Imposed loads

Imposed floor loads

94 Architect’s Pocket Book

Distributed Concentrated

Floor type load load

kN/m2 kN

Houses and blocks of flats under four storeys 1.5 1.4

Institutional bedrooms, stairs* in houses less than 1.5 1.8

three storeys

Hotels bedrooms, hospital wards 2.0 1.8

College and guest house dining rooms, lounges, 2.0 2.7

billiard rooms

Operating theatres, X-ray rooms, utility rooms 2.0 4.5

Offices for general use 2.5 2.7

Garages for vehicles under 2500 kg 2.5 9.0

Classrooms, chapels 3.0 2.7

Hotel kitchens and laundries, laboratories 3.0 4.5

Offices with fixed computing equipment 3.5 4.5

Assembly buildings with fixed seating 4.0 †

Shop floors for retailing 4.0 3.6

Corridors etc, footbridges subject to crowd loads 4.0 4.5

Hotel bars 5.0 †

Assembly buildings without fixed seating, gymnasia, 5.0 3.6

dance halls

Office filing and storage, corridors etc subject to 5.0 4.5

wheeled trolleys

Factories, workshops and similar buildings 5.0 4.5

Garages, parking and workshops for vehicles 5.0 9.0

exceeding 2500 kg

Boiler rooms, plant rooms including weight of 7.5 4.5

machinery

Bookstores, warehouses (per metre of storage height) 2.4 7.0

Stationery stores (per metre of storage height) 4.0 9.0

* Stairs in buildings over three storeys – same as floors to which they give

access.

† Where no value is given for concentrated load, it is assumed that the

distributed load is adequate for design purposes.