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Project Categories: Alterations - Manufacturing Buildings

A manufacturing building is occupied for manufacturing and/or industrial purposes. A manufacturing space, or Factory Industrial ‘F’ occupancy classification per BC 306 includes, but is not limited to, spaces for assembling or disassembling, fabricating, finishing, manufacturing, packaging, repairing, cleaning, laundering or processing operations. Typical uses of space in manufacturing buildings include, auto and other motor vehicles, electronics/components manufacturing, food processing, furniture making, foundries, laboratories, laundries, paper mills, pharmaceutical production, plastic products, printing, etc.

The 2014 Building Code generally classifies manufacturing as Factory Industrial Occupancy Group F. This includes the low-hazard use of a building or structure, or a portion thereof. Materials or processes that constitute a physical or health hazard in quantities in excess of what the code considers to be low hazard would be Group H Hazardous occupancy classification. The 1968 Building Code classifies existing manufacturing occupancies as D-1 for moderate hazard and D-2 for low hazard.

BC Appendix D, Section D102.2.1, prohibits Hazardous Occupancy Group H-1 from being located within a fire district. The parts of this guideline that apply only to occupancy group H, High Hazard, have been highlighted in light gray and would not apply to low or moderate hazard occupancies.

There may also be accessory uses associated with the manufacturing occupancy such as Group B business offices, Group S storage, Group M retail sales, and/or Group A assembly areas such as meeting rooms or cafeterias. Manufacturing buildings may include incidental uses, which are ancillary functions associated with a given occupancy such as mechanical rooms, and/or boiler rooms that carry a different level of risk to that occupancy.

The Zoning Resolution (ZR) classifies manufacturing as Use Group 17, Manufacturing Uses, or 18, Industrial Uses, and identifies where these uses are permitted. All manufacturing facilities must comply with the NYC Zoning Resolution as well as other agencies’ requirements.

Alteration Project Work

Any construction resulting in the alteration of an existing building which requires the issuance of an amended or new Certificate of Occupancy (CO) is considered an Alteration Project. Alteration work to an existing building may include any combination of the following:

Vertical and Horizontal Enlargements - An addition to the floor area or the bulk of an existing building.
Conversions - A conversion is a change of use as defined by the ZR, and/or a change in the occupancy classification as defined in BC Chapter 3.
Egress Modifications – Any substantive change in the exiting width, travel distance, location, fire resistance rating or occupancy load of exits, or any change in number of required exits in a building.
Floor Area Reductions – A reduction to an existing building’s floor area that impacts the Certificate of Occupancy. For example, the complete elimination of one or more stories from a building, the demolition of a public assembly space, etc.

Mixed Use Building

A mixed-use building could contain any combination of two or more uses as per the Building Code, while a “mixed building” is a more narrowly defined term in ZR 12-10 and includes only residential with commercial and/or community facility uses in a Commercial District. A Mixed Use Building with a primary Manufacturing use may also contain the following uses: Commercial, Institutional, Educational, Community Facility and Residential.

Conversion of Manufacturing Buildings – Loft Board

The New York State Legislature established the New York City Loft Board to regulate legal conversion of certain lofts in the city from commercial/manufacturing use to residential use. These loft buildings are knowns as Interim Multiple Dwellings and may exist in buildings being altered for manufacturing. Refer to project guidelines for Alteration of 3+ Residential Buildings for more information. Refer to this guide for more information on residential use in manufacturing districts.

This guideline will primarily focus on manufacturing uses including portions pertaining to allowable mixed-use buildings. Manufacturing districts permit manufacturing and commercial uses as well as some community facility. Normally no residential use is permitted in a manufacturing district unless permitted by the Zoning Resolution. Refer to Commercial, Institutional and Community Facility Alteration guidelines for additional requirements pertaining to those uses.

Project Notes:

When proposed alteration work in a prior code building increases the existing floor surface area, as defined in AC 28-101.4.5, by more than 110 percent, such building must be designed in accordance with the 2014 Construction Codes as if it were a hereafter erected new building.
Minor alterations that do not change the number of floors, the use group, the occupancy classification, or the means of egress, as indicated on the existing CO, are considered to be Renovation Projects. However, renovations and/or existing building system projects could be part of a larger Alteration project’s scope of work.
Building Systems, such as new or modified plumbing, HVAC, or gas systems may be involved in an Alteration Project and are covered in their respective Building System Guidelines.