National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, 1977 (Act No. 103 of 1977)RegulationsPart AZ : Coming into Operation, Definitions and StandardsAZ2. Definitions |
In these regulations any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act, shall bear that meaning and, unless the context indicates otherwise—
means acceptable, adequate, or satisfactory—
| (a) | in the opinion of any local authority; or |
| (b) | in relation to any document issued by the council, in the opinion of the council; |
[Definition amended by regulation 2 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means an assembly of concentrated or distributed mechanical forces acting on a building or the cause of deformations imposed on the building or constrained in it;
[Definition added by regulation 3 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a certificate that confirms fitness-for-purpose of a non-standardised product, material or component or the acceptability of the related non-standardised design and the conditions pertaining thereto (or both) issued by the Board of Agrément South Africa.
[Definition added by regulation 4 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any pipe, tube, conduit or enclosed space used or to be used in any building for the transmission of air in an artificial ventilation system;
means any person who makes an application;
means an application contemplated in section 4 of the Act;
means—
| (a) | approval by any local authority, including approval contemplated in section 7(7)(b) of the Act; or |
| (b) | approval by the review board on appeal to the review board in terms of the Act; |
means—
| (a) | approved by any local authority; or |
| (b) | approved by the review board on appeal to the review board in terms of the Act; |
means a system in which air is caused to circulate through a room by means of a mechanical apparatus which forces air into or extracts air from such room;
the body that operates under the delegation of authority of the Minister of Public Works.
[Definition added by regulation 5 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a horizontal discharge pipe conveying the discharge from one or more sanitary fixtures to a discharge stack;
means the elements of a building that separate a habitable room from the exterior of a building or a garage or storage area;
[Definition added by regulation 3 of Notice No. R. 711 of 2011]
in relation to a site, means a line prescribed in any town planning scheme or any other law designating the boundaries of the area of the site outside of which the erection above ground of any building is prohibited;
of any storage tank means the volume of such tank between the operating level of the water contained in such tank and the invert of the outlet from the tank;
means a building intended to provide shelter for a motor vehicle, caravan or boat and having a roof but having walls on not more than two sides;
means software certified by the Board of Agrément South Africa in terms of Agrément South Africa's Energy Software Protocols as being fit for thermal modelling or calculation purposes in terms of these regulations;
[Definition added by regulation 3 of Notice No. R. 711 of 2011]
means a closet with a fixed pan, the excreta from which pass into a tank where they are acted upon by chemicals which sterilize and break them down;
means that part of a building which forms part of a flue, but does not include a flue pipe;
[Definition deleted by regulation 6 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any access opening to the interior of a discharge pipe or trap provided for the purposes of internal cleaning, and which remains permanently accessible after completion of the drainage installation;
means the opposite of non-combustible;
means that portion of a drain which conveys sewage other than or in addition to that sewage which emanates from the site through which such drain runs;
means any pipe in a water supply system to which any water installation is connected;
means a person who is qualified by virtue of his education, training, experience and contextual knowledge to make a determination regarding the performance of a building or part thereof in relation to a functional regulation or to undertake such duties as may be assigned to him in terms of these regulations;
[Definition substituted by regulation 7 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a pipe vested in the local authority which connects a drain to a sewer;
means a covered tank used for the reception and temporary retention of sewage and which requires emptying at intervals;
means any land that, due to substances contained within or under it, is in a condition that presents an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of occupants of buildings constructed on such land;
[Definition added by regulation 8 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means non-mandatory requirement, the compliance with which ensures compliance with a functional regulation;
[Definition added by regulation 9 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a pipe which conveys the discharge from a sanitary fixture to a drain, and includes a soil pipe, a waste pipe, a discharge stack, a branch discharge pipe or a fixture discharge pipe;
means any vertical discharge pipe which conveys the discharge from two or more sanitary fixtures and which is connected directly to a drain;
means land underlain by dolomite or limestone rock directly or at a shallow depth less than:
| (a) | 60 m in areas underlain by limestone; |
| (b) | 60 m in areas underlain by dolomite where no de-watering has taken place and the local authority has jurisdiction, is monitoring and has control over the groundwater levels over the areas under consideration; or |
| (c) | 100 m in areas underlain by dolomite where de-watering has taken place or where the local authority has no jurisdiction or control over ground water levels; |
[Definition added by regulation 10 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means that part of any drainage installation outside a building and which is below ground level, but shall not include the following:
| (a) | Any discharge pipe; |
| (b) | that portion of a discharge stack which is below ground level; |
| (c) | the bend at the foot of a discharge stack; |
means any installation vested in the owner of a site and which is situated on such site and is intended for the reception, conveyance, storage or treatment of sewage, and may include sanitary fixtures, traps, discharge pipes, drains, ventilating pipes, septic tanks, conservancy tanks, sewage treatment works, or mechanical appliances associated therewith;
means a single dwelling unit and any garage and other domestic outbuildings thereto, situated on its own site;
means a unit containing one or more habitable rooms and provided with adequate sanitary and cooking facilities;
means that part of an escape route which provides fire protection to the occupants of any building and which leads to an escape door;
means that door in an escape route which, at ground level, leads directly to a street or public place or to any approved open space which leads to a street or public place;
means the entire path of travel from the furthest point in any room in a building to the nearest escape door and may include an emergency route;
means any door that is a component of an escape route from any room;
means any water installation which conveys water solely for the purpose of fire-fighting;
[Definition inserted by regulation 3(a) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
means the shortest period for which a building element or component will comply with the requirements for stability, integrity and insulation when tested in accordance with SANS 10177-2;
[Definition amended by regulation 11 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a discharge pipe which conveys the discharge from a single sanitary fixture;
means having a closed cup flash point lower than 90 °C;
in relation to a building or a storey thereof, means the total area enclosed within its external walls, exclusive of the area occupied by any lift shaft;
means a passage which conveys the discharge of a heat generating appliance to the external air;
means a pipe forming a flue but does not include a pipe built as a lining into a chimney;
means that part of a building which is in direct contact with and is intended to transmit loads to the ground;
means that portion of a wall between the foundation and the lowest floor above such foundation;
means a trench filled with suitable material which is used for the disposal of liquid effluent from a septic tank or waste water;
means a regulation that sets out in qualitative terms what is required of a building or building element or building component in respect of a particular characteristic without specifying the method of construction, dimensions or material to be used;
[Definition added by regulation 12 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means an enclosed area which is used or intended to be used for the parking, storing, servicing or repairing of motor vehicles;
means the process of evaluating the geotechnical character of a site in the context of existing or proposed works or land usage, which may include one or more of the following:
| (a) | evaluation of the geology and hydrogeology of the site; |
| (b) | examination of existing geotechnical information pertaining to the site; |
| (c) | excavating or boring in soil or rock and the systematic description of the soil and rock profiles; |
| (d) | determining the depth of any fill that might be present; |
| (e) | in-situ assessment of geotechnical properties of materials; |
| (f) | recovery of samples of soil or rock for examination, identification, recording, testing or display; |
| (g) | testing of soil or rock samples to quantify properties relevant to the purpose of the investigation; |
| (h) | evaluation of geotechnical properties of tested soils; and |
| (i) | reporting the results. |
[Definition added by regulation 13 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a pipe fitting incorporating a trap into which waste water is discharged;
means a room used or designed, erected, adapted or intended to be used by persons for sleeping in, living in, the preparation or consumption of food or drink, the transaction of business, the rendering of professional services, the manufacture, processing or sale of goods, the performance of work, the gathering together of persons or for recreational purposes;
[Definition deleted by regulation 14 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any liquid whether or not containing matter in solution or suspension which is given off in the course of or as a result of any industrial, trade, manufacturing, mining or chemical process or any laboratory, research or agricultural activity, and includes any liquid other than soil water, waste water or stormwater;
[Definition amended by regulation 15 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means the general inspection by a competent person of a system or measure or installation of a building, or part thereof, at such intervals as might be necessary in accordance with accepted professional practice to enable such competent person to be satisfied that the design assumptions are valid, the design is being correctly interpreted and the work is being executed generally in accordance with the designs, appropriate construction techniques and good practice but shall exclude detailed supervision and day-to-day inspection;
[Definition added by regulation 16 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a chamber not deeper than 750 mm and of such dimension that access may be obtained to a drain without requiring a person to enter into such chamber;
means any access opening to the interior of any pipe or pipe fitting in a drainage installation provided solely for the purpose of inspection and testing, and to which permanent access after completion of the drainage installation need not be provided;
means the value of a force corresponding to an action;
[Definition substituted by regulation 17 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a chamber of a depth greater than 750 mm and of such dimensions that allows entry of a person into such chamber for the purpose of providing access to a drain;
as contemplated in section 13 of the Act means—
| (a) | the erection of any— |
| (i) | poultry house not exceeding 10 m2 in area; |
| (ii) | aviary not exceeding 20 m2 in area; |
| (iii) | solid fuel store not exceeding 10 m2 in area and 2 m in height; |
| (iv) | tool shed not exceeding 10 m2 in area; |
| (v) | child's playhouse not exceeding 5 m2 in area; |
| (vi) | cycle shed not exceeding 5 m2 in area; |
| (vii) | greenhouse not exceeding 15 m2 in area; |
| (viii) | open-sided car, caravan or boat shelter or a carport where such shelter or carport does not exceed 40 m2 in area; |
| (ix) | any free-standing wall constructed of masonry, concrete, steel, aluminium or timber or any wire fence where such wall or fence does not exceed 1,8 m in height at any point above ground level and does not retain soil; |
[Paragraph (a)(ix) substituted by regulation 18 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
| (x) | any pergola; |
| (xi) | private swimming-pool; |
| (xii) | change room, not exceeding 10 m2 in area, at a private swimming-pool; |
| (b) | the replacement of a roof or part thereof with the same or similar material; |
| (c) | the conversion of a door into a window or a window into a door without increasing the width of the opening; |
| (d) | the making of an opening in a wall which does not affect the structural safety of the building concerned; |
| (e) | the partitioning or the enlarging of any room by the erection or demolition of an internal wall if such erection or demolition does not affect the structural safety of the building concerned; |
| (f) | the erection of any solar water heater not exceeding 6 m2 in area on any roof or 12 m2 when erected other than on any roof; and |
| (g) | the erection of any other building where the nature of the erection is such that in the opinion of the building control officer it is not necessary for the applicant to submit, with his application, plans prepared in full conformity with these regulations; |
means the movement of air through a building due to natural causes;
means classified as non-combustible when tested in accordance with code of practice SANS 10177-5;
[Definition amended by regulation 19 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means the particular use or the type of use to which a building or portion thereof is normally put or intended to be put;
means the direction a building envelope element faces, i.e. the direction of a vector perpendicular to and pointing away from the surface outside of the element.
[Definition added by regulation 3 of Notice No. R. 711 of 2011]
[Definition deleted by regulation 20 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means those persons who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers might hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others;
[Definition added by regulation 21 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
[Definition deleted by regulation 3(b) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
[Definition deleted by regulation 22 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
[Definition deleted by regulation 3(b) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
means the population determined in accordance with regulation A21;
means a regulation which describes in some detail an operation to be performed, or the dimensions of a building, building element or building component and the materials and method of construction to be used in such building, building element or building component;
[Definition added by regulation 23 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any square, park, recreation ground or open space which—
| (a) | is vested in the local authority; or |
| (b) | the public has the right to use; or |
| (c) | is shown on a general plan of a township filed in a deeds registry or a Surveyor-General's office and has been provided for or reserved for the use of the public or the owners of erven in such township; |
means assessment by a competent person of the adequacy of the performance of a solution in relation to requirements including, as necessary, a process of reasoning, calculation and consideration of accepted analytical principles, based on a combination of deductions from available information, research and data, appropriate testing and service experience;
[Definition added by regulation 24 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any design by a competent person involving a process of reasoning and calculation and which may include a design based on a standard or other suitable document;
[Definition substituted by regulation 25 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a hypothetical building that is used to determine the maximum allowable heating load for the proposed building.
[Definition added by regulation 3 of Notice No. R. 711 of 2011]
means an access opening in a drainage installation provided for the purposes of gaining full -bore access to the interior of a drain for internal cleaning, and which remains permanently accessible after completion of the installation, but does not include an inspection chamber or manhole;
[Definition deleted by regulation 26 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a receptacle to which water is permanently supplied, and from which waste water or soil water is discharged;
[Regulation 27 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008 deletes the definition of "sanitary group", which was not previously defined in these regulations.]
means a tank designed to receive sewage and to retain it for such a time and in such a manner as to secure adequate decomposition;
means waste water, soil water, industrial effluent and other liquid waste, either separately or in combination, but does not include stormwater;
means a pipe or conduit which is the property of or is vested in the local authority and which is used or intended to be used for the conveyance of sewage;
means any erf, lot, plot, stand or other piece of land on which a building has been, is being or is to be erected;
means a sanitary fixture which receives and discharges soil water;
means a discharge pipe which conveys soil water;
means liquid containing excreta;
means an approved system of piping and sprinkler heads connected to a water supply which when actuated by the effect of fire automatically releases water;
means any part of a building which provides a route of travel between different levels in such building and is formed by a single flight or by a combination of two or more flights and one or more intervening landings;
means any tank, other than any tank used for storage of hot water or any cistern serving a toilet pan or a urinal, which forms part of a water installation and is used for the storage of water;
[Definition amended by regulation 28 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means that part of a building which is situated between the top of any floor and the top of the floor next above it, or if there is no floor above it that portion between such floor and the ceiling above it (any open work floor, catwalk or gallery being taken to be part of the storey in which it is situated), and in relation to a building—
| (a) | the ground storey shall be taken as the storey in which there is situated an entrance to the building from the level of the adjoining ground or, if there is more than one such storey the lower or lowest of these; |
| (b) | a basement shall be taken to be any part of the building which is below the level of the ground storey; |
| (c) | an upper storey shall be taken to be any storey of the building which is above the level of the ground storey; and |
| (d) | the height expressed in storeys shall be taken to be that number of storeys which includes all storeys other than a basement; |
[Definition amended by regulation 29 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008
means water resulting from natural precipitation or accumulation and includes rainwater, surface water, subsoil water or spring water;
means a pipe, conduit or surface channel situated on a site, which is used to convey stormwater to a suitable point of discharge;
means a pipe, conduit or channel, owned by or vested in the local authority, which is used for the conveyance of stormwater;
means any street, road, thoroughfare, lane, footpath, sidewalk, subway or bridge which—
| (a) | is vested in the local authority; or |
| (b) | the public has the right to use; or |
| (c) | is shown on a general plan of a township filed in a deeds registry or a Surveyor -General's office and has been provided or reserved for use by the public or the owners of erven in such township; |
in relation to a site, means the boundary of such site which abuts any street;
[Definition deleted by regulation 30 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means relating to or forming part of any structural system;
[Definition deleted by regulation 3(b) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
means a wall forming part of any structural system;
means capable of fulfilling or having fulfilled the intended function or fit for its intended purpose;
[Definition added by regulation 31 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means any building that is so declared by the owner and that is being used or is to be used for a specified purpose for a specified limited period of time, but does not include a builder's shed;
[Definition deleted by regulation 3(b) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
means the National Building Regulations and Building Standards Act, 1977 (Act No. 103 of 1977);
means any person who in the trade of plumbing has, in terms of the Manpower Training Act, 1981 (Act No. 56 of 1981), passed a qualifying trade test or has been issued with a certificate of proficiency or has obtained a National Certificate in Construction Plumbing, National Qualification Framework level 3;
[Definition amended by regulation 32 of Notice No. R. 574 of 2008]
means a pipe fitting or a part of a sanitary fixture which is designed to retain a water seal;
[Definition deleted by regulation 3(b) of Notice No. R. 432 of 1991]
means a pipe which leads to the open air at its highest point and which provides ventilation throughout a drainage installation for the purpose of preventing the destruction of water seals, but does not include a discharge pipe;
means a discharge pipe which conveys waste water only;
means used water not contaminated by soil water or industrial effluent and shall not include stormwater;
means any component, other than a pipe, of any water installation, through which water passes or in which it is stored;
means an installation used or intended to be used for the conveyance or storage of water in any building or on any site on which such building is situated and includes any pipe or any water fitting other than any water meter vested in the local authority;
means the water in a trap which acts as a barrier against the flow of any foul air or gas;
means any system of structures, aqueducts, pipes, valves, pumps, meters or other appurtenances relating thereto which are vested in the local authority and are used or intended to be used by it in connection with the supply of water;
means the force exerted by the action of wind.