Certification of newer lifts, escalators must be carried out by BCA-licensed firms from 2027

SINGAPORE – Developers and building owners must engage firms licensed by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to get newer lifts and escalators certified from 2027.

This move will bring Singapore in line with international best practices and ensure that quality and safety standards are upheld, National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat said on Sept 3 at the International Built Environment Week (IBEW) Industry and Awards Dinner held at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

Currently, lifts and escalators must be examined, inspected and tested by a specialist professional engineer upon installation, to get them certified to be in good working condition. With the certificate, the building owner can apply for a permit from the BCA to operate the lift or escalator. This process is repeated each year after installation.

From 2027, building owners and developers must engage licensed firms to certify newer lifts and escalators with more complex systems for public use.

The requirement to engage licensed firms will be extended to the supervision of structural works whose project values exceed $75 million, from 2028.

The move comes as lift and escalator systems become more complex and require specialised expertise, having evolved from largely mechanical equipment into complex electrical and mechanical systems, BCA said on Sept 3.

Large-scale building projects also involve more specialist works and sophisticated methods of construction.

BCA said professional firms are better equipped with the expertise and resources to uphold safety standards. Such firms can also implement procedures for collaboration and coordination, and are able to provide training and resources to support their professionals.

“This will ensure higher safety and quality standards, more consistent and efficient professional services, as well as better talent development and knowledge retention in the built environment sector,” it added.

To be licensed by BCA, firms must first get accredited by the Singapore Accreditation Council. This requires firms to meet a minimum level of staffing and years of experience for professionals employed by the firm.

About two-thirds of specialist professional engineers currently operate individually, with the rest operating under firms. Individual professionals can continue to provide services independently for other types of projects, BCA said.

The authority had called for public feedback on the regulations for lifts and escalators via the Reach website in 2024.

It said then that it was highly challenging for an individual professional to have the required range of specialised skill sets across multiple disciplines, and to have the resources to coordinate works among multiple parties in order to properly supervise larger structural works and certify newer lifts and escalators.

At the IBEW dinner, Mr Chee also gave an update on the implementation of the CoreNet X platform, which streamlines the approval process for construction projects on a single platform, rather than through multiple agencies.

Since the platform was soft-launched in 2023, over 50 projects involving 100 firms have come on board, he said. The majority of these projects were able to save up to 20 per cent of the time usually taken for construction projects to obtain approval from government agencies.

BCA announced in January that it will be mandatory from October for regulatory submissions to be made through the platform for all new projects with a gross floor area of at least 30,000 sq m.

From October 2026, this will be extended to all new projects, regardless of size. All ongoing projects must also be moved onto the platform by October 2027.

Mr Chee said the authorities will further extend the qualifying period for additional buyer’s stamp duty remission to give the industry more time to learn the new processes.

The qualifying period will be extended to September 2026 for the first tranche, and September 2027 for all new projects.

On Sept 3, BCA also presented 21 awards in recognition of achievements in the built environment sector.

Two engineers who worked on Marina Bay MRT station’s Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) tunnels were each given the Design and Engineering Safety Award.

For the project, a section of the soil was frozen to prevent water from seeping in when workers excavated the tunnels 40m underground – the first time such a method was used in an MRT project in Singapore. The TEL tunnels in Marina Bay station are located below the North-South Line and Circle Line tunnels.

Award winner Michelle Lew, a specialist professional engineer from geotechnical engineering firm Kiso-Jiban Singapore, was the qualified person who oversaw the geotechnical engineering aspects of the project. Her colleague Chua Tong Seng was the other winner of the award.

The ground freezing method was used for the lower TEL tunnels as the soil at that level was permeable, Ms Lew explained.

To freeze the ground into ice walls, vertical freezing pipes were inserted into the ground and brine, a refrigerant, was pumped in after being chilled to minus 30 deg C.

Ms Lew said the team had to be extra cautious in making sure the freezing process was precise because if the ground expanded too much, it could affect nearby structures.

“We had to take into consideration the two MRT lines that were in operation as well as surrounding buildings – there was no room for error,” she said.