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How many toilets does an event need? UK ratios, worked out

How many toilets an event needs in the UK depends on three things: how long the gates are open, whether alcohol and food are sold, and whether people camp. Council guidance such as Aberdeen's and Hastings' starts at one toilet per 100 women and one per 500 men, plus a urinal per 150 men, for a short event. It tightens to one per 75 women and one per 400 men, plus a urinal per 100 men, for six hours or more with bars and food. Some councils print looser short-event figures, such as Pembrokeshire's one per 150 women. None of these ratios is law. They are industry and council figures, so show your Safety Advisory Group (SAG) and licensing authority how you got from your attendance to your order.

How many toilets for an event: the ratios in use

Aberdeen City Council and Hastings Borough Council each publish a table of event toilet ratios. Aberdeen credits its table to the Purple Guide; Hastings gives no source for its table. Because the table rests on the Purple Guide, which is copyrighted, it is not reproduced here: read it in Aberdeen's guidance or on Hastings' page. How it works:

Check the dates. Aberdeen's guidance file dates from April 2019, while the Purple Guide's Sanitation chapter is dated 26 January 2026 and its current table is behind a login, so confirm the latest figures with your SAG or a subscriber copy. The Guide's free preview does not use gate hours. For what it calls a typical local event, it gives one female toilet per 100 attendees and one male toilet per 500, plus a urinal per 150.

Three rules sit behind every figure. Count per woman and per man, not per head of the whole crowd: HSG195 and the council tables are written that way, though the Purple Guide preview says per attendee. Where you do not know the split, assume 50:50 (HSG195 paragraph 515; Aberdeen says the Purple Guide recommends it). Urinals are in addition to the men's toilets. And always round up: 33.3 toilets is 34.

Where the figures come from, and what they are not

The Purple Guide (Events Industry Forum) is industry guidance, sold by subscription. Its full Sanitation chapter is behind a login and is not quoted here, and the council table that credits it is linked rather than reproduced. This guide gives the free preview's figures, the one council tier its worked example uses, and HSE's own table. Our guide to the Purple Guide covers the rest of it and how much weight it carries.

HSG195, The Event Safety Guide is HSE's own guidance, now withdrawn: HSE's event-safety FAQ, as archived in 2015, says the Purple Guide replaced it. Its table, offered as a general guideline for a music event, gives 1 per 100 women, 1 per 500 men and a urinal per 150 men for gates open 6 hours or more, and 1 per 120 women, 1 per 600 men and a urinal per 175 men for less than 6 hours. So Aberdeen's and Hastings' short-event tier is HSG195's long-event row. Paragraph 518 warns that the figures may be too high for short, off-peak events such as country fairs and garden parties, and too low where fluid consumption is high or people camp. Pembrokeshire County Council prints the same table with 1 per 150 women for the shorter event, and refers readers to BS 6465-1:2006 and the Purple Guide.

The law on public toilets is thinner than many organisers expect. Aberdeen's guidance says there is no legal requirement to provide toilets for people who are not employees, and makes enough toilets a condition of using council land instead. HSG195 said that for licensed events, numbers and locations should be agreed with the local authority. So the requirement usually arrives as a licence condition, a land-hire condition or a SAG recommendation. In England and Wales the council can also serve a notice under section 20 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 requiring sanitary appliances, of stated kinds and numbers, at a place used for entertainment, exhibitions or sporting events.

Accessible provision is different. Toilets you provide for the public are part of a service to the public, and in Great Britain section 29 of the Equality Act 2010 puts service providers under a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. Aberdeen's guidance calls accessible facilities a legal requirement. This is a summary, not legal advice. Toilets for your crew are covered below.

What changes the number

HSG195 paragraph 516 lists what to weigh, from intervals in the programme and a no-readmission fence to the weather and people who take longer. Four inputs move the order most:

Accessible toilets and Changing Places

The Purple Guide's free preview asks for at least one dedicated accessible toilet. HSG195 is more useful for sizing: paragraph 526 relates provision to the number of disabled people you expect and suggests one toilet with hand-washing per 75. Access-scheme and carer-ticket requests are your best evidence for it. Councils may print their own figures: Hastings lists one disabled-access unit per 40, 45 or 50 mixed use by tier, without saying 40 of what, so ask the council how it applies them.

Changing Places toilets are designed for people with complex and multiple impairments who may need up to two assistants. They come from building-regulations guidance: Approved Document M (England), as amended from 1 January 2021, asks for one in assembly, recreation and entertainment buildings for 350 or more people, and on sites of smaller such buildings with a capacity of 2,000 or more. Applying that to a field is an analogy, not a requirement. The Scottish Government's planning guide (November 2022) says outdoor events such as festivals, fairs and shows should consider a mobile or modular unit.

Hand-washing

HSG195 paragraph 519: one hand-wash unit per five toilets where possible, never fewer than one per ten, with hand-drying. The Purple Guide preview accepts hand-wash or gel; Aberdeen notes gel is acceptable where hands are not visibly dirty but less effective than warm running water. Food handlers need their own toilets with hot and cold hand-washing (HSG195 paragraph 531).

Crew welfare during the build and derig

Crew are at work, so their toilets are a legal duty, not a recommendation. HSE says CDM 2015 applies to building, fitting out and taking down temporary structures for live events, so much of a build and derig is construction work. For that work, CDM 2015 Schedule 2 requires suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences and washing facilities at readily accessible places. Other work in Great Britain falls under regulation 20 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Those Regulations do not apply where the only activity is construction work (regulation 3(1)(b)), and on temporary work sites regulation 20 applies so far as is reasonably practicable (regulation 3(3)).

Neither sets a number. HSE's construction welfare page points to Table 1 of L24, the Approved Code of Practice to the Workplace Regulations, as a guide, counted at the most people at work at any one time:

For portable chemical toilets, the same HSE page cites BS 6465-1:2006: one per seven people working a 40-hour week, allowing for how often they are emptied. Where the public share crew toilets, L24 paragraph 202 says to add more so workers are not kept waiting. HSG195 paragraph 531 suggests putting them near the work: behind the stage, by the mixer tower, near catering and first aid. Aberdeen wants them from the start of work on site until the site is vacated after the derig, when the public units may be long gone.

Worked example: a 5,000-person day festival

A one-day festival: 5,000 attendees, gates open 10 hours, bars and food throughout, no camping, gender split unknown. Crew peak at 60 during the build.

Change one input and the order moves:

At 5,000 people the site is also over the 2,000 figure Approved Document M uses for multi-building sites, so a mobile Changing Places unit is worth raising with your SAG. Our guide to event capacity and occupant density covers the attendance figure these sums start from.

Placing them on the site plan

HSG195 paragraph 509 asks for toilets spread around the venue rather than in one block, with some outside the fenced arena: car parks, box-office queues, campsites. Servicing vehicles need a route in, perhaps temporary roadway. Paragraph 507 asks for toilets that are visible, lit and signed, and reports a recommended 100 lux for toilet areas and 200 lux for wheelchair-accessible ones. Self-contained units take only so many uses before emptying (paragraph 512), so agree servicing with the supplier and give them a plan showing where the units go (paragraph 532).

Using an event toilet calculator

A calculator is only as good as its questions. Check that it counts per woman and per man, switches tier at six hours and for alcohol, adds urinals on top, treats a campsite as separate provision, sizes crew from the headcount at work, and says where each figure comes from.

Airship Event Designer, the Events mode of Airship Site Designer, does most of this in its Attendance and demand dialog, where every line shows its basis and source (method). Its gaps: the split is fixed at 50:50, and campsite urinals and campsite hand-wash are not yet sized, so do those by hand. Its one-per-20 accessible figure is our placement guide, not a published ratio, and is labelled so. The event checks then count what you place, judge crew toilets for the build and derig separately, and warn when the walk from the arena to the toilets passes 250 m, our own comfort length rather than a published one. Event Designer is in beta on Pro and above, switched on per workspace on request; see what it does.

Questions organisers ask

How many toilets do I need for 1,000 people?

On the council tiers at 50:50, gates under six hours: 5 women's toilets, 1 men's toilet and 4 urinals. Six hours or more with a bar and food: 7 women's, 2 men's and 5 urinals.

What is the Purple Guide toilet ratio?

Its free preview gives one female toilet per 100 attendees and one male toilet per 500, plus a urinal per 150, for a typical local event; HSG195 and councils such as Aberdeen count per woman and per man. Longer and alcohol tiers come from council reproductions such as Aberdeen's (2019); the current chapter (January 2026) is behind a login.

Is it a legal requirement to provide toilets at an event?

For workers, yes, in Great Britain: under CDM 2015 for construction work such as the build and derig, and the Workplace Regulations 1992 otherwise. For the public it usually comes through a licence, land-use condition or council notice, and the Equality Act 2010 requires reasonable adjustments for disabled visitors. Not legal advice.

Do urinals count towards the men's toilets?

No. HSG195 (HSE's withdrawn Event Safety Guide) and the council tables give men's toilets plus urinals, so order both.

How many hand-wash units does an event need?

One per five toilets where possible, never fewer than one per ten (HSG195 paragraph 519, HSE's withdrawn Event Safety Guide); Aberdeen also asks for one per five.

How many accessible toilets does an event need?

At least one (Purple Guide preview). HSG195, HSE's withdrawn Event Safety Guide, suggested one with hand-washing per 75 disabled people expected. A mobile Changing Places unit is worth considering too.

Sources

Last reviewed 20 October 2026. These ratios are a starting point for your event management plan; your SAG, licensing authority and toilet supplier settle the final order.

Plan your next event site with Airship Event Designer

Event Designer, the Events mode of Airship Site Designer, sizes the event from the attendance, lays out the site and checks it against UK event guidance, with every figure showing its source. In beta on Pro and above, switched on per account. Its findings are inputs to your event safety plan: the Safety Advisory Group, the licensing authority and the duty-holders decide.

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How Event Designer sizes, lays out and checks an event site, and the source behind every figure: read the Events help.