Cleanlink News February 2 2010
BOMA Launches New Office Measurement Standard
A new office measurement standard provides improvements and changes to the Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, the last office measurement standard from the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, released in 1996.
Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement and Calculating Rentable Area (2010)
adds new methodologies, clarifies gray areas and has an 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.
• More options — Users can choose either the new Method B or the
measurement methodology of the 1996 standard, referred to as “Legacy
Method A.”
8 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.
• 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.
