Swedish Ramp Gradients: Accessible Routes and the 1:12 Limit

Transitional projects: check the older-rule eligibility note.

The requirement

An accessible ramp to a dwelling entrance can be no steeper than 1:12 (BFS 2024:12, Kap 2 §4). This rule also covers ramps required for level changes in internal routes under §2. A level change over 1 m requires a lift under that section.

Check both access and safety rules. They can apply to the same ramp.

BFS 2024:12 covers the accessible ramp. This is the normal case: a ramp that makes a dwelling’s entrance accessible. Kap 2 §4 caps the gradient at 1:12. The old BBR fixed the same limit, and the 2025 reform carried it forward. Few figures got that treatment. One- and two-family houses get an easier path (Kap 2 §1). It is enough that an accessible route can be arranged on the plot later. The ramp does not have to be built on day one.

BFS 2024:9 covers the general ramp. An internal or minor ramp outside the accessible route falls under Kap 2 §5. That is the same clause that governs a stair. It says people must be able to move safely. It attaches no gradient figure.

BFS 2024:9 section 5 sets a safe-use duty. It does not remove the access rules that may apply under BFS 2024:12. Check both before sizing the route.

What else is fixed, and what isn’t

• Landing: no fixed length. BFS 2024:12, Kap 2 §4 asks for a landing (vilplan) that works in use. At minimum, a helper must be able to move a wheelchair on it. It is not a millimetre figure.
• Handrail: needed, height not fixed. A ramp needs a handrail on both sides. One side is enough if a second is not needed for the ramp’s use and design. The rule is BFS 2024:9, Kap 2 §§12–13, the same as for a stair. No height is given.
• Width: no fixed figure. Neither BFS 2024:9 nor BFS 2024:12 states a minimum ramp width. Only a general sizing clause applies, and it holds no number.
• Headroom: 2.00 m, fixed. BFS 2024:9, Kap 2 §25 gives a ramp the same figure and clause as a stair. A ramp counts as a “kommunikationsutrymme”, a space people move through.
• Edge protection: needed, height not fixed. BFS 2024:9, Kap 2 §10 requires protection against rolling off. It stops a wheelchair or walking aid rolling off. No fixed height is given for it.

Work it out on site

You are building the BFS 2024:12 accessible route to a new dwelling’s front door. The threshold sits 300 mm above the path. How long must the ramp be at the steepest allowed gradient?

1. Apply the 1:12 limit. Run = rise × 12 = 300 × 12 = 3600 mm (3.6 m). That is the steepest the rule allows.
2. Think about going gentler. 1:12 is a maximum, not a target. A flatter run is easier to use. At 1:15, the same 300 mm rise needs 300 × 15 = 4500 mm (4.5 m).
3. Size the landing to work. BFS 2024:12 gives no fixed landing length. Make it big enough for a helper to move a wheelchair, at both the top and the bottom of the run.

That is a worked example, not a rule beyond the 1:12 ceiling. Swap in your own rise. The slope calculator does the run-length maths for you.

Do it in 5 seconds

Related

• Part of the Swedish building regulations hub. It explains why 1 July 2025 changed so much, and what survived.
• Building the stairs that ramp might replace? See Swedish stair & guard rules.

Sources

• BFS 2024:12 — Boverkets föreskrifter om byggnaders tillgänglighet och användbarhet, Kap 2 §§1, 4 (accessible-ramp gradient and landing). Read it at boverket.se.
• BFS 2024:9 — Boverkets föreskrifter om säkerhet vid användning av byggnader, Kap 2 §5 (general ramp, performance only), Kap 2 §10 (edge protection), Kap 2 §§12–13 (handrail) and Kap 2 §25 (headroom). Read it at boverket.se.

Read this first. These figures reflect BFS 2024:9 and BFS 2024:12, both in force since 1 July 2025 — and, since the one-year transition window for old BBR expired 1 July 2026, the basis for new ramp cases outside the transitional provisions. The 1:12 accessible-ramp gradient is genuinely unchanged from the old BBR; the other old BBR ramp figures (landing length, width, edge-protection height) were not carried forward, and this page doesn’t print them as current. These regulations contain binding duties. Always confirm the current, in-force text on boverket.se before you build to it.