Living room and lounge layout clearances

At a glance

Millimetres. 'Practice' means a range designers use, with no source we could read. Part M figures are from the editions named in the notice, England only.

An example lounge, to scale, with every gap lettered

The plan is to scale and every gap is lettered. Its blocks are the sizes Approved Document M volume 1 gives in Appendix D for the furniture a designer must draw to show a living space works: they are test blocks for Part M layouts, not products, and real sofas are usually deeper (our sofa sheet gives 850 to 1,050 mm).

The gaps are practice. Adding them across the room: 900 (C) + 850 (sofa) + 400 (A) + 500 (table) + 400 (B) + 850 (chair) + 900 (E) = 4,800 mm, of which the group itself takes 3,000. Down the room, the 1,850 mm sofa, a 450 mm side table beside it and the 900 mm arc of a door all fit in 3,300 mm without the door touching the furniture. That is the calculation to repeat for a real room with its real footprints: sum the pieces and the gaps in each direction before choosing a sofa.

A and B are floors, not targets. From the buttock-knee lengths on our anthropometrics sheet (670 mm for the largest men on one British table, 645 on the other), the knees of the largest man, sat back on a 550 mm deep sofa seat, reach 120 or 95 mm beyond the front of the seat. A 400 mm gap leaves 280 or 305 mm between his knees and the table, and a 350 mm gap leaves 230 or 255. Someone also has to stand up and step out, and our restaurant sheet uses a chair pull-out of 300 to 450 mm: hence 350 to 450 for a gap people cross often, and the larger figure for a low, deep sofa.

Which gaps are rules, and which are practice

No standard we could read fixes the gap between a sofa and a coffee table, the width of a walkway in a lounge or the distance across a conversation group. The usual figures, 350 to 450 mm and 750 to 900 mm, are practice that designers hand to one another. They are consistent with the body data on our other sheets, but they are not a source, and the at-a-glance table marks every one of them as practice.

The regulated figures are in Approved Document M, and they attach to routes and spaces, not to every gap in a room. In England, volume 1 covers dwellings (2015 edition incorporating 2016 amendments) and volume 2 buildings other than dwellings (2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments, the latest on gov.uk when we looked). Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own documents, which we did not read. For a house, Part M volume 1 asks for furnished layouts at 1:100 only for wheelchair user dwellings (M4(3), paragraph 3.20) and lists, in Appendix D, a manoeuvring zone for living rooms of a 1,500 x 1,500 turning circle or a 1,400 x 1,700 turning ellipse; we found no living-room turning space in paragraph 2.24 for the accessible and adaptable category (M4(2)). BS 8300-2:2018, shown as current on BSI Knowledge, is the detailed reference for buildings other than dwellings and does not apply to individual dwellings; we have not read it.

Escape routes are a separate subject (Approved Document B): seating that sits on or beside one is for the fire engineer, as on our restaurant seating sheet. This sheet is about everyday layout.

Conversation groups

How far apart can seats be before a group stops feeling like one conversation? The usual reference is the anthropologist Edward T. Hall's four distance zones from his work on proxemics, as a reference article states them: personal distance about 0.46 to 1.22 m, social distance 1.2 to 3.7 m (close 1.2 to 2.1 m, far 2.1 to 3.7 m), and public distance beyond that. The same article says Hall did not mean them as strict rules and that norms vary with culture. Whether people talk easily at 2.4 m depends as much on voice, noise and the room as on any number.

The drawing sets three groups to one scale and measures them from seat centre to seat centre: a home lounge with a sofa and two chairs round a 500 mm table (2,150 mm), a lobby pair of 1,600 mm sofas with a 600 mm table between (2,400 mm), and four armchairs round an 800 mm round table with 350 mm gaps (2,350 mm across, 1,662 mm between neighbours). All fall within the social zone. Seat-centre distance is our measure, not Hall's, who measured between people; it is a way to compare layouts, and where a client wants a more intimate group the first move is a smaller table or closer chairs, not a smaller sofa.

Hotel lobby, lounge bar and members' club

A lobby, lounge bar or members' club has the same gaps with more people crossing them and with Part M figures that bite. The drawing keeps a 1,800 x 1,200 mm clear space in front of the lowered section of a reception counter (paragraph 3.6(d) of volume 2: 1,200 deep and 1,800 wide where there is a knee recess at least 500 deep, or 1,400 deep and 2,200 wide where there is none), a route kept 1,200 mm clear (3.14(b)) and a seating group set outside both. Paragraph 3.6(e) asks for at least one section of the counter at least 1,500 mm wide with its surface no higher than 760 mm and a knee recess not less than 700 mm above the floor. Where a corridor is narrower than 1,800 mm, 3.14(c) asks for passing places at least 1,800 mm long and 1,800 mm wide at reasonable intervals. Doors on the route have an effective clear width of 800 mm straight-on in a new building, 1,000 mm for an external door of a building used by the public (Table 2).

Paragraph 4.3 adds that in refreshment facilities, bars and counters, or sections of them, should be at a level suitable for wheelchair users and that all floor areas, even at different levels, should be accessible. So in a lounge bar, set the seating clusters so that a wheelchair user can reach a table, sit at it with companions and leave without moving other furniture, and keep chairs, when pulled out, out of the route. Whether a service aisle in a lounge counts as a corridor under 3.14 is for the access consultant.

Checking a layout before it goes to the workshop

Seven checks before a layout goes to the workshop, in the order they usually go wrong:

Furniture layout drawing [ref] at 1:[50], showing every piece at its actual footprint including arms, backs and any overhang; the clear gaps A [400] and B [400] mm and C [900] and E [900] mm dimensioned as minimums; every door leaf and its swing arc; and the delivery route. Gaps are minimums unless marked otherwise.

Minimum clear gaps (mm): sofa seat front to coffee table [350]; coffee table to opposite seat [350]; walkway behind or beside seating [750]; main route through the room [900]. Where the layout is to show compliance with Approved Document M [volume 1 / volume 2] paragraph [ ], the accessible route [1,200] mm clear and the turning space [1,500 x 1,500 / 1,400 x 1,700 ellipse] are shown on the plan.

Before production the partner is to mark out the layout full size on the floor, using the real footprints of [sofa], [armchairs] and [tables], for the designer's approval of the gaps, with the door arcs marked.

Standards and sources

• Approved Document M, Volume 2, 2015 edition incorporating 2020 and 2024 amendments (England): 3.6, 3.14, Table 2, 4.3; read 6 Nov 2026.
• Approved Document M, Volume 1, 2015 edition incorporating 2016 amendments (England): 3.20, Appendix D; read 6 Nov 2026.
• BS 8300-2:2018: Current on BSI Knowledge, 6 Nov 2026; not read.

Questions we are asked

How far should a coffee table be from the sofa?

The usual range is 350 to 450 mm from the front of the sofa seat to the edge of the table. It is practice, not a rule. It leaves room for knees and for people to stand and step out: on our anthropometrics figures the knees of the largest men sat back on a 550 mm deep seat reach 95 to 120 mm past the front of the seat, so a 350 mm gap leaves 230 to 255 mm. Use the upper end for a low, deep sofa or a gap that people cross often.

How much space should there be between two facing sofas?

The depth of the table plus two gaps of 350 to 450 mm, so 1,300 to 1,500 mm seat front to seat front with a 600 mm table. Hall's social zone runs to 3.7 m between people, and our three example groups measure 2.15 to 2.4 m seat centre to seat centre.

How wide should a walkway between furniture be?

Designers use 750 to 900 mm for a walkway behind seating and 900 to 1,200 mm for a main route: practice, not a rule. Part M's 1,200 mm clear width and 1,800 mm passing places (volume 2, 3.14) apply to corridors and passageways on accessible routes in buildings other than dwellings; whether a route through a lounge counts is for the access consultant. Escape routes are set by Approved Document B and the fire engineer.

How far apart should chairs be for a conversation?

Edward T. Hall's social zone is 1.2 to 3.7 m between people, as a reference article states it, with the caution that it is not a strict rule and varies with culture. The three example groups on this sheet measure 2.15 to 2.4 m seat centre to seat centre. A smaller table or closer chairs gives a more intimate group.

What does Part M ask for in a living room?

For wheelchair user dwellings (M4(3)), Approved Document M volume 1 asks for furnished layouts at 1:100 using the Appendix D sizes (paragraph 3.20), and Appendix D lists a living-room turning space of 1,500 x 1,500 mm or a 1,400 x 1,700 mm ellipse. We found no living-room turning space in paragraph 2.24 for the accessible and adaptable category (M4(2)). Hotels and lobbies fall under volume 2.

What clear space does a hotel reception counter need in front of it?

Approved Document M volume 2, paragraph 3.6(d): 1,200 mm deep by 1,800 mm wide where there is a knee recess at least 500 mm deep, or 1,400 mm deep by 2,200 mm wide where there is none, with at least one counter section 1,500 mm wide, no higher than 760 mm and with a knee recess not less than 700 mm above the floor (3.6(e)). Keep seating out of that space.