Frequently Asked Question

The Accessibility Fund is a capital incentive for the upgrading of private buildings (except landed residential properties) with basic accessibility features as these buildings built before 1990 are not subjected to accessibly requirements at the point of construction.

Building owners or lessors who have the ownership right to upgrade the building; as well as lessees who can carry out the upgrading works with the endorsement of the building owners/lessors are eligible to apply for the Fund.

No. Only one time funding for each development is allowed.

Accessibility Fund can co-pay up to 80% of construction costs for the upgrading of basic accessibility features and can be extended to cover up to 40% of construction costs for additional BFA features beyond the basic accessibility features and it is capped at $300,000 per building

The Fund does not apply to private landed residential buildings and buildings undergoing major additions and alterations, which, under the current building regulations, have to comply with the prevailing accessibility code.

For private residential buildings, the Fund only applies to the upgrading of communal areas with accessibility features. Individual dwelling units are not eligible for the Fund.

Government funded buildings do not qualify for the Fund.

No. If an accessible feature is already provided in the building, the funding will not be extended to it. Funding will only be extended to features that might be code compliant at time of construction but is not compliant with our current code. Eg. Conversion of the gradient of ramp from 1:10 to 1:12.

No. In principle approval must be sought from BCA before the commencement of upgrading works. Upon receiving the documents in proper order, BCA will inform applicants within 14 working days on work items which have been approved in principle.

The accessibility fund will expire by the end of 2011. Applicants should submit their documents and obtain in-principal approval before the deadline.

The Accessibility Rating System (ARS) is a tool used by BCA to rate buildings with 1 to 5 "smiling faces" to depict its "userfriendliness". As a reference,

• "1 smiling face" means that the building has basic accessibility features;
• "3 smiling faces" means compliance with the current code;
• "4 smiling faces" means they are very friendly and having features beyond the current code, and
• "5 smiling faces" means they have at least a 4 "smiling faces" cum having won a Universal Design Award by BCA.

In addition to the ratings, users can also know the types, location and number of accessible facilities such as accessible toilets, lifts, car parking lots, child-friendly sanitary facilities and diaper changing rooms of the building.

The list of accessible buildings published in the "Friendly Buildings Portal" allows the general public to know the level of accessibility of a building rated by BCA (using the ARS).

Buildings listed shows whether it is "Basic BFA", "Partial BFA", "Full BFA", "Beyond Full BFA", or "Universal Design Award Winner", and the location of the building entrance(s).

Before this, users are unable to know which buildings are equipped with the accessible features that meet their needs for e.g. a family with young children will be keen to know the availability of the family facilities provided in buildings.

No. However, BCA aims to assess all buildings in Singapore and will list all accessible buildings at "http://www.friendlybuildings.sg" portal.

To date, of the approximate 3,000 buildings rated, about 70% are accessible. BCA intends to cover all buildings in Singapore (except landed residential properties).

Yes. They are: 1) Parkview Square (Commercial); (2) Nathan Place (Residential); (3) Grange Residence (Residential)

For government buildings, BCA works closely with the agencies to give priority to improving the accessibility of their buildings which are frequented by the public. To date, 98% of these tier-1 government buildings are accessible.

When Orchard Road area was surveyed in 2006, only 17 buildings out of 41 buildings were barrier-free. Today, 78% of them are accessible.

BCA is monitoring the accessibility of Orchard Road and is working very closely with the buildings owners to encourage they upgrade the non-barrier free buildings.

Currently, the legislation does not allow BCA to impose BFA requirements retrospectively on existing buildings (i.e. those built before the BFA Code was implemented in 1990). Hence our approach is to provide incentives to encourage BFA upgrading through the Accessibility Fund. We do not think that there will be a need to resort to legislative means. However, that possibility cannot be ruled out.

Universal Design (UD) means "design for all". It aims to create an environment which will address the needs of as many people as possible, regardless of their abilities and age. Consequently UD takes into consideration the physical, social and psychological needs of all possible users. On the other hand, BFA evaluates the physical accessibility of the built environment and adopts measures to reduce physical barriers for these people. BFA is hence a "sub-set" of UD.

Some examples of BFA features are ramps and handicapped toilets. But UD goes beyond BFA and includes such features like the provision of nursing rooms, smaller sized toilet facilities for children, ergonomic features such as rounded edges, etc. UD hence caters to the needs of a wider spectrum of users.

Currently, we are focusing on improving the accessibility of our built environment. The more immediate task is to provide barrier-free accessibility for existing buildings and districts. As UD is still a relatively new design approach, we are working with the industry and key stakeholders to raise awareness and encourage wider acceptance of this concept. The government will continue to monitor the progress and assess whether it is appropriate to incorporate more UD guidelines in future revisions of the BFA code.

Universal Design Award accords recognition to building owners who adopts UD in their building design. This, in itself, is an incentive. With a backdrop of our aging population and the promotion on procreation, there will be increased demands for universally designed buildings. UD Award winners are differentiated from the rest with an extra "smiling face" at our friendly buildings portal. This gives greater selling power.

The Accessibility Fund is a capital incentive aims to encourage building owners to upgrade and improve the accessibility of their buildings. The Funding also includes building owners who wish to provide UD feature in their buildings to enhance its user-friendliness.

To achieve an inclusive and friendly built environment, we need to encourage all categories of buildings to adopt UD. We understand that there are more constraints in existing buildings as compared to new developments in the incorporation of UD facilities. Hence, we have introduced a bonus score to encourage building owners who had made voluntary refurbishments and enhancement to transform an existing and not so friendly building into one that welcomes wheelchair users, the elderly and family with children.

To improve the accessibility of buildings, BCA works closely with building owners, developers, government agencies and consultants, on assessing their buildings and in the adoption of UD features.

The level of user-friendliness is reflected in the number of smiling sunflowers achieved by these buildings rated with our Accessibility Rating System (ARS) and featured in our friendly buildings portal. To promote UD, BCA offers internship programmes to Institutes of higher learning. Interns gain knowledge and practical experiences of the different barrier free codes and Universal Design guidelines.

Annual UD Seminars are also organised, bringing-in overseas speakers with extensive knowledge on UD, to share their experiences with the local architects and developers.

BCA also conducts a series of reach-out programmes to facilitate UD awareness and adoption. To date, BCA has worked with town councils, People’s Associations, Library Board to rove our UD exhibition panels to 10GRCs (25 Town Councils), 8 tertiary institutions and 7 libraries.

We are exploring more opportunities to promote UD.