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* Road buffers and building setback standards
In the past, setbacks for buildings from public roads were determined by the road buffer or building setback requirement, whichever is greater. In November 2000, URA simplified it to applying just the road buffer requirement. This gives greater flexibility to design and layout of buildings as well as a more consistent streetscape along public roads.

* Roof eaves and sun-shading devices
Many buildings used to have insufficient roof eaves to shade them from the elements. This was partly attributed to the fact that areas below roof eaves and sun-shading devices wider than 1.4m for residential developments, and wider than 1m for non-residential developments, were computed as Gross Floor Area (GFA) and site coverage.

To encourage more tropical architecture in buildings, URA relaxed the width control for roof eaves and sun-shading devices below the 6th storey to 2m. For those located at the 6th storey and above, the width control was completely lifted. This relaxation has given architects and developers greater flexibility to incorporate more generous roof eaves and sun-shading devices in their architectural designs without incurring GFA and site coverage computation.

* Strata landed housing developments
The strata landed housing was a new housing form introduced in 1993, combining the prestige of landed housing with the convenience and camaraderie of community living in strata housing.

When strata landed housing was first introduced, URA put in place certain DC guidelines to ensure that it would be implemented as intended, as well as to ensure the quality of its environment meets certain standards. Over time, in response to market demands and buyers' expectations, the guidelines were progressively relaxed to provide greater flexibility for developers to plan and design the internal layout of strata landed housing developments. Some of these guidelines include maximum number of units allowable, building-to-building spacing within the development, setback of individual units from the plot boundary, minimum frontage and plot width of each unit, and maximum footprint of the individual unit.

* Attic guidelines
In recent years, as housing plot sizes become smaller with rising land cost, the trend for owners is to raise the roofs of their homes and build attics under them to create more space. This has resulted in many attics looking like an additional floor rather than incidental spaces under the roof. These large 'attics' have contributed to massive landed housing forms, commonly referred to as "monster houses", which look too imposing compared to their surrounding landed housing.

In 1999, URA reviewed the DC guidelines for attics in collaboration with the Singapore Institute of Architects (SIA) and lifted controls on light and ventilation, setback for dormer windows, size of windows and attic floor level. Attics only have to comply with the 5m height limit and the 45-degree envelope for the roof pitch. With this revision, architects have more room to exercise creativity when designing attics and roofs without impacting negatively on the character of the neighbourhood.