SINGAPORE - Every seven years, buildings older than 20 years and above 13 m tall - or roughly four storey high - have to engage a professional engineer or registered architect to inspect their facade.
The compulsory inspection is among several changes made to the Building Control Act that was passed by Parliament on Friday . Every year, in the last three years, the Building and Construction Authority received nearly 30 reports on falling facade elements."Most were related to the wear and tear of the facade materials or connections," he added.
The BCA will set new requirements for the design and installation of lifts and escalators to reduce the likelihood of defects for safety reasons. Mr Gan Thiam Poh said it was important to have a strong Singaporean core of trained lift specialists,"with attractive incentives for them to remain in this sector and make career progress".
To date, about 40 lift companies, servicing 95 per cent of lifts in Singapore, are committed to adopting the model.