New International Property Measurement Standards for offices introduced

The professional body Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), implemented new International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS) for offices on the 1st January 2016, with the aim to remove inconsistencies in measurements of property across the globe.

It is currently thought that the size of buildings can vary as much as 24 percent when measuring to different global standards, and this can have huge implications for investors, property professionals, occupiers and landlords.

Some measuring standards only include functional office space, but in other countries such as Spain, swimming pools are included. Other countries, like India for examples, take account of corridors, in addition to car parks.

There are some clear differences between the IPMS and the usual red book Code of Measuring Practice (CoMP). For instance, IPMS takes perimeter measurements from the ‘internal dominant face’ and it includes columns. In addition, IPMS has no inclusions or exclusions like those in the CoMP; it concludes that limited use areas should be used to detail certain areas that have different values, that covered balconies and galleries intended for the exclusive use of one tenant are included, and floors with multiple tenants takes the area to the midpoint of the partition wall splitting them.

Terminology will change too, the main difference being IPSM1 equals GEA, IPSM2 equals GIA and IPSM3 equals NIA.

Eugene O’Sullivan, Managing Director at Morgan Pryce, said: “There are obvious benefits to regulating measurements, such as creating more transparent markets leading to better comparables, and simplifying valuation data. However, a general overview seems to be that IPMS3 bears more resemblance to the current gross internal measurement rather than net internal measurement which could affect rents.

“Rents across the globe may have to shift slightly to take into account this change in area, bearing in mind more rentable area means higher rent for the occupier.”

This news was brought to you by Morgan Pryce, a specialist tenant acquisition agent with offices in Oxford Circus and the City. Morgan Pryce specialises in search, negotiation and project management and works exclusively for tenants.