SINGAPORE, Feb 13 – New buildings in Singapore will need to provide at least one lactation room if they have a gross floor area of 5,000 sq m or more, according to an upcoming revision of its Building and Construction Authority (BCA) code.
The Straits Times reported that the upcoming Code on Accessibility in the Built Environment will mandate that offices, schools, and small shopping malls with a gross floor area of at least 5,000 sq m provide at least one lactation room.
Currently, such facilities are only required in larger buildings of 10,000 sq m or more, and schools are not included.
Existing buildings undergoing major refurbishments must also comply with the new requirement.
Larger buildings, including hospitals, transport stations, and community clubs, will need to provide additional lactation rooms for every subsequent 20,000 sq m of space.
The revised code will also introduce specific standards for lactation rooms, including privacy, a lockable door, comfortable seating, electrical sockets at table height, and a fixed mirror. The rooms must not be located inside toilets and must have minimum dimensions of 1.2m by 1.5m.
While older buildings not undergoing renovations are not required to comply, they are encouraged to apply for BCA’s Accessibility Fund to add lactation rooms or pods.
The S$40 million (RM132 million) fund, which helps private building owners retrofit spaces for accessibility, has supported 160 buildings so far, with about S$20 million still available.