Residential definition
Approved document B, Fire Safety, Volume 2 – Buildings other than dwellinghouses, includes classifications of purpose groups for which buildings or compartments of a building are intended to be used.
It defines residential purpose groups as:
- Flat.
- Dwellinghouse that contains a habitable storey with a floor level a minimum of 4.5m above ground level up to a maximum of 18m.
- Dwellinghouse that does not contain a habitable storey with a floor level a minimum of 4.5m above ground level.
Residential (Institutional): Hospital, home, school or other similar establishment, where people sleep on the premises. The building may be either of the following:
- Living accommodation for, or accommodation for the treatment, care or maintenance of, either:
- People suffering from disabilities due to illness or old age or other physical or mental incapacity
- People under the age of 5 years.
- A place of lawful detention.
Residential (other): Hotel, boarding house, residential college, hall of residence, hostel or any other residential purpose not described above.
The glossary of statistical terms, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), states:
A building should be regarded as residential building when more than half of the floor area is used for dwelling purposes. Other buildings should be regarded as non-residential. Two types of residential buildings can be distinguished:
- houses (ground-oriented residential buildings): comprising all types of houses (detached, semi- detached, terraced houses, houses built in a row, etc.) each dwelling of which has its own entrance directly from the ground surface;
- other residential buildings: comprising all residential buildings other than ground-oriented residential buildings as defined above.
NB The Scottish Building Standards, Part I. Technical Handbook – Domestic, Appendix A Defined Terms, defines a residential building as: ‘…a building, other than a domestic building, having sleeping accommodation.’
Approved document S, Infrastructure for the charging of electric vehicles, published in 2021 by HM Government, defines a residential building as a building which:
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
- Agraharam.
- Apartment.
- Bungalow.
- Condominium.
- Curtilage.
- Definition of institution.
- Domestic building.
- Duplex.
- Dwellinghouse.
- Flat definition.
- Hostel.
- Household.
- Housing stock / building stock.
- Maisonette.
- Private sector residential building.
- Proposed changes: MHCLG consultation on house building statistics.
- Resident.
- Room for residential purposes.
- Shared residential accommodation.
- Sheltered housing definition.
- Shop definition.
- Terraced house.
- Types of building.
- Types of dwelling.
- Use class.
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