Interesting Read.
This fall, the Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA) will release the latest version of its Office Standard, which provides a uniform basis for measuring rentable area in both existing and new office buildings. The 2017 version will adopt the best practices learned from the 2010 Standard and seeks to accommodate design and amenity trends, which have evolved since the previous standard was released. The updates will impact the way that building measurements are calculated and may change the rentable area of a building that was measured with either BOMA 1996 or 2010 Office.
“Misunderstood and misinterpreted building measurement data can result in serious implications when negotiating the sale, purchase, or lease of a building,” says BOMA practitioner, Mitch Luehring, “With 2017, BOMA has curated a more tightly defined Office Standard that reigns in many of the arbitrary ‘modified BOMA’ interpretations out in the marketplace.”
Building Impact
In addition to potential change to the rentable area, BOMA 2017 Office allows more transparency into building transactions by creating an equitable way to proportionally divide space, allowing a better comparison of buildings.
“In the past, there has not been a consistent method for building owners to account for tenant amenities, such as rooftop terraces and balconies. BOMA is now catching up to the market, and the new standard will provide greater clarity for all parties into how rentable numbers are calculated,” said Gensler’s Eric Evenstad.
To highlight the major differences between BOMA 2010 Office and BOMA 2017 Office, we measured a building with both standards using Method A. In this case, BOMA 2017 resulted in a 3% larger rentable area than BOMA 2010. Below, we’ve indicated some of the impactful changes that affected the numbers. Please note that in addition to the changes noted, there are multiple nuances that affect the measurements including special conditions, space classifications, tenant ancillary areas, advanced calculations and more. Click here for the full article.