Mind your head

Country:  India

26 May 2009

Some developers in Bangalore will attempt to cut construction costs by reducing the height of apartments by six inches or even by a foot.

As per the National Building Code, the minimum floor-to-floor height of a property in India should be at least nine feet. Until now, developers across the country have been maintaining an average floor-to-floor height of 9.5-10 feet.

In metropolitan cities such as Bangalore and Chennai, recently constructed apartments have had a floor-to-floor height as high as 15 feet.

“Developers are looking to trim their construction costs by way of reducing the floor-to-floor height,” says B K Dhar, CEO of Mfar Constructions.

The reduction in ceiling height is expected to save builders up to 5% on construction costs.

“So far we have had no builder ask for floor-to-floor height specifications less than nine feet,” says Arunjot Singh Bhalla, associate director in RSP, one of the leading architectural firms in Bangalore.

Some industry professionals are even calling for the maximum floor-to-floor height in apartments to be reduced from nine feet to 8.6.