News: Can Delhi Safely Build 100-Storey Towers in Zone IV?-23-08-2026
Delhi’s Master Plan 2047, notified by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs this week, opens the way for buildings of more than 100 floors. With the capital in seismic Zone IV, that has raised the question of how safe such towers would be in an earthquake.
What the plan says
The plan describes buildings of more than 100 floors as "tall buildings" and envisages them as landmark developments that strengthen the identity of Delhi’s skyline. Their design should respond to the urban context and improve public spaces. They are proposed mainly in areas with adequate infrastructure, along mass transit corridors and in major commercial and mixed-use centres.
It links vertical growth with compact development, less sprawl and efficient land use. Tall buildings are to use compact footprints so that ground-level open space is maximised for plazas, landscaped areas, pedestrian streets, community facilities and green infrastructure. The skyline is to develop in a planned way that respects historic landmarks, ceremonial avenues, heritage areas and important view corridors.
Disaster provisions
The chapter on Disaster Preparedness and Resilience notes that Delhi is in Seismic Zone IV and vulnerable to earthquakes, floods, fires, industrial and chemical accidents, building collapses and waterlogging.
Dedicated evacuation spaces and refuge spots are to be designated in all localities, especially dense ones. These will be open-to-sky areas such as parks and multi-purpose grounds.
To limit earthquake losses, the plan proposes structural safety audits by building owners and local bodies as per building bye-laws. Priority goes to high-risk zones, vulnerable localities, high-footfall public buildings, buildings housing fire, police and integrated control centres, and essential infrastructure.
New buildings must follow seismically compliant design guidelines. Base isolation and hydraulic dampeners may be used to make critical transport, water and fuel infrastructure more resilient. Areas at risk in natural disasters may face mandatory regeneration through retrofitting or reconstruction, and structural safety norms will apply to all categories of buildings.
Wind matters more, says one expert
Abhay Gupta, director at Skeleton Consultants Pvt Ltd, said Zone IV does not by itself make a 100-storey building unsafe. He told HT Real Estate that wind effects are generally more dominant than earthquakes in tall buildings, so engineers will have to pay close attention to the structural system, facade design and construction quality. Such projects need construction companies with the expertise, technology and equipment for precise vertical work at great heights.
Occupants would also have to live with some movement. Wind-induced oscillations can be noticeable on upper floors even when the structure is completely safe, Gupta said.
He stressed detailed geotechnical investigation and foundation design, covering soil conditions, subsurface characteristics and deep foundations, and cited recent concerns over a tilting building in Bengaluru as a reminder. Simpler, more efficient facades could ease some challenges of extreme height. A 55-storey building in Gurugram is at present among the tallest in the region, so 100 storeys would be a substantial jump in engineering, construction and safety complexity, he added.
A call for a higher benchmark
Structural engineer Sandeep Donald Shah of Miyamoto India was more cautious. He said the provision for 100-storey landmark buildings, particularly in the context of transit-oriented development, raises concerns because Delhi lies in a high seismic zone and specialists have repeatedly pointed to the possibility of a major earthquake in northern India.
For Shah, the issue is what level of performance can be expected in a major earthquake, and not merely whether a tall building can be designed to withstand one. High-rises are typically designed so that their structural systems do not collapse in a severe earthquake, which matters because people dozens of floors up cannot evacuate in minutes.
He argued that very tall buildings should meet a higher benchmark. India, he noted, has no structural design code that specifically enables high-rises to be designed to "Immediate Occupancy" standards, under which a building is expected to stay sufficiently functional and usable after a major seismic event. A building that survives an earthquake, he said, is not necessarily one that can be used immediately afterwards.
