BOMA OFFICE STANDARD 2010

A portion of a building that adds a convenience for the occupants of a floor or building and that is not used exclusively by any one occupant.

The BOMA publication of the 2010 Office Standard (ANSI/BOMA Z65-1-2010) "Office Buildings: Standard Methods of Measurement". This is the latest measurement standard publication for office buildings which first published in 1915.

The minimum path on a multi-occupant floor necessary for access to and egress from occupant areas, access stairs, escalators and elevators, restrooms, janitor’s closets and water coolers, required areas of refuge, life safety equipment (such as fire hose cabinets and fire extinguishers), and building service and amenity areas (such as building lobbies, building conference rooms, sky lobbies, and the like). Note that base building circulation may differ from actual corridors.

A contiguous and undivided shelter comprising a partially or totally enclosed space, erected by means of a planned process of forming and combining materials.

A portion of a building that adds a convenience for all occupants of a building and that is not used exclusively by any one occupant. Examples include the following areas offered for shared use by all occupants of a building:

1. Building conference rooms
2. Lounges or vending areas
3. Food services facilities
4. Health or fitness center
5. Daycare facilities
6. Locker or shower facilities

The sum of building service areas and building amenity areas on a floor level.

A portion of a building that provides services that enables occupants to work in the building. These areas include, but are not limited to the following areas that serve the entire building:

• Main and auxiliary lobbies.
• Building corridors, including egress corridors.
• Fully enclosed mechanical or equipment rooms.
• Building electrical rooms.
• Fire control rooms.
• Enclosed loading docks.
• Building restrooms & janitorial closets.
• Storage for building supplies and equipment.
• Building offices, including building staff locker and shower areas.

The lesser of the market load factor and the load factor A (if using Method A) or the load factor B (if using Method B) on each floor level of a building.

The product of the capped load factor and the occupant area on each floor level of a building.

A line connecting points that are equidistant between both base-building finished surfaces of a wall, not taking into account special finishes for adjacent occupants or furring or chases to accommodate pipes, wiring or equipment that serve adjacent occupants.

Portion of a building complex or campus that provides services that enables occupants to work in one or more buildings within the complex or campus. These areas may include but are not limited to loading docks, engineer’s office, central mechanical and electrical plants (central plant), etc.

A covered or enclosed bridge, walkway, tunnel or other similar connecting element between two separate buildings.

A recess in a wall, containing a door that provides access to or egress from an occupant area, amenity area, or service area, for the purpose of allowing the door to swing in the direction of egress without obstructing circulation in the adjacent area.

A limit up to which an occupant has the right to build an exterior enclosure at a public pedestrian thoroughfare, as established by a contract, an agreement or a statutory constraint, or by a physical building element such as a change in floor elevation, a fascia, or a column face.

A portion of occupant area that is located outside the physical enclosing walls of an occupant’s premises and between it and the base building circulation (in Method B) or a multi-occupant corridor (in Method A).(Also see Corridor Extension)

The wall, roof or soffit that constitutes the envelope necessary to enclose a building.

Unenclosed pedestrian circulation that functions as a multi-occupant corridor, only when there are no pedestrian corridors within the exterior enclosure that provide access to and egress from occupant suites on a floor level or portion (such as a wing) thereof.

The face of a wall, window, ceiling or floor that is provided as part of the base building for the general use of occupants, excluding the thickness of any special surfacing materials applied to meet the particular needs of specific occupants.

A normally horizontal, load bearing structure and constituting the bottom surface of each floor level (story) in a building.

Portion of a floor that adds a convenience for all occupants of the floor and that is not used exclusively by any one occupant.

The areas which are shared by and apportioned to all tenants on a particular floor. May include the elevator lobby, common corridors, restrooms, mechanical and electrical rooms, and floor service areas.

A floor opening in excess of (1)square foot (0.1 square meter) that serves vertical building systems or vertical occupant circulation functions. Floor penetrations include stairs, elevators shafts, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ventilation ducts and their enclosing walls. Floor openings between two or more floors that are removed or controlled exclusively by a single occupant are included in the occupant area of that occupant and referred to as Occupant Voids. Occupant Voids may include but are not limited to private stairs, private elevators, dumbwaiters, exhaust shafts, etc.

(Method A only) A ratio, the numerator of which is the preliminary floor area of a floor, and the denominator of which is the usable area of that floor, that distributes floor service areas to the occupants on a floor on a proportional basis.

(Method A only) the sum of floor service area and floor amenity area of a given floor level.

Portion of a specific floor that provides services that enable occupants to work on that floor. Examples of floor service areas include the following areas that primarily service only the floor upon which they are located; Restrooms, Janitorial closets. Electrical and telephone closets, Mechanical rooms. On an upper level multi-occupant floor, the elevator lobby and the multi-occupant corridor (Method A only). On an entry level floor, the public corridor (if any) in addition to building service area providing access and egress for multiple occupants (Method A only). In Method B, the elevator lobby and multi-occupant corridor areas are called base building circulation and extended circulation.

(Method B only) a ratio, the numerator of which is the rentable area of a floor level and the denominator of which is the full floor occupant area of the floor level.

(Method B only) the sum of the areas of base building circulation of a floor level and the occupant area of that floor level.

The area, measured in a horizontal plane, of a floor level of a building that is circumscribed by the (BOMA IGA) boundary, without deductions for columns or projections necessary to the building.

A line that constitutes the perimeter of the Interior Gross Area (IGA) of a floor level. It determines the value of the interior gross area of a floor level and is located at the innermost occurrence of any of the following IGA boundary conditions:

• Vertical exterior enclosure utilizes the concept of dominant portion to establish the IGA boundary for this condition.
• Public pedestrian thoroughfare replaces the concept of ground level street frontage in the previous standard. The IGA boundary is determined by applying the concepts of exterior enclosure and enclosure limit.
• External circulation is a common condition in temperate climates where the primary circulation for the building occurs outside the exterior enclosure. When this condition exists the IGA boundary is determined as follows:

 At above-grade level, the edge of the walking surface, limited to the width required for access to and egress from occupant suites, typically five to six feet.

At grade level, a vertical projection of the edge floor level or roof above, and/or limited to the width required for access to and egress from occupant suites, typically five to six feet.

• Non-vertical exterior enclosures is a condition that occurs for either the entire exterior enclosures or a segment of the exterior enclosures between floors. When encountered, the IGA boundary is located at the intersection where the finished surface of the floor meets the inside finished surface of the exterior enclosure.
• No dominant portion occurs when the exterior enclosures have three or more finished surfaces, none of which constitute 50% or more of the finished floor-to-ceiling dimension. The IGA boundary is located at the intersection where the finished surface of the floor meets the inside finished surface of the exterior enclosure.
• Unprotected exterior opening most frequently occurs at a vehicle entry point like a loading dock. The IGA boundary is located as the outermost horizontal line of (a) a line connecting the outermost surfaces of the exterior faces of the exterior building columns or (b) a line across the opening that connects the outside face of the adjacent exterior enclosure.
• IGA adjacent to a void with a full or partial wall. Since a void is not part of the interior gross area and occurs inside the exterior enclosures the separation might not require a full enclosure. However, the IGA boundary should be determined using the similar conditions used for exterior enclosures, namely condition ID #1, #4, and #5.
• IGA adjacent to a void without a wall or enclosure creates an IGA boundary at the edge of the floor surface between the void and the interior gross area.
• Ownership change inside the building or connector (except at vault space) forms its IGA boundary at the property line that establishes the change in ownership. Vault space is excluded from this condition, since utility and similar vaults typically occur on public property and are an essential part of the building. Ownership changes where a lease or license combines rights of use for the benefit of the building are also excluded.

The area, measured in a horizontal plane, of a floor level of a building that is circumscribed by the IGA boundary, without deductions for columns or projections necessary to the building.

The area of load bearing surfaces located above or below occupied building floors that is not available for general occupancy often due to inadequate clear headroom or lack of provisions for egress, and containing building structure or services predominantly serving adjacent floors or to provide access to such systems.

(Method A only) the product of the R/U ratio of a particular floor of level of a building and the R/O ratio of the building.

(Method B only) a ratio, the numerator of which is the building total preliminary floor area and the denominator of which is the building total occupant area.

A load factor established at the sole discretion of the ownership of a building.

A floor structure within the exterior walls of a building and between two floors, capable of supporting personnel, equipment, storage or manufacturing. The area of a mezzanine can be limited by codes in certain occupancies to a fraction (like 1/3) of the area of the floor immediately below.

A corridor on a multi-occupant floor that provides required egress for all occupants on the floor as well as access to elevators, fire stairs, refuge areas, restrooms and public areas on the floor, such as building lobbies on an entry level of a building.

One who has certain legal rights to, or legal control over, the premises occupied.

(Method A only) the result of multiplying the occupant areas on a floor by the R/U ratio.

A portion of a building where an occupant normally houses personnel, equipment, fixtures, furniture, supplies, goods or merchandise.

Space that is usable by occupants only for storage because of its location and/or because the levels of finish, lighting, power and HVAC are unsuitable for use as office space, and is accounted for separately from the other rentable areas of the building.

A floor opening between two or more adjacent floors created by removal of floor area by or for the occupant that would otherwise be included in the occupant area of the floor level.

An enclosed, structured floor area used for transient storage of motor vehicles, including associated circulation and building services (such as exhaust fans and ducts that serve the parking area), but not including loading docks, sally ports and building service areas, such as enclosed auxiliary lobbies used to enter a building from parking areas.

The result of subtracting the areas of the major vertical penetrations, parking and occupant storage on a floor level from the interior gross area of that floor level.

A condition where the elevation of a floor on the interior of the perimeter of a side of a building is approximately the same as the elevation of an unenclosed public walking surface (such as a sidewalk) on the exterior side of the same side of the building, and significant public pedestrian traffic normally occurs along such exterior walking surface.

(BOMA, Method A only) A ratio, the numerator of which is the building total preliminary floor area of a building and the denominator of which is building total occupant + allocated area, that distributes building service areas and building amenity areas (including its proportionate share of floor service areas) to all occupants of the building on a proportional basis. 

(BOMA 2010, Method A) A ratio, the numerator of which is the preliminary floor area of a floor, and the denominator of which is the usable area of that floor, that distributes floor service areas to the occupants on a floor on a proportional basis.

The product of the occupant + allocated area of an occupant or floor level times the R/O ratio of the building. This may also be calculated as the product of the occupant area of an occupant or floor level times the load factor A for that floor level.

The product of multiplying the occupant area of an occupant or floor level times the load factor B of the building.

The Total Area Measured of the Building less Floor Penetrations, Enclosed Non-Rentable Area and Unenclosed Non-Rentable Area. The BOMA 2010 Office Standard refers to this Area as Preliminary Floor Area. No apportionment of common or services areas are performed for this calculation.

A portion of an occupant area that does not meet the requirements of the current International Building Code for minimum ceiling heights. 

The sum of service area and amenity area on any given floor level of a building.

An opening in the exterior enclosure of a building, which is used for access to or egress from the building but does not have a door that is normally closed. 

(Method A only) the total of occupant area and building amenity area on any floor level, and for the building.

It is common for a floor area calculated from the building plans (paper plans or CAD) to differ from the floor area measured on site using field measurements. It is also common for the field measurement and calculation of floor area by one party to differ from the same field measurement and calculation by another party. The calculation of a floor area, resulting from field measurement by the building owner or manager, is deemed accurate if a re-measurement gives results with variance of two percent (2%) or less. If the variance is greater than two percent (2%), BOMA International recommends that an unbiased professional third party be sought to assist in resolving the matter. 

Sub-grade space that is enclosed and contiguous to a basement that extends below the adjacent ground plane past the property line, often under a public right-of-way, such as a sidewalk or alley. 

Absence of a floor where a floor might otherwise be expected or measured, that is typically in the plane of the upper floor levels of multi-story atria or lobbies, light wells, auditoria or the area adjacent to a mezzanine.