45:4B-7 - Classification of buildings, structures 

45:4B-7.     Classification of buildings, structures 
     a.   For the purposes of this act, buildings and structures are classified by their use into use groups as determined by the BOCA National Building Code.  The following chart based on the BOCA National Building Code/1987, tenth edition, designates projects by use groups and sets forth those which may be designed, prepared, signed, and sealed by licensed architects and professional engineers, or both, as indicated.  In the event that the BOCA National Building Code's provisions are altered in subsequent editions nothing herein contained shall be deemed to be altered.

                         BUILDING DESIGN CATEGORIES

BOCA Use Group              Architects    Engineers

Classification              May Design    May Design

 

-Assembly                  All           A-5 Outdoor Assembly use or as

                                           an incidental use.

B-Business                  All           None other than Note 1 or as

                                           an incidental use.

 

-Educational               All           None except for an incidental

                                           use.

 

-Factory and

   Industrial                All           All

H-High Hazard               All           All

 

-Institutional             All           None except for an incidental use.

M-Mercantile                All           None except for an incidental use.

R-Residential               All           None except for an incidental use.

S-Storage                   All           All

U-Utility                   All           All

                             Except an

                             Engineering

                             Work

Note 1.   Professional engineers may design the following projects within the B Use group:

 

    (a)  Car wash facilities;

      (b)  Materials testing laboratories; and,

      (c)  Telephone exchanges and data processing relay or equipment facilities.

      b.   An engineering work such as a sewage or water treatment plant, power plant, or transportation system, shall be prepared, designed, signed, and sealed by a professional engineer only. 

    c.   Professional engineers may prepare, design, sign and seal buildings or portions of buildings in a non-permitted use group classification only as an incidental use. 

    A portion of a building shall be deemed to be an incidental use where the portion is an ancillary part of an engineering project and the building or portion is of a building design category prohibited to engineers.  The area of the incidental use shall not constitute more than 10% of the building's total floor area or 2000 square feet whichever is greater. 

    In the design of traditional engineering works projects such as sewage or water treatment plants, power plants or transportation systems, the area of the incidental use shall not constitute more than 10% of the total square footage of all structures in the project, or 2000 square feet, whichever is greater.  Where public access is a primary consideration in buildings such as transportation terminals, railroad stations, or administration buildings, those buildings shall be designed by architects only. 

    L.1989, c.277, s.7.