Current Standards
BOMA International currently has released 6 Standards, plus previous versions of the Office Standard still in widespread use of course. 2010 has seen widespread adoption of the new Standards, and it is our recommendation to imlement the new Standards where possible.
LASERTECH Floorplans has been implementing the Standards since our beginnings in 1998, and was the first appointed Official and Exclusive Interpreter of the BOMA Standards in 2004. We served in that role through 2010, and even though we no longer function as an Official Interpreter, we continue to actively promote the use of the Standards as the fairest and most accurate way to calculate Rentable area.
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.
Probably the most confusing part of all the new BOMA Standards now available is ‘which one do I need??’. Click here for an excerpt from the recently released 2011 Mixed Use Standard, which lists all types of buildings and properties and recommends which Standard(s) to use.
Office Buildings – single or multi-tenant
1. Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1 – 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: Standard Methods of Measurement (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, where a building owner wishes to lease based on RENTABLE area. 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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1A. 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
2. Gross Areas of A Building: Standard Methods Of Measurement (ANSI/BOMA Z65.3 – 2009)
In 2009 BOMA released the ‘Gross Areas of a Building: Standard Methods of Measurement (2009)’ 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 all types 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. Note however it is not required to follow lease based on EGA for a single tenant building, it is optional and BOMA makes no recommendation as to which Standard to use in this situation.
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Industrial Buildings – multi-tenant
3. Industrial Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement (ANSI/BOMA Z65.2 – 2009)
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). It was re-released in 2009, with the ANSI Z65.2 certification made official, but otherwise unchanged from 2004.
Note that this Standard is the only Standard that has not been updated to be in accordance with the BOMA/IFMA Unified Approach. However, this is in progress, and you can expect a new Industrial Standard shortly, which will also fit in with the new 2011 Mixed Use Standard then.
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Retail Buildings
4. Retail Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement (ANSI/BOMA Z65.5 – 2010)
In 2010, BOMA released the Retail Standard Methods of Measurement. Focused on retail buildings only, it provides a methodology to compute the Gross Leasable Area for retail suites and complexes. Load factors are not computed for retail buildings, but all common areas and non-leasable areas in a retail building are accounted for.
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Multi-Unit Residential Buildings
5. Multi-Unit Residential Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement (ANSI/BOMA Z65.4 – 2010)
In 2010, BOMA released the Multi-unit Residential Standard Methods of Measurement (2010). Focused on multi-unit residential buildings only, it provides a methodology to compute both the Gross and Net areas of such complexes and units.
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Mixed Use Buildings
6. Mixed Use Properties: Standard Methods of Measurement (2011) (ANSI certification pending)
In 2011, BOMA released the Mixed Use Properties Standard Methods of Measurement (2011). It specifically addresses properties with any or all of office, retail, multi-unit residential, industrial and parking components, and defines a methodology for the proper allocation of mixed use common areas (MUCA). This is most importance where there is an Office or industrial component, as these types of space compute load factors and need to have a way to include shared common areas with other component uses.
This Standard refers to the other Standards above for each individual component.
