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Forum Categories BOMA 2010 - Office Buildings Question

External circulation 1 story office building

thomas ryan: thomas ryan; April 18, 2013

I am calculating the area for a single story office building. It is one large building with an internal courtyard separated into a number of tenant areas. Each tenant has there own restroom facilities. So there are no building common areas or internal corridors. The main entrance to the tenant spaces and circulation around the building is on the exterior which is covered by a 10' roof overhang. Would this area be considered exterior circulation and be counted towards the IGA? I am currently interpreting it as public pedestrian thoroughfare but am not sure if that is correct.

David Fingret: Extreme Measures Inc.; April 18, 2013

Hi Thomas,

You are on the right track. You should consider it External Circulation.

External Circulation cannot be a public pedestrian thoroughfare (please see page 21 of the standard).

As long as there is no fully enclosed corridor providing access to the tenant spaces, External Circulation may be classified as Floor Service Area or Building Service Area and would be included in the IGA.

You'll want to limit the width of the External Circulation to what the applicable building code requires for egress (typically 5-6 feet).