QATAR CIVIL DEFENSE BUILDING

DRAWINGS APPROVAL PROCESS AND

DETAILS

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 Abbreviation and Synonymous........................................................................................................................ 1
2.0 History .............................................................................................................................................................................. 2
2.1 Hard-Copy (No longer used) ............................................................................................................................. 2
2.2 QCD Online Permit System (No longer operational) ............................................................................ 3
2.3 The Building Permit System ( Baladiya System) ................................................................................... 3
3.0 Application Types In QCD .................................................................................................................................... 4
3.1 New ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
3.2 Modification ............................................................................................................................................................... 4
3.2.1 Modification on previously approved buildings ............................................................................ 4
3.2.2 Fit-out applications ....................................................................................................................................... 4
3.3 Old Building without approvals ....................................................................................................................... 4
3.4 Application Process ................................................................................................................................................. 5
3.4.1 QCD online system .............................................................................................................................................. 6
3.4.1.2 Flow Chart ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
3.4.2 Building Permit system .................................................................................................................................... 7
3.4.2.1 Effect DC1 Feature ..................................................................................................................................... 7
3.4.2.2 Flow Chart ...................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.4.2.3 Instruction into filling out application form with relative information to the
Planning Section ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
3.4.2.4 How to fill out project Data ................................................................................................................... 9
3.4.2.5 Important aspects to be considered when filling out project data related to the
Planning Section: ......................................................................................................................................................14
 1.0 ABBREVIATION AND SYNONYMOUS

QCD Qatar Civil Defense

BP Building Plans (Life Safety drawings)
FF Fire Fighting Layout drawings
FA Fire Alarm Layout drawings
MV Smoke Control And Mechanical Ventilation Layout drawings
DC1 Design Control 1
DC2 Design Control 2
MME Ministry of Municipality and Environment
NFPA National Fire Protection Association

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 2.0 HISTORY

The development of QCD buildings drawing approval process can be separated

into three major timelines as follows:

1. Hard-Copy (No longer used)

2. QCD online permit system (No longer used)
3. The Building Permit system (Currently used)

2.1 HARD-COPY (NO LONGER USED)

This process consisted of the consultants
providing the DC1 approval [which was the
municipality approval at that time] to QCD
and then proceeding in submitting hardcopy
drawings of BP, FA, FF, and MV to QCD. When
the drawings are approved, a copy of the
drawings is signed and stamped. Then a
signed and stamped certificate is issued to
the applicant as well. The issued certificate
would be handed to the consultant with the
approved drawings. A sample of that
certificate is shown in Figure 1.

FIGURE 1:SAMPLE OF HARDCOPY DRAWING

APPROVAL CERTIFICATE

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2.2 QCD ONLINE PERMIT SYSTEM (NO LONGER OPERATIONAL)
This online portal was introduced by QCD
as an online system for reviewing building
drawings and issuing their approval. After the
application is reviewed and accepted, a
stamped certificate is issued (A sample of the
certificate is shown in Figure 2.) Finally, the
exact process of the applications in this
system will be discussed in Section 3.4.1.

FIGURE 2: SAMPLE OF QCD ONLINE PERMIT SYSTEM

DRAWING APPROVAL CERTIFICATE

2.3 THE BUILDING PERMIT SYSTEM ( BALADIYA SYSTEM)

The building permit system is a unified portal to all authorities involved in the
approval process of the building permit. In this system, QCD is considered a part of
both DC1 and DC2 approvals. The DC1 involvement of QCD consist of BP approval only
while FA, FF, and MV approval is part of the DC2 stage. Finally, the exact process of the
applications in this system can be viewed in the Application Process section of this
document in Section 3.4.2.

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 3.0 APPLICATION TYPES IN QCD

3.1 NEW
These are proposed buildings and must abide by all the latest regulations set by
QCD and latest copies of the NFPA codes and standards.

3.2 MODIFICATION

3.2.1 MODIFICATION ON PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BUILDINGS

Those modifications can be broken down into the following list:

1. Changes in the approved design of the project.

2. The addition of extra spaces.
3. Altering the occupancy type of a certain space or the entire building.

The old approval must be provided by uploading soft copies of the approved stamped
hardcopy drawings or the application number of the digital approval.

3.2.2 FIT-OUT APPLICATIONS

Those modifications consist of the partitioning and making use of empty spaces
within an approved building. The old approval must be provided by either uploading
soft copies of the approved and stamped hardcopy drawings or the application
number of the digital approval.

3.3 OLD BUILDING WITHOUT APPROVALS

Those are constructed buildings without any QCD approvals. In those applications,
the building is submitted as a proposed buildings. The building will be reviewed and
only when a specific requirement cannot be met, the consultant is advised to submit a
letter to QCD with the difficult to achieve safety feature and an alternative solution to
that to the requirement that cannot be met; a reply letter from civil defense will be
issued detailing what the owner and consultant are supposed to proceed with based
on the submitted solution.

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 3.4 APPLICATION PROCESS
In general QCD approval starts by approving the BP drawings and based on
what systems (Fire Fighting, Fire Alarm, Ventilation) the building needs as declared in
the approved BP, the consultant must submit detailed drawings of those systems 1 (FA,
FF, and MV)

When submitting a drawing for the first time, the consultant shall submit it along
with a filled copy of the guidelines for the respective submissions BP, FA, MV If a
drawing is rejected, it shall be re-submitted by rectifying all the comments received
from QCD, and a compliance report shall be prepared in relation to those comments
detailing the needed corrections as per the comments.

The major difference in the flow of applications between the QCD online system
and the Building Permit System is that in the QCD online system, the BP application
was not a part of the DC1 approval, while in the building permit system it became a
part of DC1. A flowchart detailing the flow of the process in each system is provided in
the following pages.

1Some application do not require all systems layout drawings to be submitted (Example: A building
only has FA and FF system and no MV system is present)

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 3.4.1 QCD ONLINE SYSTEM
The application approval process consists of two parts: Applying for QCD approval
after attaining the DC1 approval, and receiving QCD drawing certificate.

The application starts by submitting the BP drawing. After receiving the approved
BP, the consultant can submit the system layout drawings. In this system, each
application type whether it is BP, FF, FA, or MV receives its own application number.
All the system layout drawing application numbers connect to the BP application
number. Whenever an application number is approved it cannot be resubmitted nor
modified. Example: After receiving the BP approval and while submitting the FF
drawings, a modification occurred in the BP, the original BP cannot be modified
anymore and a new BP application must be submitted. Only when the consultant get
the approval on all the building drawings, both the owner and the consultant can
apply for a drawing approval certificate, and a stamped certificate is generated with
all the approved application number respective of its type (BP, FA, FF, and MV)

3.4.1.2 FLOW CHART

FIGURE 3:QCD PERMIT SYSTEM FLOWCHART

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 3.4.2 BUILDING PERMIT SYSTEM 2
In the Building Permit System, the consultant first submits the BP drawing in the
Building permit system and the municipality are the one responsible for forwarding
those drawings to QCD. When the drawings are forwarded to QCD, a direct interface
between QCD engineers and the consultant is created. The engineer can directly reject
the application and send it back to the consultant, and the consultant can resubmit the
application to the engineer. Once the drawings are approved, QCD coordinator
forwards the approved drawings to the municipality and not to the consultant office.

The process of approving the systems layout drawings is similar to BP, the only
difference is that the system layout drawings can only be forwarded to QCD by the
municipality after the consultant receives the DC1 approval (which in this system, the
BP is a part of.) This is because system layout drawings are part of the services DC2
approval process.

3.4.2.1 EFFECT DC1 FEATURE

A common issue that occurs while reviewing the systems layout drawings is that
the BP drawings need to be modified to accommodate a certain system or the BP
approval was not approved according to the actual needs of the building owner and
consultant. A way around this issue is referred to in the building permit system as an
“Effect DC1” command. Receiving an effect DC1 on one of the system layout drawings
will send the application back to the DC1 stage to modify the BP drawings under the
same application number

2 The Building permit system is a more flexible system. Any approved drawing can be fixed and
changed before the final MME approval is issued.

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 Getting an Effect DC1 with one of the system layout drawings can mean one of the
following:

1. The systems layout drawing is approved and the consultant can

proceed by submitting a new BP drawing only. And after approving the
new BP drawings the consultant receives the final approval.
2. The system layout drawing is rejected and the BP drawing needs to be
updated before finalizing the system layout drawings approval.
The consultants are advised to carefully read the comments in the application
tracking section to understand which case fits their application.

3.4.2.2 FLOW CHART

FIGURE 4: BUILDING PERMIT SYSTEM FLOWCHART

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 3.4.2.3 INSTRUCTION INTO FILLING OUT APPLICATION FORM WITH RELATIVE
INFORMATION TO THE PLANNING SECTION
To avoid early rejection of applications, it is the responsibility of every consultancy office
to fill out project data form shown in figure 5. The form is part of the overall building permit
form. It could be found under Civil Defence data. It contains data required by the Planning
Section to ease the process of reviewing different applications submitted to be reviewed by
the planning section. Different from the Baladyia’s project data, the data to be filled are
related to the Planning Section. The project Data includes the following fields:

1. Project Occupancy
2. Project Description
3. Project sub-classification
4. Habitable height of the project
5. Project Area
6. Number of unique buildings in the project

3.4.2.4 HOW TO FILL OUT PROJECT DATA

The following steps must be followed to complete filing projects’ data as shown in figure
6-12:

1. From the occupancy drop list, the correct project occupancy shall be selected as
shown in figure 6.
2. The system filters out different project descriptions based on the selected occupancy.
From the project description filtered fields, the appropriate project description shall
be selected as shown in figure 7.
3. From the filtered fields based on the selected project occupancy, the project sub-
classification shall be selected as shown in figure 8.
4. Based on the selected sub-classification, the system filters out the list of habitable
project heights. From the provided list the appropriate project height shall be selected
as shown in figure 9.

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5. Based on the selected sub-classification, the system filters out the list of project area
types as shown in figure 10. From the provided list the appropriate project area shall
be selected.
6. In case, the project is a *development of multiple buildings, the number of unique
buildings in the project shall be selected as shown in figure 11.
7. Based on the provided data, the system shall display the project size as shown in
figure12.
8. At any moment, the option of others shall be selected when the consultant is not able
to identify the project data.

FIGURE 5: CIVIL DEFENCE PROJECT DATA FIELDS

FIGURE 6: LIST OF PROJECTS’ OCCUPANCIES

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 FIGURE 7: FILTERED LIST OF PROJECTS’ DESCRIPTION

FIGURE 8: FILTERED LIST OF PROJECTS’ SUB-CLASSIFICATIONS

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FIGURE 9: FILTERED LIST OF PROJECTS’ HABITABLE HEIGHTS

FIGURE 10: FILTERED LIST OF PROJECTS’ AREA TYPES

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 FIGURE 11: LIST SHOWING THE NUMBER OF UNIQUE BUILDINGS IN THE PROJECT

FIGURE 12: PROJECT SIZE FILTERED OUT BY THE SYSTEM BASED ON THE SELECTED PROJECT DATA

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 3.4.2.5 IMPORTANT ASPECTS TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN FILLING OUT PROJECT
DATA RELATED TO THE PLANNING SECTION:
The described data shall be filled out when first submitting the project for review to
the Baladyia.

The described data shall not be filled if the project is not going to be reviewed by
Planning Section.

In case, the project is a development of multiple buildings, the data shall be filled as
follows:

1. The selected Project Occupancy shall be the dominant occupancy in the project (The
occupancy of most buildings in the project)
2. The selected Project Description shall be the dominant description in the project (The
Description of most buildings in the project)
3. The area of the largest building shall be selected as the area of the project.
4. The habitable height of the highest building in the project shall be selected as the
habitable height of the project

*Development of multiple buildings: Project that composes of multiple buildings such that
the occupants of each building exceed 10 people.

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