Roorkee: IIT Roorkee, in association with the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), organised a workshop on the National Building Construction Standards (NBCS 2026) at the Lecture Theatre, Water Resources Development and Management (WRDM) in Roorkee on Thursday.
Prof KK Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee, was the Chief Guest, while Sanjay Pant, Deputy Director General (Standardisation), BIS, presided over the inaugural function. The workshop brought together experts from BIS, IIT Roorkee, and the professional community to deliberate on the provisions, relevance, and implementation of NBCS 2026 and its role in promoting safe, resilient, and quality-oriented construction practices.
Prof Deepak Khare, BIS Chair Professor at IIT Roorkee, delivered the Welcome Address and outlined the workshop's significance in strengthening awareness and practical understanding of Indian Standards.
He emphasised the importance of greater student engagement with national standards and highlighted IIT Roorkee's initiatives to involve students through activities such as quizzes, workshops, seminars and other academic engagements, thereby encouraging wider awareness and meaningful application of standards in academic and professional contexts.
The workshop focused on enhancing awareness and understanding of the provisions and applications of the National Building Construction Standard (NBCS 2026). The initiative also highlighted the importance of integrating national standards with academic knowledge, professional practice, research and institutional infrastructure development.
Addressing the gathering, Sanjay Pant highlighted the significance of the updated standards and the need for their effective adoption nationwide, asserting that standards can achieve their intended impact only when they are well understood and effectively translated into practice.
"The National Building Construction Standards 2026 represent an important advancement in strengthening the framework for safe, resilient and quality-oriented construction in the country. Standards can achieve their intended impact only when they are well understood and effectively translated into practice. It is therefore important to raise awareness among students, faculty, architects, engineers and other stakeholders, and to encourage meaningful dialogue about their provisions. IIT Roorkee, with its strong multidisciplinary expertise in engineering, architecture and disaster resilience, provides an ideal platform for such an engagement. The collaboration between BIS and IIT Roorkee will contribute to building greater capacity and promoting the effective implementation of NBC 2026," said Pant.
Prof KK Pant, Director of IIT Roorkee, reiterated the Institute's commitment to expand safe, resilient and sustainable infrastructure through research, education and multidisciplinary collaboration.
"IIT Roorkee has a long-standing commitment to strengthening the foundations of safe, resilient and sustainable infrastructure in the country. National standards provide an important framework for achieving these objectives. Through our collaboration with BIS, we seek to connect standards with research, academic expertise and field-level implementation, while equipping our students and professionals with a deeper understanding of evolving construction practices. Such engagements are important for translating technical knowledge into solutions that contribute to a safer and more resilient built environment," said Pant.
The workshop also included a felicitation ceremony honouring Sanjay Pant for his contribution to the development and evolution of the National Building Code (NBC).
With more than 35 years of experience in the field of standardisation, Sanjay Pant has played a crucial role in developing, preparing, revising, and updating various BIS Standards, including his continued efforts towards strengthening the NBC. His extensive experience and technical expertise have contributed significantly to the advancement of Indian standards in the country.
The programme also featured a technical session led by experts from the Bureau of Indian Standards and the professional community.
Abhishek Pal, Scientist and Joint Director at BIS, presented an "Overview of the National Building Construction Standards (NBCS 2026)", explaining the key revisions and upgrades introduced in the updated standards.
Sandeep Goel presented the "Fire and life safety aspects of NBCS 2026", highlighting their significance for safer and more resilient building practices. Deepak Aggarwal, Head, Standards Coordination & Monitoring Department (SCMD), BIS, New Delhi, spoke on the "Importance of academia in standardisation" and the role of academic institutions in strengthening awareness, research and effective implementation of national standards.
The technical session was followed by an open-house interactive session, providing participants an opportunity to engage with the experts, seek clarifications and discuss practical aspects of NBCS 2026. The interaction encouraged an exchange of perspectives among students, faculty members, researchers and professionals and further strengthened the academic-professional dialogue on standards and their implementation.
The workshop drew participation from faculty members, researchers, students, and professionals across diverse disciplines at IIT Roorkee, reflecting the multidisciplinary relevance of national building standards. Experts and representatives from Civil Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, Disaster Management, WRDM, Hydrology, HRED, Chemical Engineering and Architecture, along with the Infrastructure Works Department (IWD) and Safety, participated in the programme.
As part of the initiative to promote wider engagement with NBCS 2026, IIT Roorkee organised a quiz on the National Building Construction Standard (NBCS 2026) on August 17, 2026. The prizes included ₹15,000 for the first position, ₹10,000 for the second position and ₹5,000 for the third position, along with five consolation prizes of ₹2,000 each.
The winners felicitated during the inaugural session were Rahul Bhasin, International Centre of Excellence for Dams (ICED), Sagar Jaiswal, Department of Civil Engineering, Akshat Gupta, Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Rishav Kumar, Department of Mathematics, Sushant Rahul, Department of Civil Engineering, Anubhav Anuraj, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Mohammad Mehdi Naseri, Department of Civil Engineering and Ayush Maurya, Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.
According to IIT Roorkee, the workshop provided a valuable platform for knowledge exchange among BIS, academia and professional stakeholders, with the technical session and open-house interaction focusing on the relevance of NBCS 2026 to contemporary construction practices, fire and life safety, standardisation, and institutional engagement.
The initiative reinforces IIT Roorkee's commitment to contributing its multidisciplinary academic and research expertise towards national priorities in infrastructure development and to strengthening collaboration with BIS for greater awareness and effective adoption of standards, said IIT Roorkee.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.