Current Standards

BOMA International currently has released 4 Standards, plus previous versions of the Office Standard still in widespread use of course. It will take some time for the new 2010 Standards to be adopted, and so of course we will continue to support all versions as time goes on.

In this section we will outline each of the Standards currently published, and their intended application. Links are provided to the BOMA site where copies may be ordered as required.

Office Buildings – multi-tenant

1. Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement and Calculating Rentable Area (2010)

BOMA International has now released the latest version of the office standard. This version signifies a major revision, including a new name Office Buildings: Methods of Measurement and Calculating Rentable Area (2010). The objective of the office standard is to provide a uniform basis for measuring rentable area in both existing and new office buildings by taking a building-wide approach to floor area measurement. It provides a methodology for measuring both occupant space as well as the space that benefits all occupants.

New features of the 2010 Office Standard include:

Single Load Factor Method. A new calculation applied to the occupant area of each floor to determine the rentable area and is the same for all floor levels of a building. This method is referred to as “Method B.” This method was not permitted in the 1996 version.
Offers the option of choosing either the new Method B or the measurement methodology of the 1996 standard, referred, to as “Legacy Method A.”
Regional leasing practices, particularly for tropical climates, are included in the new standard to allow for inclusion of exterior circulation corridors in Rentable, in some situations.
Allows for the separation of ‘occupant storage’, typically in basement areas, so as not to affect the load factor calculations
Allows for the identification and disclosure of areas such as restricted headroom areas, connectors, vault space (eg below sidewalks), and unclassified mezzanine space
New interactive, downloadable format includes hyperlinks throughout the document text, expanded definitions and 45 full-color illustrations.

It is important to understand that this new 2010 Office Standard is for both single-tenant and multi-tenant office buildings. However, for single-tenant buildings, BOMA also provides the Gross Areas Standard (see below), allowing leases to be based on Exterior Gross Area rather than Rentable.

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2. Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings (formerly BOMA/ANSI Z65.1) 1996

In 1996, the Standard underwent a major revision, in an attempt to overcome some serious flaws and shortcomings in the 1980/89 version. The major change introduced in 1996 is that the Standard became a building-wide method of measurement, as opposed to previous versions which were more of a floor-by-floor method. Now, spaces that clearly benefit all building occupants can be measured and allocated to all, no matter what floor they occupy, on a pro-rata basis.

Surveys undertaken by BOMA International in 1992 indicated that though the BOMA 1980 Standard was commonly used as a means of measuring office space, it was not being universally applied on a floor-by-floor basis. Buildings built in the 1980’s began including such areas as spacious ground-floor lobbies, health clubs and exercise facilities, daycare centres, conference rooms, as well as service areas such as refuse areas, loading docks, and main electrical rooms. Often, these areas were not being included in a building’s total rentable area, and most certainly were not being allocated fairly to building occupants who used these facilities.

Additionally, it was felt many of the diagrams and explanations in the 1980 version needed to be clarified and expanded upon, as there were many unanswered questions pertaining to the old Standard.

In order to meet its goals of clarification, as well as implementation of the concept of a building-wide method of measurement, the 1996 Standard introduced a variety of new definitions, such as Floor Usable Area, Floor Rentable Area, Floor Common Area, and Building Common Area. As well, a format was laid out for the Global Summary of Areas, which lends itself well to a spreadsheet implementation for the many intermediate calculations now required to calculate final Rentable areas of a building.

Obviously the 1996 Standards will continue to be followed for some time yet, but it is recommended that building owners move to the new 2010 Standard as soon as possible.

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Single-Tenant Buildings

Gross Areas of A Building: Methods Of Measurement (2009)

In 2009 BOMA released the ‘2009 Gross Areas of a Building: Methods of Measurement‘ Standard. This is in compliance with the BOMA/IFMA Unified Approach, and is intended to deal with single-tenant buildings, with definitions of ‘Exterior Gross Area’ to replace previous definitions of Gross Building Area.

This Standard details procedures for measuring construction gross area and exterior gross area of buildings and provides unequivocal, direct measure of the physical size of a building. Both methods can be applied to new and existing buildings, single or multiple stories, owner-occupied or leased, and for all types of occupancies and uses. The construction gross area includes the area defined as exterior gross area as well as other areas that have a structural floor, or are covered by a roof or canopy, that are typically unenclosed but within the building perimeter. The exterior gross area is the total floor area contained within the measure line-generally the outside surface of the exterior enclosure of building-including structured parking. The 30-page standard contains 37 illustrations and 19 definitions.
For leasing purposes, the EGA would be the standard to follow, but only in a single-tenant building.

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Industrial and Retail Buildings – multi-tenant

1. Industrial Floor Measurement Standard 2004

In 2004, BOMA released the BOMA/SIOR Standard Methods for Measuring Floor Area in Industrial Buildings Standard. Focused primarily at industrial buildings, whether single or multi-tenant, it also applies to any building that is more than 50% non-office (including retail).

With the subsequent release of the Gross Areas Standard in 2009, it is recommended that for single-tenant buildings of any type, that Standard be used to determine the Exterior Gross Area. For multi-tenant Industrial or Retail buildings, the 2004 Industrial Standard would be appropriate.