What is non-residential construction?
Non-residential construction is the design and construction of buildings that are not used as homes: buildings where people work, learn, shop, exercise, receive care or gather. In the trade it is often shortened to “non-res”. In Dutch it is called ‘utiliteitsbouw’, from ‘utiliteit’, meaning usefulness.
Place in the construction sector
The industry is usually split into residential construction, non-residential construction and civil engineering (infrastructure such as roads, bridges and water works). In the Netherlands the building side is known as B&U (burgerlijke en utiliteitsbouw: residential and non-residential), as opposed to GWW (civil engineering: earthworks, roads and water engineering). In everyday English much of it is simply called commercial construction.
Types
- Commercial: offices, shops, supermarkets, hotels, restaurants, distribution centres.
- Industrial: factories, production halls, warehouses, workshops.
- Institutional and public: schools, hospitals, care homes, town halls, libraries, museums, churches, prisons.
- Sport and leisure: sports halls, swimming pools, theatres, cinemas.
- Agricultural: livestock buildings, barns, greenhouses.
The boundaries are blurred. A building with shops on the ground floor and flats above is partly residential and partly non-residential.
Application
Regulations usually treat non-residential buildings differently from homes. Dutch building regulations assign each building a use function (office, retail, education, assembly, healthcare, industrial and so on), each with its own requirements for fire safety, escape routes, ventilation, daylight and energy performance. In England, several Approved Documents to the Building Regulations are likewise split into a volume for dwellings and one for buildings other than dwellings. Structurally, non-residential buildings tend to have longer spans, higher floor loads, steel or concrete frames and a much larger share of building services.
Tips and points of attention
- Fix the use early: the intended use drives fire safety, escape routes, ventilation and parking. Changing it late is expensive.
- Change of use: converting an office to flats, or the other way round, normally needs permission and extra measures for sound insulation, fire and daylight.
- Mixed use: pay attention to fire separation and separate escape routes between residential and non-residential parts.
- Design for flexibility: a structure with few load-bearing internal walls makes later reconfiguration easier.
Related terms
- Commercial and industrial construction
- Industrial construction
- Civil engineering (GWW)
- Building function
- Use function
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