Building Standards Technical Handbooks (Domestic and Non-domestic), Section 4: Safety.

Scotland has no Part M. The Building (Scotland) Regulations 2004 set functional standards, and the Technical Handbooks give guidance on meeting them. There are two handbooks, domestic and non-domestic, each in eight sections. Access sits within Section 4 (Safety), mainly standards 4.1 (access to buildings), 4.2 (access within buildings), 4.3 (stairs and ramps) and 4.7 (aids to communication). The handbooks are reissued as a whole whenever any part changes, so the edition date tells you little about whether Section 4 itself changed.

The current handbooks are the April 2026 editions, published in March 2026. They apply to building warrant applications submitted on or after 6 April 2026, and to work not needing a warrant that starts on or after that date, subject to transitional provisions. The 2026 revision targeted Regulation 8, standard 2.15 and parts of Sections 0, 2 and 3. Earlier editions remain relevant for projects warranted under them.

The Scottish guidance is less prescriptive about signs than the English and Irish documents, and puts more weight on the building itself being legible. The explicit signage points are accessible parking marked with the International Symbol of Access, storey identification at lift landings, voice and visual storey indication in larger lifts, and signs for hearing enhancement systems. Contrast is required for lift doors and controls, door furniture, handrails, nosings, guarding and glazing edges.

The handbook refers to BS 8300 and to Guidance on the Use of Tactile Paving Surfaces for further detail, and points designers to the Equality Act 2010 as a separate and wider duty.