Amenity Provision Guidelines For Ancillary And Secondary Workers’ Dormitories In Industrial / Warehouse Developments

Circular No : URA/PB/2010/13-PPG

Our Ref : DC/ADMIN/CIRCULAR/PB_10

Fax : 6227 4792

CIRCULAR TO PROFESSIONAL INSTITUTES

Who Should Know:
Developers, building owners and Qualified Persons

Effective Date:
With effect from 06 December 2010

Objective

To introduce amenity provision guidelines for temporary workers' dormitories provided within an industrial or warehouse development

Details

1. The amenity provision guidelines are introduced to improve the living conditions for foreign workers staying in ancillary and secondary workers’ dormitories in industrial/warehouse developments. The guidelines are drawn in collaboration among URA, JTC, HDB and other relevant government agencies. They apply only to new ancillary and secondary workers’ dormitories housing more than 50 workers. The guidelines are attached in Appendix A.

2. Workers’ dormitories that comply with the above guidelines may be granted temporary permission for up to 3 years. For existing workers’ dormitories that have been granted temporary permission under the previous guidelines, renewal of the temporary permission will be assessed based on the above guidelines as well as any feedback on disamenity to the surrounding areas.

3. For premises which are leased or sold by JTC or HDB, applicants are required to obtain prior clearance from JTC or HDB respectively for the proposed workers’ dormitories or renewal of temporary permission before submitting the application to URA.

4. Within the “no-go areas”, i.e. industrial estates that are safeguarded by JTC or HDB for strategic industries or where the workers’ dormitories may be incompatible with the surrounding land use, only ancillary workers’ dormitories (for housing own workers) are allowed. Secondary worker dormitories (for housing off-site workers) are not allowed within these areas. The list of no-go areas for secondary workers’ dormitories has been revised to allow for more industrial sites to qualify for consideration for conversion to workers’ dormitories. The revised list of no-go areas is attached in Appendix B.

5. This circular complements our previous Circular No. URA/PB/2008/28-DCD dated 05 December 2008. Except for Appendix B which is superseded in this circular, all other guidelines for ancillary and secondary workers’ dormitories in industrial/warehouse developments stated in our previous circular dated 05 December 2008 are still applicable.

6. I would appreciate it if you could convey the contents of this circular to the relevant members of your organisation. If you or your members have any queries concerning this circular, please do not hesitate to call our DCD Enquiry Line at Tel: 6223 4811 or e-mail us at ura_dcd@ura.gov.sg. We will be pleased to answer your queries, or any other development control matter. For your information, our past circulars to the professional institutes are available from our website http://www.ura.gov.sg ↗ (opens in new tab).

Thank You.

HAN YONG HOE
GROUP DIRECTOR (DEVELOPMENT CONTROL)
for CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
URBAN REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

APPENDIX A

Amenity Provision Guidelines for Workers’ Dormitories within an Industrial or Warehouse Development

Basic facilities

Basic amenities such as living quarters, common toilets and dining areas are required to be provided. The design, construction and provision of such basic facilities and amenities for the workers’ dormitory shall meet the relevant authorities’ requirements. (PUB, NEA, FSSB etc.).

The developer is strongly encouraged to construct and provide additional amenities such as sickbay, laundry washing, drying area and collection point within the development.

Recreational amenities

In addition to the basic amenities, the developer is also required to provide recreational amenities within the development. The minimum GFA for the recreational amenities, which depends on the number of workers housed in a dormitory, is as follows:

The recreational amenities shall form part of the ancillary quantum control within industrial developments. Examples of indoor recreational amenities are multi-purpose room, gymnasium, reading room, TV rooms and basketball court. The reasonable sizes of a TV room and a gymnasium are 24 sqm and 40 sqm respectively. In addition, the developer is strongly encouraged to construct and provide outdoor games court, recreation and socializing area within the development.

Commercial Amenities

The developer is allowed to provide up to 20 sqm of GFA in the development for commercial amenities if there are more than 100 workers housed in the dormitory. The commercial amenities shall form part of the ancillary quantum control within industrial developments.

Examples of commercial amenities are mini-mart, barber shop, bicycle repair shop, telecommunications shop, internet shop, remittance shop, postal service shop and ATM.

Applicable DC rate for Recreational and Commercial amenities

The relevant DC rates for temporary development levy (TDL) or differential premium (DP) by SLA are as follows: Recreational amenities Recreational amenities are to be computed under Industrial use rate, i.e. Group D for Ancillary workers’ dormitories (for housing own workers), and under Civic & Community Institution use rate, i.e. Group E for Secondary workers’ dormitories (for housing off-site workers). Commercial amenities Commercial amenities are to be computed under Commercial use rate, i.e. Group A.

APPENDIX B