Area Calculations

First thing's first - does your business follow a standard for measuring space such as Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) or International Property Measurement Standard (IPMS)? Let us know as we can identify Serraview's equivalent terms to these standards.

Whether you're using a measuring standard or not, let's go through some common area terminologies you will see within Serraview.

Term	Description
Gross Lettable Area (GLA)	This is the total amount of floor space available to be rented in commercial property and it is typically measured to the outside edge of the building. Use in the Floor Import, refer to the Requirements for Floors Data.
Interior Gross Area	Interior Gross Area (IGA) is the area that is totally enclosed within the inside surface of a property's outside walls. This is represented by the Zone in Serraview's Space Hierarchy. For more information, refer to View Zone Overview and Space Hierarchy in the Spaces module.
Leased Area	This is the Office area and Primary Circulation. This is the equivalent of the Net Lettable Area (NLA) term used by the Property Council of Australia and Rental Area term used by BOMA. Use in the following when you: use the Floor Import, refer to the Requirements for Floors Data. update a Floor for the Leased Area field, refer to Add, Edit, or Delete a Floor and Configure Leased Area.
Load Factor	When you consider the rentable square feet/meters that your landlord will charge you the Load Factor is the ratio of your total Occupant Area to Rentable Area. Occupant Area x Load Factor = Rentable Square Feet/Meters For more information on load factor, refer to Chargeback - Prorated Space Allocation Model and Add, Edit, or Delete a Floor.
Net Lettable Area (NLA)	This is used for calculating tenancy areas in office buildings and is the total floor space measuring from the internal finished surfaces of permanent internal walls and permanent outer building walls, the center line of inter-tenancy walls and partitions, or the public area wall faces where walls and partitions adjoin public areas, whichever is deemed appropriate. In terms of mapped spaces: Zone - (Core + Primary Circulation) = Net Lettable Area (NLA) Use in the Floor Import, refer to the Requirements for Floors Data.
Rentable Area	Rentable Area is the amount of space (measured in square feet or square meters) that you have agreed with your landlord to rent. Interior Gross Area (IGA) - Major Vertical Penetrations (MVP) = Rentable Area (RA) Landlords will typically use an industry-based space standard (such as BOMA, REBNY, etc.) to determine what the Rentable Area for each building/floor will be.
Space Type Hierarchy	Serraview's Space Type Hierarchy is used to define the Space Types used on the floorplan, such as: Zone Core Areas Primary Circulation Space Office Area Equipment and Reporting Custom Layers For more information refer to Space Hierarchy in the Spaces module.
Usable Area	The space in the building that can be charged. It is the Gross Lettable Area (GLA) minus the common areas of the building that tenants do not expect to pay for (shared toilets, shared lifts and lift lobbies, fire escapes, etc.). It does include any column footprints and window sill space. Gross Lettable Area (GLA) - Common Areas of the Building = Usable Area

If you want to learn more about Serraview Glossary terms, see Serraview Glossary.

But how will I know what unit of measurement is used?

No worries. Depending on your locale setting, the area will automatically be set to square meters (sqm) or square feet (sqft).