But it is a grey area for private home owners, who may do so under certain conditions
Need more living space? Property prices have gone through the roof, so buying a bigger place might be out, but why not add a few mezzanine floors in your existing home?
That is what the owner of a three-room Housing Board flat decided to do after being inspired by industrial-loft designs.
Even though HDB rules outlaw such modifications, he spent a whopping $40,000 to do so and virtually doubled the living areas in the 700 sq ft apartment.
The mezzanine floor in the living room functions as a gaming area, one in the kitchen provides extra storage space and two more were built in the bedrooms.
While he may have generated extra space, there is strictly no room for such manoeuvring within HDB rules.
“Flat owners are not permitted to extend the floor area of their flat by covering over void areas, as such extensions may result in additional load on the structure and compromise the structural integrity of the building,” an HDB spokesman said, noting that unauthorised mezzanine structures in flats are rare.
Housing and Development (Renovation Control) Rules state that a flat owner who carries out or allows unauthorised installations faces a fine of up to $5,000.
The owner would also have to bear the cost of reinstating the flat’s original configuration.
Mezzanine floors are becoming common in private condominiums and HDB flats as properties become more expensive and more people are finding ways to increase their own living space instead of buying bigger apartments, said a mezzanine contractor who wanted to be known only as Sam.
Sam, 50, who started Mezzanines Singapore three years ago, said he has built more than 100 mezzanines, mostly in residential properties.
Mr Alloyious Koh, 28, chief design consultant at Carpenters, said there is a bit of a grey area in the rules for private home owners.
“Some condo managements allow the building of mezzanine floors if the platforms are not attached to the wall, ” said Mr Koh.
Such a mezzanine system has been a popular feature in show flats with high ceilings.
Sam added: “The mezzanines are fixed with bolts and nuts. They are not permanently fixed to the walls and can be easily dismantled.”
And if the loft is 5 sq m (54 sq ft) or less, building approval is not required. However, owners and developers are advised to check that the addition and usage of the loft would not exceed the unit’s designed load capacity.
Both Mr Koh and Sam advise home owners to seek approvals from the relevant authorities, although there will still be some who choose to go ahead with the work without permits.
These home owners think that the chances of the authorities finding out about their unauthorised structures are slim, they added.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has handled 170 cases in the past three years where structures were erected without prior approval, including attics, staircases and floor extensions over void spaces.
“Most of the works were commissioned by owners of landed houses. Such unauthorised structures might not be properly designed and/or constructed and may pose potential hazards to the occupants,” the BCA and Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said in a joint reply to The Sunday Times’ queries.
They noted that 45 of the 170 cases were served with demolition orders. Some owners did demolish the structures while the rest obtained approvals to retain them.
The remaining 125 cases were not served with demolition orders because the owners had obtained the relevant agency approvals to retain the structures.
The BCA and URA said all cases are dealt with according to the severity of the breach. The 170 cases between 2016 and 2018 resulted in either warnings, financial penalties or prosecution.
A recent case that was uncovered by a tip-off involved an illegally built hidden floor inside a building in Alexandra Road.
The Alexcier, a light industrial complex, was supposed to have only eight storeys and one basement, as shown in the strata-certified plan.
In what is the first known case of its kind here, the hidden ninth floor of over 5,000 sq ft – the size of about eight three-room HDB flats – can be accessed only from the unit on the eighth floor and boasts various living spaces with workstations, beds, a kitchen and a meeting room. The illegal floor unit is owned by ZACD Investments, co-founded by Mr Stanley Yeo and his wife Kain Sim.
The Sunday Times understands that demolition work started last week and is scheduled to be completed by April 1.
News of the hidden floor came at a time when developers are building more units with high ceilings and charging for void space.
Some public housing projects in Punggol and Queenstown also come with high ceilings, but not all void space can be used to accommodate a mezzanine floor even if buyers already paid in the expectation that they could add a floor.
Building work is subject to different regulatory requirements by various agencies on issues such as land-use intensity, structural integrity and fire safety, among others, said the BCA and URA.
The BCA and URA have published a list of works on their websites that do not require approvals.
Sam noted: “Very often, the developers might have already maxed out the total gross floor area of the project.
“With developers building smaller condo units, people are constantly thinking of ways to extend their living spaces. Many of them surf the Internet to look for ideas. And they see that when they build a loft, the space below is freed up.”
A construction sub-contractor who wanted to be known only as Mr Chong, 57, said : “The designs of new buildings are very safe, which usually can accommodate a bigger load. It is unlikely that such additional structures would cause an entire building to collapse.”
But engineer David Ng, a member of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore’s civil and structural technical committee, disagreed: “When additional structures and loading are added to the building, the factor of safety of the structure will decrease and this could have implication to the building structure.
“Furthermore, there could be impact on fire safety and could also exceed the allowed development plot ratio.”
The consequences of carrying out unauthorised work can pose grave danger to the building occupants, the authorities said.
They added that an engineer must be appointed to carry out design checks and certify that the additional loading is within the limits specified in the building code and that the building is structurally safe.
Last year, the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) issued 120 Notices of Fire Safety Offences for unauthorised work involving the erection of additional floors in industrial premises.
The SCDF issued 121 in 2017 and 109 in 2016.
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