Building height

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The building height is generally a special dimensioning value for the cubature of a building or similar structure .

Basics

Apart from structural issues of stability or fire protection, the building height is primarily a central concept of spatial planning . It revolves around two areas of questions:

  • On the one hand, there is local and regional planning to determine whether a certain residential area has the character of a rural , suburban , urban or core city high-rise building. For this purpose, the highest permissible building heights are usually set in order to preserve a certain local appearance or local custom of the buildings. Conversely, there are also prescribed minimum building heights, also to protect the appearance of a row of houses , or to meet building density specifications for the purpose of creating living space.
  • And on the other hand, questions on the specific construction site , for example the safety distance between the building and neighboring structures, or in relation to adjacent traffic areas , as well as issues relating to neighborhood law, such as the extent to which a building influences the neighboring properties through shading ( spacing area ).

Although the building height is one of the basic dimensions of a building, it can be very complicated to determine in practice:

  • On the one hand, this concerns the lower assessment point. This can be specified, for example in the city center through a clear level of a traffic area. In a slope or in the field, the different design. In addition, the direct site and the open spaces around a new building are often redesigned later, so that a clear indication of the time at which the base point for calculating the building height is specified is also required.
  • On the other hand, the upper measurement point must also be specified, which can also lead to a variety of calculation methods in the case of more complicated floor plans , roof shapes and design of the building . In addition, there are generally secondary components such as chimneys , parapets of flat roofs or superstructures for building services .

Due to these primarily urban planning considerations, the building height in the sense of building regulations is often not the absolute total height of the building ( e.g. the ridge height ).

In addition, there is a relationship between the height of the structure and the number of floors - via the regulations on minimum room heights .

National

Germany

In Germany, the building height is defined as the mean dimension between the surface of the ground and the top of the floor of the highest floor in which a lounge is possible. The dimension does not correspond to the absolute building height and must not be confused with other height terms used in the state building regulations ( wall height , ridge height, etc.).

Based on the building height, according to the stipulations in the state building codes , the classification of the states of a building in a building class are made. When entering the building , the building height must be entered in the building description .

Austria

In Austria the building laws and building regulations are a matter of the federal states . The calculation of the building height - called construction height or height of the building in some provincial regulations - is consistently neither defined in the building regulations nor in the Austrian ÖNORM B 1800 (determination of areas and volume) or the OIB guidelines , but rather an expert opinion Practice. In general:

  • The building height is the height of the outer wall surfaces including the roof hem, i.e. the highest point along the building line (house fronts), generally the intersection with the roof surface ( eaves point ) or the upper facade end of the main building.
  • The determination is made by unwinding the building envelope (neglecting certain minor protruding and receding structural elements) and dividing the front area by the front width, based on the main facade as required, or in sections (average building heights per front).

The relevant provisions can be found, for example, in Section 4, line 31 of the Styrian Building Act (definition of terms : "Building height: the respective vertical distance between a point on the intersection of the terrain (natural terrain) with the outer wall surface and the roof seam above"), Section 81, Paragraph 1 Building regulations for Vienna ("For buildings [...] [...] the building height is the vertical distance from the fixed height of the traffic area to the top line of intersection of the permissible outer wall area of ​​the street front") or Section 57 (2) Salzburg Regional Planning Act ("The determination of the building height referred to the highest point of the building and the uppermost cornice or the uppermost eaves [...] "), in other federal states only the term itself is mentioned. An exception is the new Lower Austrian Building Regulations 2014, in whose Section 53, the amount of buildings is named and illustrated in detail.

The maximum permitted building height (sometimes also called development height ) is then sometimes stipulated nationwide in the building or regional planning laws, sometimes in the local regional planning and development plans. As an exception, more detailed information can be found in Section 53a NÖ BO . Some federal states (Vienna and Lower Austria) then also define building classes or areas in which certain building classes are mandatory.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, where building law is regulated by both cantons and municipalities, the question of the many regional definitions of building height has long been considered a prime example of inconsistent building policy. With the intercantonal agreement on the harmonization of measurement methods (Appendix 1 of the Intercantonal agreement on the harmonization of construction terms , IVHB), however, a joint regulation was reached in 2010.

The explicit technical term building height has not been used; the following two definitions can be found:

  • Total height (in the sense of the absolute building height) as "the greatest difference in height between the highest point of the roof structure and the vertically below it on the relevant terrain ." (Section 5.1 Appendix 1 IVHB). This also applies to flat roofs . Technical roof structures such as solar collectors or antennas are not taken into account.
  • Façade height (in the sense of the height up to the eaves point ) as "the greatest difference in height between the line of intersection of the façade alignment with the upper edge of the roof structure and the associated facade line ." (Section 5.2 Annex 1 IVHB)

The knee height is measured between the upper edge of the attic floor (shell) and the eaves point (Section 5.3 Annex 1 IVHB).

However , not all cantons have acceded to this concordat (Bern explicitly rejected this at all), so that deviating regulations are still legally effective locally.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon / Busse: Bayerische Bauordnung - Commentary, CH Beck Verlag, Art. 2 Paragraph 317.
  2. ↑ Section 2, Paragraph 3, Clause 2 of the Model Building Regulations of September 21, 2012.
  3. ↑ 140,000 building regulations - but which are superfluous? In: Berner Zeitung online, June 23, 2015.
  4. ↑ cf. 3.3, there still mentioned building height , in the consultation draft 05.07.04. 2005, there p. 3; pdf, newsd.admin.ch.
  5. ↑ Intercantonal Agreement on the Harmonization of Construction Terms , Appendix 1 Terms and Methods of Measurement . P. 3 (as of September 24, 2013; pdf, on bpuk.ch, accessed July 11, 2019).
  6. ↑ Measure the building height correctly. forum-brandschutz.ch, accessed July 11, 2019.