Buildings, floors and spaces

A site is one address. A building is one physical structure on that site. A site may have one (a typical block of flats) or several (a development with three blocks, or a mixed-use site with a residential block and a commercial unit).

Buildings contain floors. Floors contain spaces, hallways, plant rooms, gardens, parking bays, communal lounges. This hierarchy matters most in Facilities Management for asset tracking, and in Building Safety for the golden thread.

When buildings, floors and spaces matter

• A block of flats with five storeys is one building with five floors.
• A development with two blocks side by side is one site with two buildings.
• A mixed-use site with a residential block over a commercial unit is one site with two buildings (or one building with multiple floors classified separately, depending on how you treat the boundary).
• A commercial estate with twelve identical units is one site with twelve buildings.

There is no single right answer, model the physical structure as it actually is. PropLink's queries do not depend on the structure beyond the relationships between records.

Buildings

A building is one physical structure. Each one has:

• A name or reference (often Block A, Block B).
• A height in metres: used to determine HRB eligibility.
• A number of storeys.
• An optional build year.
• A construction type (concrete, timber frame, masonry, steel), used for FM and insurance.
• An optional HRB flag: used independently of the site's HRB flag for mixed estates with one HRB building among several non-HRB ones.

Create a building

1. Open Site → Buildings → Add building.
2. Enter the name, height, number of storeys.
3. Tick Is HRB if this building qualifies under the Building Safety Act.
4. Save.

Floors

A floor is one level of a building. Floors carry:

• A name or number (Ground, 1, 2, Roof).
• An order (used to render floor lists in the right sequence).
• Optionally a floor plan image.

Add a floor

1. Open Building → Floors → Add floor.
2. Enter the name and order.
3. Upload a floor plan if you have one.
4. Save.

Floors are auto-created when you set a Floor number on a unit. You only need to add them manually if you want to attach metadata or a plan.

Spaces

A space is a room or area on a floor. Spaces are used for:

• Asset locations: the FM asset register attaches each asset to a space.
• Issue locations: when a resident logs an issue, they can pinpoint the space.
• Compliance items: fire doors, alarm panels and emergency lighting are tracked at the space level.
• Cleaning rotations: service agreements can target specific spaces.

A space has a name, a type (hallway, plant room, garden, parking bay, communal lounge, lift lobby, refuse store, other) and optional square metres.

Add a space

1. Open Floor → Spaces → Add space.
2. Enter the name, choose a type.
3. Save.

Floor plans

PropLink can display floor plans alongside the structural hierarchy.

• 2D floor plans: uploaded as image files (PNG, JPG). They appear on the floor page and on unit detail pages.
• 3D floor plans (Beta), uploaded as GLB or USDZ. Currently used for showcase sites and assessor walkthroughs.

Reorganising the structure

You can:

• Rename any building, floor or space.
• Reorder floors (drag and drop on the building page).
• Move a space to a different floor.
• Move a unit to a different floor (changes the unit's floor_number).
• Archive a building, floor or space if it is no longer in use.