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For issue of a building permit why don’t you need to classify a roof top carpark?

Rooftop bar

Or what about an unroofed entertainment area on top of a Hotel building? Or a roof top plant platform?

The key to this issue is the defined concept in the Building Code of Australia (BCA) of a “storey“. A storey is defined as being between a floor and a floor or roof above. So, if there is not floor or roof above there is no storey. If the space is not a storey it means (under the Deemed-to-Satisfy provisions of the BCA):

  1. No “exits” are required;
  2. No Fire Hose Reels are required; and
  3. No exit signs or emergency lights are required.

So what is the point of classifying an area which is not a storey? (Classification of the use is the first step in characterising the physical characteristics and dominant occupancy characteristics of a building. ) There is no point!

Just as well building permits don’t require us to address Occupational Health and Safety or the Common Law or Disabled Access (Hang On! That last one is now something building surveyors will now have to administer come May 2011!)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 16th, 2010 at 1:52 am and is filed under BCA, Building Regulations, DDA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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