How to Design A Restaurant to Building Code

How To Design A Restaurant to Building Code. 

One of the more popular small businesses that I have worked with are restaurants. The restaurant business, specially for a newbie, poses its own unique challenges and can be quite daunting in the beginning. There are requirements in terms of design, building code and permitting that are very specific to a restaurant project. 

This post offers advice mainly to business start-ups and small business owners in planning and designing for a small restaurant, specially their first one.  A small restaurant, for the purpose of this discussion,  are restaurants that have floor areas from 1,000 square foot to 2,000 square foot and has a dining area.  The reference in code will be the Alberta Building Code.

Here are the items to consider:

SEATING

The seating and the number of seats is critical to the success of the restaurant. The more seats you have, the more opportunities to generate revenue. To be allowed a certain number of  people to use the restaurant, the occupant load needs to be computed. There is a table in the building code, namely the occupancy table which is used for the calculation. For Dining, beverage and cafeteria space, you are looking at 1.20 square meters per person or 12.9 square foot per person. This calculation is shown on the code review on the drawings and is part of the building permit drawings and application.
Please see table below.

There are other figures that can be used depending on the design. The spaces with non fixed seats and tables area per person is .95 square meters or 10.22 square foot. If this number is used, your occupant load will be higher. For the purpose of this exercise, we will be using the 1.2 square meters per persons or 12.9 square foot per person number. 

Let' say your dining area is 1,000 square foot. From the 1,000 square foot,  I would remove 20 percent - these are the corridors/ aisles. So there is the remaining 800 square foot of area.
800 square foot divide by 12.9 square foot per person is 62 occupants.
So you are looking at 62 seats.

This is important to show in your drawings when you go for building permit.
When you are computing the seating area, the building permit drawings should show the outdoor dining as well, if the restaurant has one. The indoor seating and the outdoor seating  will be the total seating for the restaurant.  

The outdoor seating should be accounted for when computing for the restaurant's occupant load. Even if the outdoor seating is not permanent or does not operate through out the year, the number of outdoor seats is still included in computing for the total occupant load. And so, if this is included in the occupant load count, then the number of toilets and washrooms should be checked. There should be a sufficient number of toilets and washrooms provided for in the restaurant.  If the number of toilets and washrooms is not compliant to code, there might be a problem in getting the building permit approved.

Please check out my short presentation on 


OCCUPANCY

The restaurant is classified as an Assembly. Assembly classification is one of the most restrictive classifications in the Alberta Building code. Assembly means that there is a large amount of people that assemble in that space. Assembly spaces are restaurants, theaters, classrooms, church, etc.

In complying with the building permit, there are usually 2 types of occupant load that are checked.
First is the design occupant load, and the other one is the operational occupant load. Design occupant load is defined by the building code as the number of people in which a building is designed for. Operational occupant load taken from the Alberta Fire Code means the maximum number of persons that may occupy the building or area of the building at one time. So, design occupant load is a projection of the number of people that can use the area  since the area can be used also in multiple ways.  The Fire Code refers to the maximum number of people at one point in time.

Confusing? You bet. The jurisdiction will have guidelines on the computation for occupant load. In the building permit application, it is sometimes required that even this calculation is signed and sealed by a professional/ an architect. Anyway, the point is whether the design occupant load or the operational occupant load is used for the restaurant, the restaurant cannot go over the maximum number of people that it was designed for. Also, do not forget that the staff is included in the occupant load.

Occupant load is important in getting your building permit approved.  When the restaurant is granted occupancy, meaning the restaurant can now operate and use the premises, The signage of the Occupant load and the number of people will be posted in the premises.

WASHROOMS

The number of washrooms/ toilets is an important factor in the restaurant design and getting the building permit approved. Most jurisdictions would allow one washroom for up to 10 occupants, and that is including your staff in the 10 occupants. Some jurisdictions might allow until 20 occupants and that would be a unisex- barrier free washroom but this layout is pushing the limit. This has to be verified with the jurisdiction from the beginning.

If you have more than 10 occupants, then the restaurant should be designed for at least 2 washrooms, one male and one female. Both of these washrooms should be barrier free.
Below is a sample layout of one barrier free washroom male and one female barrier free washroom.






Typically, the number of occupants is not more than 50 for a small restaurant.
For an occupant load restaurant of more than 50, it is required by building code to provide one toilet for the male and 2 toilets for the female. The way the male and female count is computed is by simply dividing your occupant load into 2.

This design exercise is important, because if you have a small restaurant, then these washrooms are going to use up space. One of the options of not providing the washrooms in your restaurant is if there are washrooms within the vicinity of your restaurant, for example, if you are in a mall. For those locations, to get the building permit approved, the location of those existing washrooms should be shown. If it is too far, and this distance is a number that can be found on the building code, then the restaurant might not be allowed to use these existing washrooms as washroom provisions.


BARRIER FREE

Today's building code requires barrier free provisions: usually in the path of travel, approach to the doors, and the washrooms.

The layout I have above, these washrooms are compliant to Alberta building code. The minimum is 5 foot diameter turning circle, and that circle should be clear of any obstructions. It is a fairly big washroom. There is also a minimum distance requirement for the distance of the toilet from the side wall, about 18" and 18" for the lavatory to side of the wall.The doors should be at least 32" wide.

The kitchens also need to be barrier free, the distance in between counters is a minimum of 3'7".  To say that the kitchen is restricted to staff only, does not mean that the restaurant  does not have to comply with the barrier free requirements. The design should not restrict handicap people from using the space.  There are jurisdictions that are quite strict about this and would not allow otherwise.

This might be difficult to do when the restaurant is a have a food service outlet. For example, the outlet is mainly the kitchen and the counter and the dining area is a food court- like food courts in malls. The outlet space is really small, that is about 500 square foot. The barrier free is a requirement in the building code and it should be complied with. Otherwise, it might be an obstacle in getting the building permit approved.


EXITING

Exiting is very important in designing your restaurant. The factors to consider is the floor area and if the area has a sprinkler or not. Based on the Alberta Building Code, if your restaurant does not have sprinklers and the floor area is more than 1,614 square foot or 150 square meters, then you need 2 exits.  If the restaurant has sprinklers, and if the floor area is more than 2,152 square foot or 200 square meters, then you need 2 exits. For the doors to be considered as exits, it needs to be swing out doors and the doors should swing towards your exit.


FIRE RATING

Typically, the base building party walls or demising walls are already fire rated. The demising walls are walls that separate the tenants or suites from each other. This is normally provided by the landlord  or by the landlord and should be existing. The fire rating of the demising walls is dependent on the adjacent tenancy. If there are restaurants adjacent to each other, then that demising wall is normally a 2 hour fire rated wall. The minimum fire rating for the demising wall is a one hour fire rated wall.  The one hour rating is usually achieved with one layer of fire rated gypsum on each side.
There should be no penetrations going through this demising wall. If there is a penetration, that penetration should be fire stopped, fire sealed or if its a duct penetration, it should have a fire damper in order to comply with building code.

Do the kitchen walls need to be fire rated? For most part, it is not required but some restaurants add a fire rated board or a cement board on the walls that are exposed to extreme heat, or close to the burners or ovens. This is more for added protection.


HEALTH REGULATIONS

The health regulations will impact the design and the building permit requirements. The Health Department have separate requirements from the building code.

What is usually asked for is a separate hand wash sink and that the ceiling is the type of ceiling that can be cleaned. A vinyl type of ceiling that can wiped or cleaned is specified for in the kitchen ceiling. 


DESIGN LAYOUT



Let's use this small restaurant design above as an exercise to go over the design and building code requirements:

This restaurant is a tenant improvement, it is a bay in a building. This building has sprinklers.
The restaurant floor area is about 1,500 square foot or 142 square meters.

The number of seats I have computed - the dining area at 142 square meters divided by 1.2 square meters is 44 seats and the proposed seats is 42 seats. There is about 5 staff, so the number of occupants is 47. We have purposely kept the occupant load less than 50.

47 occupants is 24 male and 24 female. Based on the Alberta building code, the area needs one toilet per sex for this ratio. And so with 2 toilets we are compliant with the building code.
As you can see,  the washrooms are designed as barrier free.

Other barrier free provisions here is the shown on the vestibule where there is the five foot turning circle. The main aisles are a minimum of 3'7. If you look at the kitchen, the distance between the corridors are 3'7. 

There are 2 exits in the space, the main double door at the front and the exit door at the rear.

In terms of the fire rating, the demising walls have an existing fire rating. We added a cement board on the walls that are exposed to the extreme heat, and these walls are the walls adjacent to the burners.

The layout also shows a separate hand wash basin at the counter and the ceiling is a vinyl type ceiling at the kitchen.

For this layout, the building code requirements have been met. There should be no issue ( I hope ) in complying with the building code and getting your building permit approved.

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