Building Features

The OS Building Features Collection gives you access to the most current and comprehensive buildings data captured by Ordnance Survey as a standalone collection.

Example images showing what the four feature types in the OS Building Features Collection look like in the data. Background maps have been included to provide context.

Collection key elements, supply mechanism, summary and FAQs

Key elements

The OS Building Features Collection provides:

• Up-to-daily updates to data.

• Plug and play – the data is simple and quick to implement as you don't need to pre-process it before you use it.

• Rich attribution ensures the data is straightforward to navigate and query for items of interest, for example, using the Building Use or Connectivity attribution.

• Simplified attribute naming helps make names easier to understand.

• Persistent unique identifiers with lifecycle information.

• Height data included.

• Land use classification (for example, residential accommodation) provided for the Building Part Feature Type to indicate the prominent use of the site which contains the building.

• National land use standards used to provide universal insights for human activity (NLUD classification and BS7666 national addressing classification).

• An Office for National Statistics (ONS) Government Statistical Service (GSS) code is provided for Building Part features within Lower Tier Local Authority areas to indicate which Lower Tier Local Authority boundary the feature lies within.

• Building Part features have a value provided for the Status attribute (i.e. 'Active', 'Derelict', 'Inactive', 'Under Construction' or 'Unknown') to indicate the state of the feature in relation to either its physical condition or the activity the feature is intended to support. This value is either inherent from the nature of the topographic feature or can be inherited from the Site the Building Part feature lies within. Individual Building Part features within a Site may not themselves be derelict, but the value provided for the Status attribute will reflect the general nature of the Site.

Supply mechanism

Summary

FAQs

Collection applications

The OS Building Features Collection allows you to:

• Ensure your buildings data is always completely up to date with up-to-daily updates.

• Perform powerful analytics, underpinned by unrivalled OS accuracy.

• Use enhanced change metadata to monitor and understand how the building landscape is changing.

• Determine whether buildings are residential or commercial by using the Building Use, Description or Address Count attributes. Alternatively, use the cross references to feature types in the OS NGD Address or OS NGD Land Use Themes.

Building Access Location Feature Type applications

The Building Access Location Feature Type allows you to:

• Identify vehicle and pedestrian access locations for buildings.

• Use detailed access point data to improve urban development projects.

• Determine precise access information for emergency response planning and deployment.

• Find quicker resolutions and potentially minimise the impact of incidents.

• Support covert policing operations by providing additional information for intelligence-gathering purposes.

• Enhance understanding and resilience planning for hazards, leading to more informed decision-making, better situational awareness and efficient management of various situations.

• Identify wheelchair-friendly access points for disabled users, promoting inclusivity and enhancing accessibility.

• Create better route planning for logistics and two-man delivery services.

• Recognise new developments based on accessibility for vehicles and pedestrians.

• Improve the planning and management of large-scale events.

• Aid in travel modelling and accessibility to services for the public.

An example of how this feature type can be visualised is shown in the image below:

Example visualisation showing the different types of access points within a football stadium for purposes of emergency response and evacuations.

Building Part Feature Type applications

The Building Part Feature Type allows you to:

• Quickly interpret building type (such as clock tower, multi-storey car park or archway) using the Description attribute.

• Create simple height models of buildings by using the embedded height attribution.

Building Feature Type applications

The Building Feature Type allows you to:

• Perform easy selection and analysis of individual buildings using new building footprint geometry.

• Quickly understand the building use (for example, Commercial Retail) and building connectivity (for example, standalone) using the Building Use and Connectivity attributes.

Examples of how these attributes can be visualised are shown in the images below:

Example showing the Building Use attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the Connectivity attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

• Perform easy data linkage both within and outside (to other OS NGD collections) the OS Building Features Collection using the provisioned cross reference tables.

• Quickly identify and select buildings of interest using integrated address count information.

• Determine the age of a building using the Building Age Period or Building Age Year attributes to determine the condition and potential maintenance costs. Identify the source of this information using the Building Age Third Party Provenance attribute.

• Identify the primary construction material for a building to develop an understanding of the building's energy performance (using the Construction Material attribute). Identify the source of this information using the Construction Material Third Party Provenance attribute.

• Use the Basement Presence and Basement Presence Self Contained attributes to check whether a building has a basement or basement flat to inform building safety standards plans and / or emergency response plans, to improve insurance underwriting and to detect insurance fraud. Identify the source of this information using the Basement Presence Third Party Provenance attribute.

• Quickly identify and select buildings of interest using the Building Description attribute. Examples of how these attributes can be visualised are shown in the images below:

Example showing the Building Age Period attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the Basement Presence attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the Construction Material attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the Building Description attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Number of floors attribution

The Number of Floors attribution in the Building Feature Type allows you to:

• Provide situational awareness for Emergency Services to ensure an appropriate response to incidents and to enable preparedness plans to be put in place.

• Identify taller buildings for Building Fire Risk Reviews.

• Identify and select buildings of interest due to buildings standards and regulation changes which could result in remedial action being required (for example, Post-Grenfell Disaster Report).

• Identify cases for tax benefits which are available to businesses who are building or doing renovations on buildings with a significant number of floors (HMRC).

• Potentially use the data as a proxy to indicate potential occupancy to aid service provision planning (for example, by the Utilities Sector).

• Use the data as a proxy for floor height to estimate pressures required by utility companies.

• Integrate the number of floors into 3D modelling and digital twin models.

An example of how the Number of Floors attribute can be visualised is shown in the image below:

Example showing the Number of Floors attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Roof enhancements attribution

The roof enhancements attribution in the Building Feature Type allows you to:

• Identify buildings suitable for solar panel installations by combining data on roof material, roof shape, roof aspect, and solar panel presence. This supports initiatives for sustainable energy and helps in achieving carbon neutrality goals.

• Model potential heat loss from buildings using integrated roof material and roof shape data. This is crucial for developing energy-efficient buildings and retrofitting existing structures to improve insulation.

• Assess the vulnerability of buildings to fire and flood risks.

• Create insights into the potential rebuild costs of a building in case of damage; this helps insurers in setting accurate premiums and managing risk.

• Predict when repairs and maintenance might be needed.

• Maintain an up-to-date view of roof materials for listed buildings, which is crucial for preservation efforts and compliance with regulations.

• Monitor the progress of government policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions; this data can also help in planning future initiatives and setting realistic targets.

• Identify areas that contribute to the urban heat island effect and implement measures to mitigate it.

Examples of how the roof enhancement attributes can be visualised are shown in the images below:

Example showing the Roof Aspect attribution of the Building Feature Type.

Example showing the primary roof material present on Building features. A background map is included for context.

Example showing solar panel presence on Building features. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the Green Roof attribution of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Example showing the primary form of roofs present on Building features. A background map is included for context.

Physical State attribution

The Physical State attribute in the Building Feature Type allows you to:

• Assess the pace and progress of construction projects from start through to completion (Developers).

• Conduct market analysis of fibre network targets (Telecoms companies).

• Identify derelict buildings with active gas or electricity meters to help prevent safety hazards, reduce financial losses and ensure accurate billing (Utility companies).

• Conduct insurance risk assessments for buildings based on their physical state (Insurance companies).

• Conduct risk planning and situational awareness (Emergency Services).

• Quickly and easily identity derelict buildings (supporting both Local Authorities' remit on bringing derelict buildings back into use and Government's target for new homes).

Examples of how the Physical State attribute can be visualised are shown in the images below:

Example showing the Physical State attribute of the Building Feature Type. A background map is included for context.

Visualisation showing the three building lifecycle values for the Physical State attribute of the Building Feature Type: Under Construction, Built and Derelict.