Our Lasercad® Space Measurement Service measures and certifies space in mixed-use buildings (office, retail, residential, industrial) located in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Ontario. The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) Mixed-Use Standard Method of Measurement is used to measure buildings which contain two or more use components (residential, commercial, retail, industrial, etc.). While it is generally preferable to apply a BOMA single-use standard (office, industrial, retail or multi-unit residential), the following are some instances where the Mixed-Use standard would apply:
a. Any time a multi-unit residential use is located in the same building as an office, retail, industrial, etc. use.
b. Any time a property contains multiple uses that are configured to function independently from one another with minimal shared services.
c. If no single use in the property constitutes a Primary Use (a primary use is defined as a use which makes up 51% or more of the building Exterior Gross Area).
The general idea of the Mixed-Use standard is to “split” the building into its various single use components, allocate the shared “Mixed-Use Common Areas” between the various use components and then apply the relevant single-use standard for each section of the building. The process for applying the Mixed-Use standard is as follows:
1.Q: Should Mixed-Use Common Area be allocated to all building use components regardless of who uses it and how often?
A: No. The standard is designed to allocate the common areas only to those who benefit from them. Take for example, a building with office, retail and residential components which has an elevator room on the roof. If the lower level retail component is not serviced by the elevators, the elevator mechanical room would only be allocated amongst the office and residential components.
2.Q: When calculating the Exterior Gross Area of a floor, do you make deductions for Major Vertical Penetrations, voids, or columns?
A: Voids (other than occupant voids) are excluded from the calculation of Exterior Gross Area; however Major Vertical Penetrations and columns are not.
