includes addition and extension, and alter has a corresponding interpretation;

means any residential building which contains 2 or more family units, and includes a block of flats, but does not include a pair of semi-detached houses;

as applied to materials or methods of construction means approved by the proper officer for the purpose of these Regulations;

means any hood, canopy, shade, covering or other simple roof or slab structure over or across any public footway or part thereof, constructed as a cantilever or suspended from an external wall of a building;

means any platform or gallery projecting from a building;

means a storey or part of a storey partly below the ground level, the ceiling of which is not less than 5 feet above the level of the adjoining ground irrespective of any excavations made for the purpose of complying with these Regulations;

means a residential building not being licensed premises, in which board and lodging is provided or is intended to be provided for 4 or more boarders or lodgers, for reward or payment and includes a private hotel, a residential club or a hostel;

or BS means British Standard Specification issued by the British Standards Institution, British Standard House, 2 Park Street, London, WI, England. Where a BS is referred to it shall mean the latest current issue of the number quoted or the latest revised specification on the subject;

includes any structure or erection and any part of a building as so defined, but does not include plant or machinery comprised in a building;

means the building surveyor or his or her assistant or the health or sanitary inspector of any local authority or district or any other person duly authorised by the local authority to secure the observance and enforcement of the provisions of these Regulations;

means a storey or part of a storey or a room below or partly below the ground level, the ceiling of which is less than 5 feet above the level of the adjoining ground;

includes water-closet, earth or pan-closet, urinal and every place for the reception of faecal matter;

includes build, erect, re-build, reconstruct, convert and alter and do any structural work and construction has a corresponding interpretation;

means that portion of a site, expressed as a percentage of the whole site, which may be covered by buildings including accessory buildings;

of a building means the actual weight of all permanent structural and finishing work, including partition walls contained in the building;

means that portion of the structure which directly transmits the loads of the building to the ground;

means all walls built between the foundations and the ground floor;

means any living room and includes any room intended or adapted to be used for the purposes of sleeping or eating or the preparation and cooking of food;

• (a)in relation to a building, means the vertical measurement taken from the mean level of the permanent footpath, or where the building is set back from the street alignment, from the mean level of the unfilled ground, immediately in front of the centre of the frontage of the building—
  • (i)to the highest point of the parapet or coping, in the case of a flat roof; or
  • (ii)to the mean level between the eaves and the highest point of the roof, in the case of a sloping roof;
• (b)in relation to a building when defined in terms of the number of storeys, means the number of storeys above the permanent foot-path level, or where there is a basement or cellar, above the floor level of the basement or cellar;
• (c)in relation to storeys, means the vertical measurement from one floor to the floor above;
• (d)in relation to a room, means the height measured from floor to ceiling, or where there is no ceiling, to the mean level of the under-side of the rafters or floor joists of the floor above;

means all load other than dead load and includes wind load and forces resulting from earthquake;

means stone, brick, solid or hollow concrete block or other similar building unit or a combination of the same laid up unit by unit and set in mortar;

means the purpose for which a building is used or intended to be used; but change of occupancy is not intended to include a change of tenants or proprietors;

means that portion of any wall which is carried up beyond the line of junction with a roof or gutter or beyond the level of a flat roof;

means any club building which contains not fewer than 4 bedrooms for the use of members;

means any area not included within the boundaries for the time being of the cities of Suva or Lautoka or of any other place declared to be a city or town under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 or of an iTaukei village;

means a building constructed for residential purposes, the different parts of which are used or intended or adapted to be used or occupied by separate families or by persons not of one family;

means any area within the boundaries for the time being of a town declared under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972;

includes every awning, portico, porch, shade covering or other erection other than a sunblind, upon or over or across any public footway or road or part thereof, for the purpose of shade or shelter, together with the supports other than the building against which it is supported and attached; and

• bearing wall means a wall which supports any load in addition to its own weight;
• cross wall means an internal wall dividing party or external walls into distinct lengths;
• external wall means an outer wall or vertical enclosure of a building not being a party wall;
• non-bearing wall means a wall which supports no load other than its own weight;
• panel wall means non-bearing wall in frame construction, built between columns or piers and wholly supported at each storey;
• partition wall means an internal vertical structure used solely for the purpose of subdividing any storey or building and which supports no load other than its weight;
• party wall means a wall used or built in order to be used as a separation of any building from any other building with a view to the occupation of such buildings by different persons; and
• retaining wall means any wall used to resist the lateral displacement of any material.