Space Measurement Standards

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education
Space Measurement Standards
Effective January, 2013
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Table of Contents
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ 3 LEGEND FOR SAMPLE ILLUSTRATIVE SCHOOL LAYOUT PLAN ................................................. 4 1. OBJECTIVE OF DOCUMENT ....................................................................................................... 5 SIGNIFICANCE OF ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF AREAS ......................................................................... 5 2. DEFINITIONS ................................................................................................................................. 6 FINISHED SURFACE .............................................................................................................................. 6 GROSS AREA ....................................................................................................................................... 6 USABLE AREA ...................................................................................................................................... 6 MAJOR VERTICAL PENETRATIONS ......................................................................................................... 6 COMMON AREAS .................................................................................................................................. 7 3. MEASUREMENT OF GROSS-AREA.......................................................................................... 10 MEASURING GROSS FLOOR AREA ...................................................................................................... 10 MEASURING GROSS BUILDING AREA................................................................................................... 11 4. MEASUREMENT OF USABLE-AREA ........................................................................................ 14 MEASURING USABLE FLOOR AREA ..................................................................................................... 14 MEASURING USABLE BUILDING AREA .................................................................................................. 15 MEASURING FLOOR COMMON USABLE AREA ...................................................................................... 17 MEASURING BUILDING COMMON AREA................................................................................................ 18 MEASURING AREA OF STAIRWAYS ...................................................................................................... 19 MEASURING AREA OF EXTENDED W INDOWS ....................................................................................... 23 MEASURING AREA OF RECESSED ENTRANCES .................................................................................... 27 MEASURING AREA OF ATRIA / OPEN-TO-BELOW SPACES / MULTIPLE-HEIGHT-SPACES .......................... 28
Ministry of Education
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List of figures
Figure 1: Major Vertical Penetrations - Upper Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing elevator shaft, flue, pipe shaft, vertical ducts, light-well, and Atrium ................................................................... 7 Figure 2: Floor Common Area - Lower Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 3: Floor Common Area - Upper Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 4: Building Common Area - Lower Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 5: Building Common Area - Upper Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Figure 6: Section - Conventional Masonry Wall .................................................................................. 10 Figure 7: Section - Steel Structure....................................................................................................... 11 Figure 8: Lower Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing Gross Area ....................................... 12 Figure 9: Upper Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing Gross Area ....................................... 12 Figure 10: Extended window Section W1-W1 ..................................................................................... 13 Figure 11: Extended window Section W2-W2 ..................................................................................... 13 Figure 12: Section - Conventional Masonry Wall ................................................................................ 14 Figure 13: Steel Structure .................................................................................................................... 15 Figure 14: Lower level plan of sample school showing usable area ................................................... 16 Figure 15: Upper level plan of sample school showing usable area ................................................... 16 Figure 16: Lower level plan of sample school showing floor common usable area ............................ 17 Figure 17: Upper level plan of sample school showing floor common usable area ............................ 17 Figure 18: Lower level plan of sample school showing building common usable areas .................... 18 Figure 19: Lower level plan of sample school showing building common usable areas .................... 18 Figure 20: I-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement ........................................................... 20 Figure 21: U-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement.......................................................... 21 Figure 22: L-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement .......................................................... 22 Figure 23: Lower level plan of sample school showing extended window W2-W2............................. 23 Figure 24: Blow-up Plan of window W2-W2 extending with building line - showing line of measurement of usable area ............................................................................................................... 24 Figure 25: Section through extended window W2-W2 ........................................................................ 24 Figure 26: Lower level plan of sample school showing extended window W1-W1............................. 25 Figure 27: Blow-up Plan of window W1-W1 extending beyond building line - showing line of measurement of usable area ............................................................................................................... 26 Figure 28: Section through extended window W1-W1 ........................................................................ 26 Figure 29: Lower level plan of sample school showing recessed entry .............................................. 27 Figure 30: Blow-up plan of recessed entry .......................................................................................... 27 Figure 31: Lower level plan of sample school showing atrium, open-to-below spaces ...................... 28 Figure 32: Section X-X through atrium of sample school layout showing measurable area ........... 28 Figure 33: Section Y-Y through workshop of sample school layout showing measurable area ...... 29 Figure 34: Section Z-Z through gymnasium of sample school layout showing measurable area ... 29
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Legend for sample illustrative school layout plan

1 Atrium, Lobby 2 Administrative office 3 Mail room 4 Elevator 5 Male washroom 6 Female washroom 7 Mechanical room 8 Electrical room 9 Janitor room 10 Vertical service duct, service pipe shaft 11 Building maintenance room 12 Fire control room 13 Building electrical room 14 Exit corridor 15 Trash dumpster 16 Shipping, receiving, loading dock 17 Classroom 18 Relocatable classrooms 19 Gymnasium 20 Metal, wood workshop 21 Library 22 Viewing gallery 23 Lockers
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1. OBJECTIVE OF DOCUMENT
This document aims to delineate consistent standards on how different types of space and/or building components1 are to be measured in school and non-school buildings to permit communication and computation on a clear and understandable basis among the different stakeholders2 involved in design, renovation, and operation & maintenance of the school/nonschool buildings. These standards should be used to measure space in both existing and new school/non-school buildings.
Significance of accurate measurement of areas

Facility area is used by the Ministry for two significant purposes: i. ii. Allocation of funding for new or existing projects Determining efficiency of utilization of the facility.
Gross area or the total constructed area is used by the Ministry to determine funding allocations for new school constructions, renovations, or Preventative Maintenance & Renewal (PMR) projects. Inaccurate gross area figures would affect the funding amounts. In 1991 the Ministry of Education inserted a utilization factor into the capital funding formula for publicly funded K-12 schools. The intent for this factor was to encourage more efficient use of existing school facilities. In 1993 the Ministry developed the Facility Priority Index which uses a schools utilization. Utilization = Recognized Usable Area X 100% Actual Usable Area A schools utilization of space affects the placement of a project request on the Annual Capital List. Inaccurate usable area would affect the placement of the request on the Annual Capital List.
1 Examples are: stairways, extended windows, atria, vertical building penetrations such as elevator/plumbing ducts, wall lockers adjacent to hallways, etc. 2 Such as: Ministry staff, architects, consultants, contractors, and school division staff.
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2. DEFINITIONS
To delineate standards that achieve the aims in a clear practicable way, pertinent definitions of have been provided below.
Finished Surface
Shall mean a wall, ceiling or floor surface, including glass, as prepared for tenant use, excluding the thickness of any special surfacing materials such as panelling, furring strips and/or carpet3.
Gross Area
Gross Floor Area: Shall mean the total constructed area of a floor including the permanent outer building structural walls and major vertical penetrations, without any deductions. Gross Building Area: Shall mean the total constructed area of a building including the permanent outer building structural walls and major vertical penetrations, without any deductions.
Usable Area
Usable Floor Area: Shall mean the area that is physically accessible and available for use on any given floor and excludes the areas of permanent outer building walls, interior partitions/walls, and Major Vertical Penetrations on that floor. Usable Building Area: Shall mean the area that is physically accessible and available for use in a building.
Major Vertical Penetrations

Shall mean elevator shafts, flues (duct or passage for smoke, air, or gas, or the like), pipe shafts, vertical ducts and the like, and their enclosing walls. Atria, light-wells, and similar penetrations above the finished floor are included in this definition (Figure 1). Structural columns, openings for vertical electric cable or telephone distribution, and openings for plumbing lines are not considered Major Vertical Penetration4.
3 Source: BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, 1996. 4 Adapted from BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, 1996.
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Figure 1: Major Vertical Penetrations - Upper Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing elevator shaft, flue, pipe shaft, vertical ducts, light-well, and Atrium
Common Areas
Floor Common Area: These are the areas5 that are available for common-use by the occupants on a particular floor and do not include Major Vertical Penetrations on that floor (Illustration: Figures 2 and 3). Building Common Area: These are areas6 that provide services to the entire building but which are not included in the core functional areas (such as classrooms, labs, offices, libraries, and gymnasium). Building common area does not include Floor Common Areas and Major Vertical Penetrations (Illustration: Figures 4 and 5) Total Common Area of a facility: Is computed as the sum of Building Common Area and Floor Common Areas for all floors.
5 Such as entrance lobby, elevator lobby, hallways, exit corridors, washrooms, janitorial closets, electrical rooms, and mechanical rooms. 6 Such as entrance lobby/auxiliary lobby, atrium, elevator lobby, concierge desks/security desks, lounges, hallways, vending machines, locker/shower rooms, mail rooms, exit corridors, and building service areas such as maintenance room, fire control room, fire pump room, loading dock/shipping and receiving, trash dumpster.
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Figure 2: Floor Common Area - Lower Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 5
Figure 3: Floor Common Area - Upper Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 5
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Figure 4: Building Common Area - Lower Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 6
Figure 5: Building Common Area - Upper Level Plan of Sample School showing area referred to in Footnote 6
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3. MEASUREMENT OF GROSS-AREA
Measuring Gross Floor Area
Gross floor area is the total constructed area of a floor including the permanent outer building structural walls (Figures 8 and 9). Gross floor area is computed by measuring up to the outer edge (exterior) of permanent outer building structural walls on that floor for masonry construction (Figure 6), and up to the centre grid line for steel structure (Figure 7), without any deductions. All enclosed floors of the building, including basements, garages, mechanical equipment floors, and the like are calculated7. Major vertical penetrations such as elevator shafts, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts and the like are included in the gross area. Atria, light-wells, void spaces (such as in a double height gymnasium) and similar penetrations are not counted as part of gross area on that floor.
Figure 6: Section - Conventional Masonry Wall (showing extent to which Gross Area is measured)
7 Adapted from BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, 1996.
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Figure 7: Section - Steel Structure (showing extent to which Gross Area is measured)
Measuring Gross Building Area

Gross building area is the total constructed area of a building including the permanent outer building structural walls. All enclosed floors of the building, including basements, garages, mechanical equipment floors, and the like are calculated8. Major vertical penetrations such as elevator shafts, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts and the like are included in the gross area. Atria, Light-wells, void spaces (such as in a double height gymnasium) and similar penetrations are not counted as part of gross area for that building.
8 Adapted from BOMA Standard Method for Measuring Floor Area in Office Buildings, 1996.
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Figure 8: Lower Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing Gross Area
Figure 9: Upper Level Plan of Sample School Layout showing Gross Area
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Figure 10: Extended window Section W1-W1
Figure 11: Extended window Section W2-W2
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4. MEASUREMENT OF USABLE-AREA
Measuring Usable Floor Area
Usable floor area is the area that is physically accessible and available for use on any given floor. This is computed by measuring areas of all enclosed spaces9 on that floor defined by their inside finished surfaces (Figures 12 and 13), and excludes area of major vertical penetrations on that floor (Figures 14 and 15). When measuring usable floor area, no deduction shall be made for columns.
Figure 12: Section - Conventional Masonry Wall (showing extent to which Usable Area is measured)
9 (e.g.) offices, classrooms, labs, hallways, washrooms, lobbies, etc.
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Figure 13: Steel Structure (showing extent to which Usable Area is measured)
Measuring Usable Building Area

Usable building area is the area that is physically accessible and available for use in a building. This area is computed by measuring areas of all enclosed spaces10 within the building defined by their inside finished surfaces, and excludes areas of major vertical penetrations11 in the building. When measuring usable building area, no deduction shall be made for columns.
10 (e.g.) offices, classrooms, labs, hallways, washrooms, lobbies, etc. 11 (e.g.) elevator shafts, flues (ducts for smoke, gas, air, or like), plumbing ducts, atria, light-wells, etc.
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Figure 14: Lower level plan of sample school showing usable area
Figure 15: Upper level plan of sample school showing usable area
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Measuring Floor Common Usable Area

This is computed by measuring all areas that are available for common-use by the occupants of that given floor (such as entrance lobby, elevator lobby, hallways, exit corridors, washrooms, janitorial closets, electrical rooms, and mechanical rooms) defined by their inside finished surfaces, and excludes area of major vertical penetrations on that floor (Figures 16 and 17).
Figure 16: Lower level plan of sample school showing floor common usable area
Figure 17: Upper level plan of sample school showing floor common usable area
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Measuring Building Common Area

This is computed by measuring all areas that provide services to the entire building (such as entrance lobby/auxiliary lobby, atrium, elevator lobby, concierge desks/security desks, lounges, hallways, vending machines, locker/shower rooms, mail rooms, exit corridors, and building service areas such as maintenance room, fire control room, fire pump room, loading dock/shipping and receiving, trash dumpster) but which are not included in the core functional area (such as classrooms, labs, offices, libraries, and gymnasium). Building common area does not include floor common areas and major vertical penetrations (Figures 18 and 19).
Figure 18: Lower level plan of sample school showing building common usable areas
Figure 19: Lower level plan of sample school showing building common usable areas
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Measuring Area of Stairways

As a rule-of-thumb the usable area of a stairway shall be computed as shown in Table 1 below:
Floor Levels Ground floor (without basement) Basement floor (lowest level) Topmost floor All intermediate floor levels (e.g. st nd rd 1 floor, 2 floor, 3 floor, etc) Ground floor (with a basement floor) Area to be counted Stairway shall be counted as 50% of the total foot-print area of the stairway. Stairway shall be counted as 100% of the total foot-print area of the stairway.
Table 1: Usable areas of stairways by floor
Details pertaining to specific stairway type (I-Stairway, U-Stairway, and L-Stairway) are illustrated in Figures 20, 21 and 22.
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Measuring area of I-Stairways

Topmost floor = 50% Measured as:
Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and corresponding portion of landing
All intermediate floors = 100%

Measured as: Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and corresponding portion of landing Plus Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portion of landing
Ground Floor (with basement) = 100% Measured as: Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and corresponding portion of landing Plus Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portion of landing
Basement floor = 50% Measured as:

Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portion of landing
Figure 20: I-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement
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Measuring area of U-Stairways

Topmost floor = 50% Measured as:
Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and corresponding portions of landing

Measured as: Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and corresponding portions of landing Plus Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portions of landing
Ground Floor (with basement) = 100% Measured as: Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the basement, and corresponding portions of landing Plus Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portions of landing

Usable area of half of stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and corresponding portions of landing
Figure 21: U-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement
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Measuring area of L-Stairways
Topmost floor = 50%

Measured as: Usable area of half of the stairway-flight leading to the floor below, plus Usable area of half of landing at mid-level, plus Usable area of the corresponding portion of floor at the topmost floor.

Measured as: Sum of usable areas of: half of the stairway-flight leading to the floor below, and the half of landing at midlevel, and the corresponding portion of floor at that floor, plus Sum of usable areas of: half of the stairway-flight leading to the floor above, and the half of landing at mid-level, and the corresponding portion of floor at that floor, Ground Floor (with basement) = 100% Measured as: Sum of usable areas of: half of the stairway-flight leading to the basement, and the half of landing at midlevel, and the corresponding portion of floor at ground floor level, plus Sum of usable areas of: half of the stairway-flight leading to the ground level, and the half of landing at mid-level, and the corresponding portion of floor at ground level,

Measured as: Usable area of half of the stairway-flight leading to the ground floor level, plus Usable area of half of landing at mid-level, plus Usable area of the corresponding portion of floor at the basement floor level. Figure 22: L-Stair showing limits of usable area measurement
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Measuring Area of Extended Windows

Extended Windows on Building Line: For extended windows or similar deviations extending with the building line (i.e. built area bows out of an otherwise straight building line), floor usable area shall be computed following the extended building line (i.e. usable floor area shall be measured from the finished surface of the extended building line) (Figures 24 and 25).
Figure 23: Lower level plan of sample school showing extended window W2-W2
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Figure 24: Blow-up Plan of window W2-W2 extending with building line - showing line of measurement of usable area
Figure 25: Section through extended window W2-W2
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Extended Windows beyond Building Line: For extruding windows or similar deviations extending beyond an otherwise straight building line, floor usable area shall be computed as if the deviation/extension were not present (i.e. usable floor area shall be measured from the finished surface of the straight building line (Figures 27 and 28)).
Figure 26: Lower level plan of sample school showing extended window W1-W1
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Figure 27: Blow-up Plan of window W1-W1 extending beyond building line - showing line of measurement of usable area
Figure 28: Section through extended window W1-W1
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Measuring Area of Recessed Entrances

For recessed entrances or similar alcoves extending into an otherwise straight building line, floor usable area shall be computed as if the deviation/extension were not present (i.e. usable floor area shall be measured from the finished surface of the straight building line (Figure 30)).
Figure 29: Lower level plan of sample school showing recessed entry
Figure 30: Blow-up plan of recessed entry
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Measuring Area of Atria / Open-to-below spaces / Multiple-height-spaces

Area of atria/multiple-height-spaces shall be counted as usable area (contributing towards the floor common area) only at the floor level at which the atrium-floor is physically accessible. Upper levels of the atrium (that are open-to-below) shall be treated as major vertical penetration, and will not be counted as usable floor area (Figures 32, 33, and 34).
Figure 31: Lower level plan of sample school showing atrium, open-to-below spaces
Figure 32: Section X-X through atrium of sample school layout showing measurable area
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Figure 33: Section Y-Y through workshop of sample school layout showing measurable area
Figure 34: Section Z-Z through gymnasium of sample school layout showing measurable area

Space Measurement Standards

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Saskatchewan Ministry of Education