BOMA Office Guide
- Introduction
- BOMA 1980 (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1-1980)
- BOMA 1996 (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1-1996)
- BOMA 2010 (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1-2010)
- The Difference Between BOMA 1980 & 1996
- Frequently Asked Questions
BOMA 1980 (ANSI/BOMA Z65.1-1980)
The "BOMA Z65.1-1980 Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings" (commonly referred to as BOMA 1980) is still widely used for determining usable and rentable areas in commercial office buildings. The BOMA 1980 Standard measures buildings on a floor-by-floor basis. It is a simple and effective approach for measuring the Usable and Rentable Area of a single typical floor and its occupying tenants. Unfortunately, BOMA 1980 can be over-simplistic in its allocation of common area. This can result in punishing gross-up factors for floors with large portions of common area (usually ground floors and basements).
Key BOMA 1980 Definitions
- USABLE AREA means the actual occupiable area of a floor or tenant.
- RENTABLE AREA means the floor or tenant's USABLE AREA and it's proportionate share of FLOOR COMMON AREA.
- FLOOR COMMON AREA refers to areas common to all the tenants of a floor, such as corridors, elevator lobbies, washrooms, janitor closets, telecommunications and utility areas. Floor Common Area is often found in and around a building core.
- MAJOR VERTICAL PENETRATION refers to stairs, elevator shafts, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts and the like, and their enclosing walls, which serve more than one floor of a building. Major Vertical Penetrations are excluded from Usable and Rentable Area.
Extreme Measures developed this guide in response to queries regarding BOMA measuring standards. This information should be used for reference purposes only. Extreme Measures Inc. in no way endorses the information provided. For complete information, please refer to the official publications of BOMA International.