Site Plan and Master Plan are very commonly used terms in Real Estate. People often get confused between the two and take them as the same. So let’s try to understand what is the Difference between Site Plan & Master Plan.
Site Plan
A site plan is an Architectural Plan and a detailed Engineering Drawing of proposed improvements/ developments in a given area.
A site plan usually shows a building footprint, travel-ways, parking, drainage facilities, sanitary sewer lines, water lines, trails, lighting, and landscaping and garden elements.
Such a plan of a site is a “graphic representation of the arrangement of buildings, parking, drives, landscaping and any other structure that is part of a development project”.
A site plan is a set of Construction drawings that a builder or contractor uses to make improvements or developments in a property. These are often prepared by a design consultant who must be either a licensed engineer or architect.
Site Analysis
Site Analysis is a preparatory step to site planning. It is a form of Urban Planning which involves research and analysis. It primarily deals with basic data as it relates to a specific site.
The topic itself branches into the boundaries of Architecture, Landscape, Engineering, Economics, and Urban Planning. Site Analysis is an element in site planning and design.
Kevin A. Lynch, an Urban Planner developed an eight cycle step process of site design, in which the second step is site analysis.
Site Plan Building Blocks
A site plan is a top view, Bird’s Eye View of a property that is drawn to scale. A site plan can show:
- Property lines;
- Outline of existing and proposed buildings and structures;
- Distance between buildings;
- Distance between buildings and property lines (setbacks);
- Parking lots, indicating parking spaces;
- Driveways;
- Surrounding streets;
- Landscaped areas;
- Easements;
- Ground sign location;
- Utilities
Site Planning
Site Planning in landscape architecture and architecture refers to the organizational stage of the landscape design process. It involves the organization of land use zoning, access, circulation, privacy, security, shelter, land drainage, and other factors.
This is done by arranging the compositional elements oflandform, planting, water, buildings and paving and building. Site planning generally begins by assessing a potential site for development through site analysis.
Information about slope, soils, hydrology, vegetation, parcel ownership, orientation, etc. are assessed and mapped. By determining areas that are poor for development (such as floodplain or steep slopes) and better for development, the planner or architect can assess optimal location and design a structure that works within this space.
Master Plan
A master plan or a development plan or a town plan may be defined as a general plan for the future layout of a city showing both the existing and proposed streets and roads, open spaces, public buildings etc.
It is prepared either for the improvement of an old city or for a new town to be developed on virgin soil. A master plan is a blueprint for the future. It is a comprehensive document, long-range in its view that is intended to guide development in the township for the next 10 to 20 years.
Main Objects of Master Plan
- It aims at intelligent and economic spending of the public funds for achieving welfare of the inhabitants in respect of amenity, convenience and health;
- It arranges the pattern of a town in such a way so as to satisfy the present requirements without introduction of future improvements by the coming generations;
- It helps in restricting the haphazard and unplanned growth
- It places various functions which a town has to perform in physical relationship of each other so as to avoid the chances of mutual conflict;
- It removes the defects of un-coordinated physical growth of the various components of town due to the fact that it considers the entire city area or town as planning and development entity;
- It serves as a guide to the planning body for making any recommendations for public improvement.
Necessity of Master Plan
Followings are the reasons that have led to the thinking of having a master plan for the town:
- To control the development of various industries in a systematic way;
- To discourage the growth of town in an unplanned and unscientific way;
- To give a perspective picture of a fully developed town;
- To limit to a certain extent the unprecedented flow of rural population to the urban area;
- To offset the evils which have come up due to over-crowding of population such as acute shortage of houses, traffic congestion, inadequate open spaces and insufficiency in public amenities; etc.
We have to collect below listed data
The data required for the preparation of a master plan of a town can be listed as follows:
- Details of trades and industries;
- Development of the airports;
- Economic condition of the authority;
- Environments of the site;
- Facilities of the transport;
- Geological condition of the site;
- Land values and land use pattern
- Locations of spots of natural beauty;
- Locations of the water supply unit;
- Meteorological details such as intensity and direction of wind, temperature, rainfall etc;
- Mineral resources;
- Places of historic origin;
- Political condition of the surrounding area;
- Population;
- Requirements for railway stations, goods yards and shipping facilities;
- Special requirements for power houses, gas works, sewage disposal plant and storm water drainage etc.
We have to prepare the following drawings
To give graphical representation to various ideas and proposals contained in the master plan of a town, various maps and drawings are to be prepared.
These are:
- Boundaries of land of different types such as residential, agricultural, industrial etc;
- Boundary of green belt surrounding the town;
- Contours of the whole city;
- Different zones;
- Landscape features;
- Locations of the public buildings and town centers;
- Open spaces including parks and playgrounds;
- Positions of the natural springs, rivers and streams;
- Position of the public utility services such as water supply station, sewage disposal plant, power plant etc;
- Road system etc.
Features of Master Plan
We list hereunder the features included in a master plan of a town:
- Convenience and cheap means of transport;
- Good sanitation and water supply;
- Open air spaces;
- Population density control;
- Proper situations for places of worship, education and recreation;
- Rational layout;
- Width of roads.
Etc.
Planning Standards
We fix planning standards for various types of uses such as:
- Educational facilities such as primary school, high school and college;
- Medical facilities such as dispensary, health center and hospital;
- Shopping facilities such as departmental stores, shops etc;
- Miscellaneous amenities such as burial ground, crematorium, cinema, auditorium, stadium, petrol filling cum service station, police station, post office, fire station, library, community hall, telephone exchange etc;
- Width of roads such as village roads, state roads, national highway etc;
- Development of land for the construction of buildings in the form of various buildings bye-laws etc.
Star City, Jhajjar is one such colony which not only has very meticulously designed Site Plan but also fits in the criteria set out in Jhajjar City Master Plan.
It offers Residential Plots at Jhajjar, Haryana.
