Measuring and Classifying Space

Why measurement matters

Property is typically the second largest cost an organisation carries after people. Decisions about how much space to hold, where, and on what terms are expensive, long-term and difficult to reverse. They cannot be made sensibly without accurate information about what is currently held and how it is used — and most organisations have neither.

Measurement bases

Floor areas are measured on several different bases, and comparing figures measured differently produces nonsense. The common distinctions:

• Gross area — everything within the external walls, including plant, cores, circulation and structure.
• Net internal or usable area — the space actually available to the occupier, excluding cores, plant rooms, structural elements and primary circulation.
• Occupied or workplace area — the space actually allocated to work settings.

Leases, service charges, rating assessments and space plans may each use a different basis. Establish which basis a figure was measured on before comparing it with anything, and state the basis whenever you quote an area. Recognised professional measurement standards exist; use one consistently.

Classifying space

Record space by function so that the profile can be understood and compared:

• Individual work settings — desks, workstations, private offices.
• Collaboration space — meeting rooms by size, project rooms, informal settings, breakout areas.
• Focus space — quiet rooms, booths, areas for concentrated work or confidential calls.
• Support space — print, storage, post, filing, equipment.
• Social space — tea points, kitchens, dining, informal seating.
• Welfare and amenity — sanitary accommodation, changing, showers, prayer and contemplation rooms, first aid, lockers.
• Circulation — corridors and routes.
• Building services — plant, risers, cleaners’ stores.

Density

Area per person is a headline figure and a crude one. It is shaped by the building — floor plate shape, core position, column grid, window arrangement — as much as by design intent, and it says nothing about whether the space works. Use it as one input, and be aware that regulatory minimum space requirements, fire escape capacity, ventilation capacity and sanitary provision all set floors that density targets cannot override.

Keeping the record current

Space records decay quickly as walls move, teams grow and areas change use. Maintain floor plans that reflect reality, update them when anything changes, and hold them in a form that can be shared and measured rather than as a drawing on a wall. A space record that nobody trusts is not used, and the organisation reverts to guesswork.