Staircases and Ramps.

1.

Today I wish to talk about movement between different horizontal levels within a
building.
Depending on the nature of the building this is done traditionally in one of three
ways
1. Ladders
Monasteries)

4. Hoists (in some obscure Greek

2. Stairs
3. Ramps.
With the advent of taller buildings, mechanical means of travelling from one level
to another have been developed and these fall into two main categories
1. Elevators.
2. Escalators.
Even if these last two categories are used alternative ways of moving from floor
to floor must
be provided in case of breakdown or Fire.
Lifts cannot be used for obvious reasons if there is a fire.
Except in Hopi Indian settlements Ladders are used solely for maintenance or in
some instances fire escapes so we will deal today simply with stairs and ramps.
With the consequences of serious injury being far greater when travelling
vertically to that
Posed, by travelling horizontally you can imagine that fairly strict regulations are
applied to
the design and construction of Staircases and ramps.
These are detailed in various British standards and distilled and contained in a
legal document called the Building regulations.
The Building regulations fall under the Health and safety acts and apply to all
aspects of the majority of building works undertaken in this country today, so you
had better become used to finding your way around them. The actual regulation
is often simple such as; a thing must be safe, fortunately there are approved
documents that if adhered too, will lead to the item in question being deemed
safe.

The section dealing with staircases and ramps is Approved document K. This
sets out various design criteria that must be met to design a safe means of
moving from one level to another.
We will deal with the basic rules and criteria laid down in the regulations but you
will be advised to read through the document your selves, which is not too
arduous as it is only some 20 pages long.
Normally we would not burden you with the minutiae of detailed regulation at this
stage of your education but as it is impossible to design a stair or ramp without
knowledge of the basic rules you will have to become familiar with them.
The legal part of the act says simply that;
stairs ladders and ramps shall be so designed, constructed and
installed as to be safe for people moving between different levels in or
about a building.
The rest of section K goes on to define how this rather vague sounding statement
can be achieved.
You will need to provide Stairs ramps or ladders when ever a difference in level
occurs of 600mm or more.
Public staircases have a stricter requirement than do private domestic
staircases this is to take account of peoples unfamiliarity with the stair and the
greater numbers using them.
Access or inspection stairs will have lesser requirements for the opposite
reasons.
Before we go on I wish to explain the terminology used with staircases
1. Rise
2. Going
3. Tread
4. Nose
5. Pitch
6. Pitch line
7. Headroom
8. String
9. Flight
10.
Landing
11.
Handrail
12.
Guarding
13.
Newel post

Private stairs can have a rise of between 155mm and 220mm

with a going between 223mm and 300mm

Public stairs can have a rise of between 135mm and 180mm
with a going between 280mm and 340mm
Other stairs can have a rise of between 150mm and 190mm
with a going between 250mm and 320mm
Private stairs
Public stairs
Other stairs

max rise 220 min going 220

max rise 180 min going 280
max rise 190 min going 250

The maximum pitch of a private stair is 42 degrees

The maximum pitch of a public stair is 33 degrees
The maximum pitch of an other stair is 37 degrees
All risers must be equal in a flight as must be the goings.
The normal relationship between the rise and the going is given by the equation
2R+G=550mm-700mm so anywhere within that range should be acceptable, as
long as it doesnt contravene any of the above.
With open risers an overlap of minimum 16mm must be maintained. If however
children below the age of 5years can use the stair no opening that a 100mm
sphere can pass through should be left.
A minimum headroom of 2000mm should be available.
The maximum number of steps in any one flight should be 16
If a stair has more than 36 steps in total then a change of direction should be
made of at least 30 degrees
Landings must be provided at the top and the bottom of the flight and should be

at least as long as the stair is wide.

A landing can be part of a room as long as it is left unobstructed.
Doors can open out onto a landing but not within 400mm of the first or last
nosing.
These are the basic rules for straight flight stairs.

Now how do we go about using all this information to start designing a stair ?

First decide weather your stair is in the Public, private or Other category.
Then find the scope of riser dims that would be acceptable within that category.
Find the exact distance between the top and bottom of your stair.
Divide this distance into equal parts within the permissible riser dims.
So lets say the stair is a public one the above would mean our riser must be
between 135 and 180mm.
If our floor to floor height was say 3,000m this would mean we have between 22
risers at minimum rise and 17 risers at maximum rise a variation of 5 risers (4
treads)
If we opted for say 17 risers (to give us 16 steps and two even flights of 8
treads) That would give us a rise of 176.5mm. This below the maximum rise of
180mm so OK.
There is always one less going than riser.
Next we need to see what size going we will need.
We know that 2x R+G = 550mm-700mm so lets see what solving this would
give us
2x 176.5 = 353mm This means our going mathematically can be between
197mm and 347mm (min 550-353= 197 and max 700-353=347) the
minimum going is legally however 280mm so our going must be between 280
and 347mm
Space available often dictates the plan size of the going if you opted for a going
of 300mm (above the minimum allowed) then the overall length of your stair
would be 8x 300= 2.4m plus two landings (top and bottom) if the stairs were
1100mm wide this would add 2.2m to 2.4m = 4.6m.
If the space available was only 4.5m for example, you would have to divide the
remaining length less the landings by 8 = 4,5m-2.2m=2.3m 2.3m/8
=287,5mm This is still within your permissible going arrived at above and would
fit the plan space available.
A check could be tan = 176,5/287,5 this gives an angle of 31,5 degrees so is
good as it is less than 33 degrees (max pitch for public stairs).
For Tapered treads the above rules apply but the dims are measured in the
middle of the tread for stairs less than 1000mm wide (ie domestic) and at
270mm from each side of the tread if greater than 1000mm for both stairs
goings should measure 50mm minimum at their smallest end and should be
uniform. The 2R+G=550mm-700mm remains the same!
If tapered and straight treads are used together the tapered going must not be
less than the straight going.
No minimum width of stairs are stated but attention should be given to
provisions required by means of escape in case of fire and invalid access. If public
stairs are over 1800mm wide they should be subdivided with a handrail

Handrails
These must be provided to at least one side if the stair is less than 1000mm and
to both sides if wider.
The height of the hand rail should be between 900mm and 1000mm measured
from the pitch line or the floor
Flights and handrails should be guarded from the sides when there is a drop of
more than 600mm in dwellings or when there are more than two rises in other
conditions
If children under 5 can have access to the stair the 100mm sphere rule again
applies to the guarding.
Ramps
The steepest slope of a ramp should be not greater than 1: 12 all other
provisions regarding handrails headroom landings etc are the same as for stairs.
However if the ramp is the sole access for the disabled the landing provision
should conform to part M of the building regulations which states that;
Ramps at 1:20 = max going = 10m and max rise = 500mm.
Ramp length for 3m rise =68m
Ramps at 1:15 = max going = 5m and max rise = 333mm
Ramp length for 3m rise =56m
Ramps at 1:12 = max going = 2m and max rise = 166mm
Ramp length for 3m rise =54m
Protection
Protection from falling must be provided to all stairs ramps balconies and roofs
that have access as well as light wells as with stairs this is needed for any change
of level above 600mm
The height of the protection should be ;
Private,
stairs, ramps and landings.. 900mm
external balconies and roofs1100mm
Public,
For hand rails to stairs and ramps900mm
Everything else1100mm
Barriers for cars are.375mm
But on a ramp are.610mm

These are the basic rules for designing both ramps and stair cases and if you
keep to these rules your staircases will be safe.