New York City's Department of Buildings has published new design options for sidewalk sheds, the green-painted scaffolding structures that have covered city sidewalks for decades under Local Law 11 facade-safety rules.
The new designs, created with the architecture firm Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU), move away from the standard pipe-frame shed toward lighter structures with better lighting, sightlines, and in some versions, wood or alternative framing instead of steel pipe. The redesign effort was first reported by Building Design + Construction and 6sqft, both covering the rollout this week.
DOB's Open Data portal lists tens of thousands of active sidewalk shed permits citywide at any given time — sheds tied to facade inspection work (FISP, formerly Local Law 11), new construction, and demolition. The agency's own shed-design initiative, called "Get Sheds Down," has been pushing contractors and building owners toward shorter permit durations and better-looking structures since 2023.
For a GC or facade contractor, this is not cosmetic. If DOB moves to formally adopt new shed standards — through a rule change or revised Building Code reference standard — that changes what a contractor has to buy, rent, or build when a shed goes up, and it can affect bid pricing on every facade and demolition job that requires one. The agency has not yet announced an adoption timeline or a compliance deadline tied to the new PAU designs.
DOB's existing sidewalk shed program already carries real exposure for contractors and owners: sheds up longer than code permits draw violations, and this paper has reported DOB hearing dockets where sidewalk shed defaults piled up against GCs and owners who let a shed sit past its permit term.