Floor area
According to the International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS): Residential Buildings, published by the International Property Measurement Standards Coalition (IPMSC) in September 2016, the floor area of a building is: 'The area of a normally horizontal, permanent, load-bearing structure for each level of a building.'
The Building Regulations define floor area as: '...the aggregate area of every floor in a building or extension, calculated by reference to the finished internal faces of the walls enclosing the area, or if at any point there is no such wall, by reference to the outermost edge of the floor.'
The glossary of statistical terms, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), states: ‘The floor area of buildings is the sum of the area of each floor of the building measured to the outer surface of the outer walls including the area of lobbies, cellars, elevator shafts and in multi-dwelling buildings all the common spaces. Areas of balconies are excluded.’
Resource Efficiency and Climate Change, Material Efficiency Strategies for a Low-Carbon Future, published by the UN Environment Programme in 2020, defines per capita floor area (m2/cap) as: ‘The average residential floor area available per person.’
See also:
- Total useful floor area.
- Gross floor area.
- Net internal area.
- Gross internal area.
- Treated floor area.
- Floor area ratio.
- Effective Floor Area.
- Floor area of the room.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
Featured articles and news
For the World Autism Awareness Month of April.
70+ experts appointed to public sector fire safety framework
The Fire Safety (FS2) Framework from LHC Procurement.
Project and programme management codes of practice
CIOB publications for built environment professionals.
Sustainable development concepts decade by decade.
The regenerative structural engineer
A call for design that will repair the natural world.
Buildings that mimic the restorative aspects found in nature.
CIAT publishes Principal Designer Competency Framework
For those considering applying for registration as a PD.
BSRIA Building Reg's guidance: The second staircase
An overview focusing on aspects which most affect the building services industry.
Design codes and pattern books
Harmonious proportions and golden sections.
Introducing or next Guest Editor Arun Baybars
Practising architect and design panel review member.
Quick summary by size, shape, test, material, use or bonding.
Types of rapidly renewable content
From forestry to agricultural crops and their by-products.
Terraced houses and the public realm
The discernible difference between the public realm of detached housing and of terraced housing.