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Toilet Ratios

The information provided has been extracted from British Standards and other sources. It provides timings, ratios and recommendations which are useful when designing or refurbishing toilets.

  • The average time a woman spends in a WC is 90 seconds.
  • The average time a man spends in a WC is 210 seconds.
  • The average time a man spends at a urinal is 35 seconds.
  • Average overall time for a man to use the gents is 60 seconds.
  • Women will generally require twice as many appliances as men to achieve equal waiting time.
  • A queue of longer than 2 minutes should be considered unacceptable.
  • All new toilet facilities should include accessible WCs and baby changing facilities.
  • If there is only one toilet it should be a unisex wheelchair accessible WC
  • There should be one wash basin per WC, and at least one per 5 urinals.
  • In male toilets there should be one WC per 4 urinals or part thereof.
  • Warm or cold air hand dryers should be provided one to every three basins, other hand drying facilities one to every four basins.
  • Where trough urinals are provided allow 70mm of urinal per user.
  • There should be an ambulant accessible toilet in each toilet block.
  • Cubicle size should be at least 800mm x 1500mm.
  • Cubicle door size should be a minimum of 700mm.
  • Enlarged cubicles are recommended for use by users of larger proportion, those carrying luggage and parents or carers of young children where separate family toilets are not provided. The cubicles should be 1200mm wide.
  • One baby change unit should be provided per 10 WCs, or one parent and child toilet should be provided for every 10 WCs.
  • In toilet blocks – one wheelchair accessible toilet per 10 cubicles or part thereof. At least one wheelchair accessible toilet should be unisex to allow a user to be accompanied by a member of the opposite sex.
  • At least one toilet facility should be provided in every settlement with a population of over 5000.
  • In town centres and tourist areas toilets should be within a short walking distance, and should ideally be at a max of 300m centres in the busiest areas. And max 500m centres generally in town centres.
  • Major centres, transport hubs and visitor attractions should include at least one ‘changing places’ toilet.
  • Female = 1 cubicle per 550 women and female children.
  • Male = 1 cubicle or urinal per 1,100 men.
  • 1 unisex accessible toilet cubicle for every 10,000 population.
  • 1 unisex baby changing facility per 10,000 population.
  • Some reduction can be made for private provision and customer toilets depending on the likelihood of them being open and generally accessible for use.