How Many Toilets Does My Building Need? The Complete UK Guide
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Introduction
“How many toilets does my building need?” is the question employers, fit-out contractors and designers ask first. The honest answer is: it depends on building type, who uses the facilities, and which document applies. This guide gives you the workplace stepped tables that HSE publishes openly, shows how to read them with a worked example, and points to BS 6465 for building-type scales without inventing ratios we cannot cite from a free official source.
If you only need employee facilities in an office or industrial workplace, start with the HSE tables below. If you are sizing toilets for pupils, shoppers, spectators or mixed public use, you still need the building-type standard your designer is using — usually BS 6465-1 — and this page will not invent those rows.
Also read: UK toilet cubicle regulations · Office washrooms · Toilet cubicle ranges.
Which document applies?
Three layers designers usually open
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 + HSE ACoP L24 — minimum toilets and washbasins for people at work. Tables below.
- BS 6465-1 — recommended sanitary provision scales by building type (offices, schools, shops, assembly, and others). Obtain the current BSI edition; we do not republish those ratio tables here.
- Approved Document T (England) — layout and dimensions of toilet types for new non-domestic work from 1 October 2024. It does not replace BS 6465 or L24 for how many appliances you need. See the type table in our regulations guide.
Workplace provision — HSE stepped tables
How to read the tables
Use the maximum number of people likely to be in the workplace at any one time (not payroll headcount if only a fraction are on site). Choose the mixed-use / women-only table, or the men-only table where facilities are for men only.
Source for both tables: HSE — How many toilets should a workplace have?, citing L24 Approved Code of Practice under Regulation 20 of the Workplace Regulations 1992.
Regulation 20 itself states the duty in principle (suitable and sufficient conveniences, ventilation, lighting, cleanliness, and sex-separation rules). The stepped numbers are ACoP guidance that HSE presents as minimum facilities. If your workplace is unusual — remote sites, high visitor loads, or heavily staggered shifts — treat the tables as a floor, not a ceiling, and record the occupancy basis you used.
Mixed use (or women only)
| Number of people at work | Number of toilets | Number of washbasins |
|---|---|---|
| 1–5 | 1 | 1 |
| 6–25 | 2 | 2 |
| 26–50 | 3 | 3 |
| 51–75 | 4 | 4 |
| 76–100 | 5 | 5 |
Men only
| Number of men at work | Number of toilets | Number of urinals |
|---|---|---|
| 1–15 | 1 | 1 |
| 16–30 | 2 | 1 |
| 31–45 | 2 | 2 |
| 46–60 | 3 | 2 |
| 61–75 | 3 | 3 |
| 76–90 | 4 | 3 |
| 91–100 | 4 | 4 |
HSE’s published FAQ tables stop at 100 people. For larger workplaces, use the current L24 text or ask your designer — do not interpolate from this page. If washbasins are in a separate ablution room from the WCs, still provide the basin numbers the table requires for that occupancy band unless your designer documents a justified alternative.
Worked example — 60-person office
Reading the mixed-use table
Assume a shared office washroom serving up to 60 people at once (mixed use, or women-only facilities).
- Find the band that includes 60: 51–75.
- Read across: 4 toilets and 4 washbasins.
- That is the HSE/L24 minimum for that occupancy band — not a design target for peak queueing comfort, and not a substitute for accessible WCs required under Building Regulations guidance.
If the same 60 people are men only in a male facility, the men-only table puts 60 in the 46–60 band: 3 toilets and 2 urinals.
Common mistakes when reading the table: using total company headcount when only 40 people are ever on site at once; applying the men-only urinal table to a mixed washroom; and treating the HSE minimum as the only design input when the architect’s BS 6465 building-type scale, visitor peaks or queueing targets may require more appliances. Always write the occupancy assumption on the drawing issue.
Once appliance counts and accessible layouts are fixed on the drawings, specify cubicle ranges by environment: Smart (MFC, dry), Ascent (MR MFC, damp), or Alpine (CGL, wet). Package context for offices: Office washrooms.
Building types beyond workplaces
Offices, schools, retail and assembly
BS 6465-1 is the usual reference for recommended minimum sanitary appliances by building type. Because those ratio tables are not free to republish, this guide does not invent office, school, shop or stadium ratios. Obtain a licensed BS 6465 extract for the project. Secondary blogs that quote “1 WC per X people” without naming the edition and table number are not a safe substitute.
For schools specifically, the School Premises (England) Regulations 2012 set qualitative duties (suitable toilets; separation for pupils aged 8+; PE changing/showers from age 11) rather than a WC-per-pupil table — see school toilets, Ofsted and the School Toilet Charter. Staff toilets serving teachers and other employees still fall under the Workplace Regulations / HSE tables when they are workplace facilities.
Retail floors, stadia and assembly buildings often have high simultaneous demand relative to staff headcount. Those peaks are exactly where BS 6465 building-type scales matter — and exactly where we will not guess a number. Ask your architect for the BS 6465 table and row that apply to the use class and design population.
Accessible toilets and cubicle size
Do not use one fixed “accessible size” for every scheme
Accessible and ambulant provision comes from the Building Regulations guidance that applies to your project (Approved Document M and, for toilet-type layouts in England, Approved Document T). Overall room sizes vary by toilet type — AD T Type B, for example, quotes a minimum overall of 1050mm × 1685mm for a fully enclosed self-contained universal toilet. Wheelchair-accessible layouts sit primarily under Approved Document M.
Practical measuring: Toilet cubicle dimensions.
Next steps
- Confirm occupancy and sex-segregation with your designer.
- Apply the HSE tables for employee facilities; apply BS 6465 for building-type scales.
- Size cubicles to the drawings, then configure online or send sizes to Bridgewater Direct.
Contact: Contact us · 0161 703 3980.