Chapter:	123B	Title:	Building (Construction) Regulations	Gazette Number:	L.N. 3 of 2011
Regulation:	17	Heading:	Imposed loads	Version Date:	01/08/2011

(1) The imposed load on any building, street, building works or street works shall be the greatest applied load likely to arise from the intended use or purpose of the building, street, building works or street works (including forces exerted by the adjacent ground), but subject to this regulation-

(a) the minimum imposed load on a building or street shall be-
(i) the distributed load specified in column 3 of Table 1 applied uniformly on plan; or
(ii) the concentrated load specified in column 4 of Table 1 applied on plan over any square with a 50 mm side (or over any square otherwise specified in that column) or the line load specified in that column, (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(iii) (Repealed L.N. 3 of 2011)
whichever shall produce the most adverse effect;
(b) (Repealed L.N. 3 of 2011)
(c) where the floor of a building is to support partitions but the position of the partitions is not indicated on the plan of the building, the weight of such partitions shall be regarded as imposed distributed load applied uniformly on plan and shall, in addition to other imposed loads, be- (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(i) not less than 1/3 of the weight per metre length of the partitions uniformly distributed per square metre; and
(ii) not less than 1 kPa if the floor is used for office purposes; (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(d) where the floor of a building is to support any equipment, machinery or display item that will result in a greater imposed load than that specified in Table 1, the load of any of those items has to be considered in determining the imposed load on the floor. (L.N. 3 of 2011)

1	2	3	4
Class	Use	Distributed load in kPa to be applied uniformly on plan	Concentrated load in kN to be applied on plan over any square with a 50 mm side (unless otherwise specified in this column), or line load in kN per metre length
1	Floors for— domestic use; dormitories; private sitting rooms, bedrooms and toilet rooms in hotels, motels and guesthouses; wards, bedrooms and toilet rooms in hospitals, nursing homes and residential care homes for elderly persons	2.0	2.0
2	Floors for— medical consulting or treatment rooms; hospital operating theatres and X-ray rooms	2.5	3.0
	Floors for— laboratories; light workrooms with neither central power-driven machines nor storage; offices for general use; rooms for lightweight electrical and electronic installations	3.0	4.5
	Floors for— banking halls; kitchens and laundries not in domestic buildings	4.0	4.5
3	Floors for— childcare centres and kindergartens	2.5	3.0
	Floors for— billiard rooms and bowling alleys; classrooms, lecture rooms, tutorial rooms, computer rooms and reading rooms without book storage; dance practice rooms; leisure, recreational and amusement areas that cannot be used for assembly purposes	3.0	4.5
	Floors for— assembly areas with fixed seating(1); chapels, churches and places of worship with fixed seating(1); restaurants, night-clubs, lounges, bars, canteens, fast food shops and dining rooms not in domestic premises	4.0	4.5
	Floors for— art galleries and museums; grandstands; public halls; theatres and cinemas	5.0	4.5
	Floors for— assembly areas without fixed seating(1); dance halls; footbridges between buildings; footpaths, terraces, plazas and areas used for pedestrian traffic; gymnasia; karaoke establishments and discotheques; refuge floors	5.0	4.5
	Floors for— stages and television studios used as stages	7.5	9.0
4	Floors for— department stores, supermarkets, markets and shops for display and sale of merchandise	5.0	4.5
5	Floors for— library rooms with book storage (excluding library stack rooms); offices for storage and normal filing purposes	5.0	4.5
	Floors for— (a) stack rooms in book stores and libraries	3.5 for each metre of storage height(2) but not less than 10.0	to be determined according to the weight of storage material, but not less than 9.0
	(b) old storage	5.0 for each metre of storage height(2) but not less than 15.0	to be determined according to the weight of storage material, but not less than 9.0
	(c) paper storage in printing plants	8.0 for each metre of storage height(2)	to be determined according to the weight of storage material, but not less than 9.0
	(d) battery rooms and uninterruptible power supply rooms	10.0 for each metre of storage height(2)	to be determined according to the weight of storage material, but not less than 9.0
	(e) general storage other than those specified in (a), (b), (c) or (d) immediately above, including storage in warehouses	2.5 for each metre of storage height(2)	to be determined according to the weight of storage material, but not less than 9.0
	Floors for— plant rooms, boiler rooms, fan rooms, motor rooms and the like	7.5	9.0
	Floors for— workshops, factories and other buildings or parts of buildings of similar category for industrial use— (a) for light weight loads	5.0	9.0
	(b) for medium weight loads	7.5	9.0
	(c) for heavy weight loads	10.0	9.0
	(d) for printing plants	12.5	9.0
6	Areas for— car parking, carriageways, floors, driveways and ramps used by vehicles—
	(a) for vehicles not exceeding 3000 kg gross weight	3.0	20.0 to be applied on plan over any square with a 200 mm side (instead of a 50 mm side)
	(b) for vehicles exceeding 3000 kg gross weight	to be determined according to recognized engineering principles	to be determined according to recognized engineering principles
7	Inaccessible roofs (where no access is provided except such access as may be necessary for maintenance work only) with a slope—
	(a) of or less than 5o	2.0	1.5
	(b) greater than 5o but less than 20o	0.75	1.5
	(c) of or greater than 20o but less than 40o	linear interpolation from 0.75 to 0 according to the slope	1.5
	(d) of or greater than 40o	0	1.5
	Accessible roofs (where access is provided in addition to such access as may be necessary for maintenance work only) with a slope—
	(a) of or less than 20o	2.0	1.5
	(b) greater than 20o but less than 40o	linear interpolation from 2.0 to 0 according to the slope	1.5
	(c) of or greater than 40o	0	1.5
8	Floors for—
	Utility platforms	same as the floors to which they give access but not less than 4.0	line load of 2.0 kN per metre length to be applied along the outer edge
	Floors for—
	Balconies	same as the floors to which they give access but not less than 3.0	line load of 2.0 kN per metre length to be applied along the outer edge
	Stairs, landings and corridors	same as the floors to which they give access but not less than 3.0 and not more than 5.0	4.5

(b) Where a single span of beam supports not less than 45 m2 of floor at any one level the distributed imposed load for the purpose only of determining the design of the beam may be subject to a reduction of 5% for each complete 45 m2 of that floor so supported but not more than 20% in all.
(c) The reduction specified in paragraph (a) or (b), whichever is the greater, may be taken into account in calculating the total load on any column, pier, wall or foundation.
(d) For factories and workshops designed for a distributed imposed load of 7.5 kPa or more the total imposed load shall not be reduced below that obtained if all the floors had been designed for a distributed imposed load of 7.5 kPa without the reduction specified in Table 2.
(e) No reduction of the imposed loads shall be applied with respect to-
(i) plant or machinery which is specifically allowed for; or
(ii) floors of factories and workshops designed for a distributed imposed load of less than 7.5 kPa; or
(iii) floors used by vehicles ; or (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(iv) office areas used for storage and filing purposes; or
(v) forces produced by dynamic effects; or (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(vi) floors used for storage purposes; or (L.N. 3 of 2011)
(vii) loads from partitions the positions of which are not indicated on the plan of the building. (L.N. 3 of 2011)

Number of floors (including the roof) with loads qualifying for reduction carried by the member under consideration	Percentage reduction of total distributed imposed load on all floors (including the roof) carried by the member under consideration
	Classes 1, 2, 3, 4 and 7 of Table 1	Workshops and factories under Class 5 of Table 1 with distributed imposed load of not less than 7.5 kPa
1	0	0
2	5	10
3	10	20
4	15
5	20
6	25	25 maximum
7	30
8	35
over 8	40 maximum

(a) the minimum design impact force on vehicle barriers is to be [0.5 Mv2/ (δc + δb)] kN,

where—

M is the gross mass in kg of the heaviest vehicle to be accommodated,

v is the velocity of the vehicle normal to the barrier in metre per second,

δc is the deformation of the vehicle in mm, and

δb is the deflection of the barrier in mm; and

(b) the impact force is to be uniformly distributed over any length of 1.5 m and acting horizontally at the bumper height of the vehicle. (L.N. 3 of 2011)

(b) The forces produced by dynamic effects in any workshop, factory or other building for industrial use may be determined on the basis of information about the particular building, but if not so determined shall be presumed-
(i) for the purpose only of determining the design of slabs and beams, to be an additional vertical imposed load of 2.5 kPa; and
(ii) for the purpose of determining the design of structural frames and foundations, to be an additional horizontal force (which may be assumed not to act together with the wind load) of 10% of the vertical imposed load specified in subparagraph (i) acting simultaneously on the N number of floors which will produce the most adverse effects, where N is a whole number not less than 0.2 times the total number of floors subject to dynamic effects.