Is there an exemption for providing access to the upper floors of small buildings?
Part D3.4 of the Premises Standards spells out a number of areas of a building where access is not required. This includes some areas such as loading docks, power plant rooms, a cleaners store room, mezzanine areas used only for storage and areas containing raw or hazardous materials. This section also provides an exemption for small buildings used as retail shops (such as cafes and restaurants, grocers, hairdressers etc); offices; wholesalers and factories. All of these buildings are required to provide access to the ground floor no matter how small. However, if the building has one or two storeys above or below the entry level and these storeys are both less than 200 square meters floor area access to these other levels is not required by the Premises Standards. So, for example: • If a two storey building was 500 square meters on the entry level and the upper floor was 250 square meters access would be required to the upper floor as well as the entry level. • If a three storey buildi
