When assessing the Capital cost reporting and the LCC credits, the area to be considered should be the Gross Internal Floor Area (GIFA), according to the below RICS definition:
Gross Internal Floor Area
Gross Internal Floor Area is the area of a building measured to the internal face of the perimeter walls at each floor level, which includes:
- Areas occupied by internal walls and partitions
- Columns, piers chimney breasts, stairwells, lift-wells, other internal projections, vertical ducts, and the like
- Atria and entrance halls with clear height above, measured at base level only
- Internal open sided balconies, walkways, and the like
- Structural, raked or stepped floors are treated as a level floor measured horizontally
- Horizontal floors with permanent access below structural, raked or stepped floors
- Corridors of a permanent essential nature (e.g. fire corridors, smoke lobbies, etc.)
- Areas in the roof space intended for use with permanent access (BCIS)
- Mezzanine areas intended for use with permanent access
- Lift rooms, plant rooms, fuel stores, tank rooms which are housed in a covered structure of a permanent nature, whether or not above main roof level
- Service accommodation such as toilets, toilet lobbies, bathrooms, showers, changing rooms, cleaners’ rooms and the like
- Projection rooms
- Voids over stairwells and lift shafts on upper floors
- Loading bays
- Areas with a headroom of less than 1.5m
- Pavement vaults
- Garages
- Conservatories (BCIS)
And excludes:
- Perimeter wall thickness and external projections
- External open-sided balconies, covered ways and fire escapes
- Canopies
- Voids over or under structural, raked or stepped floors
- Greenhouses, garden stores, fuel stores and the like in residential property
- Open ground floors and the like (BCIS)
14.02.18 - KBCN content amended to extend the applicability to LCC and to refer to GIFA rather than GEA, to reflect current industry practice.
