Navigating BOCW: Does Interior Work in Commercial Buildings Require Compliance?

We are taking a lease of some floors in a commercial building. Post that, we will have to carry out interior work. Does this interior work attract BOCW? The building comes under shop and establishment.

In another case, in our own building, we want to renovate the interior. Is BOCW applicable in this case? Seek your advice.

The interior work carried out on the leased floors of the commercial building falls within the activity of "alteration" mentioned in the definition of "building or other construction work" under Section 2(1)(d) of the BOCW Act, 1996. Therefore, the Act applies to this work.

Regarding the second case, it is not clear whether it is a residence for own purpose and whether the renovation cost exceeds Rs. 10 lakh as defined under Section 2(1)(j); if both the answers are 'yes', then the Act applies.

Interior Fit-Out for Corporate Offices

Sir, we are in the business of interior fit-out for corporate offices. We design ourselves but outsource the actual execution to third-party contractors. These offices or bare shell spaces are in buildings that are already completed and for which a Completion Certificate or Occupancy Certificate has already been obtained by the builder years ago.

Our corporate clients take space in the already constructed building, and they engage us for doing interiors. We are not doing any construction work on the building; we are just doing the interiors of one of the offices in an already constructed building.

Applicability of BOCW Act

Would the BOCW Act be applicable to our work? One of the labor law consultants we approached got a clarification from the labor department itself that BOCW is not applicable if the building has already been completed and a Completion or Occupancy certificate has been obtained.

Please guide.

Thanks

Dear friend, my reply was based on the eventual "alteration" to the interior usable space of the building as a result of interior designing and not interior decoration. Admittedly, you are in the business of interior fit-out of corporate offices and executing the same through third-party contractors. The completion/occupancy certificate would have been issued based on the compliance with the initially approved building plan submitted by the landlord. Interior outfit, basically being for the adaptive reuse of the space by the tenant, particularly a corporate office, may require partitioning, false ceiling, etc., depending on the number of people including visitors. Therefore, such alterations may require certain norms of safety, space per person, etc. I have no idea whether there are any guidelines/restrictions issued by the Government in this regard. Better check with Municipal Engineers.