by Rebecca Walker — February 3, 2010—The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International has released Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement and Calculating Rentable Area (2010), a new measurement standard that it says will help property professionals easily and accurately measure office buildings.
The new office measurement standard provides important improvements and changes to the Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, the last office measurement standard from BOMA, which was released in 1996. The new publication has several key enhancements that add new methodologies, clarify gray areas and make it more user-friendly via a new interactive downloadable format.
The new features of the standard include:
- A new Single Load Factor Method. This new calculation, “Method B,” applies to the occupant area of each floor to determine the rentable area and is the same for all floors of a building, which will greatly simplify leasing calculations for property managers.
- More options. Users can choose either the new Method B or the measurement methodology of the 1996 standard, referred to as “Legacy Method A.”
- Regional leasing practices. A new clause in the standard states that if external corridors are the only way tenants can access their space, property managers can include them as building common areas and therefore include them in their common area maintenance allocations. This will be advantageous for buildings in warm climates.
- Measurement clarity. The standard introduces new terms to simplify and clarify the process of measurement, including a step-by-step sequence that includes boundary line definitions. Users will be able to zoom in on full color illustrations to get a closer look at how classes of space transition.
The BOMA suite of measurement standards also includes Gross Areas of a Building: Methods of Measurement and Industrial Floor Measurement Standard. Later this year, BOMA will release two more standards, one for use in multi-residential buildings and one for retail spaces.
For more information on BOMA’s new office measurement standard, see the Web site.
