaces.- (1) Each of street parking space provided for parking motor cars shall be not less than 15 Sq. mts. area (5.5 mts. x 2.7mts.) and for scooters and cycles the area of each parking space provided shall be not less than 3 sq. mts. and 1.5 sq. mt. respectively.

(2) For buildings of different occupancies, off-street- parking spaces for motor cars shall be provided within the plot as specified in Table 5.
 

Provided that in Second Grade Municipalities and Third Grade Municipalities it shall suffice if 75 per cent and 50 per cent respectively of the above parking is provided in village panchayats where the provisions of the Kerala Municipality Building Rules, 1999 stand extended, off street parking shall be provided as in third grade municipalities.-

(3) Wherever any parking space is required under these rules, 25% of that area shall be provided additionally for parking scooters or cycles.

(4) Every off-street parking space shall be provided with adequate vehicular access to a street; area of drives, aisles and such other provisions required and adequate area for manicuring of vehicles shall be provided in addition to the parking space.

(5) In addition to the parking space as in Table 5, in the case of Group F Mercantile or Commercial, Group G-Industrial and Group H storage occupancies, loading and unloading spaces each 30 sq. mts. shall be provided within the plot, at the rate of one such space for each 1000 sq. mts. of floor area or fraction thereof, exceeding the first 700 sq. mts. of floor area.

(6) Not exceeding fifty per cent of the area of mandatory open yard (space) shall be taken into account for calculating the required off street parking space if such open space has adequate vehicular access and area for maneuvering.

(7) The Government may, if adequate off street parking facility is available to their satisfaction near the site proposed for building, in any parking building or parking area provided by the Municipality or quasi-Government agency or private agency, permit the secretary by general or special order and subject to conditions specified there in to allow reduction in off street parking space in any or all buildings in that area to the extent not exceeding 50 per cent of the required number of off street parking space.