Level Two - Example Two (Covent Garden)

Question 1

What would you include in NIA for offices?

Answer 1

• Atria with clear height above and entrance halls if not used in common areas
• Notional lift lobbies and notional fire corridors
• Kitchen
• Built-in cupboards and the like occupying usable areas
• Ramps, sloping areas and steps within the usable area and stated separately and pavement vaults
• Areas occupied ventilation and heating grilles
• Areas occupied by skirting and perimeter trunking
• Areas occupied by non-structural walls subdividing accommodation in sole occupancy

Question 2

What would you exclude in NIA for offices?

Answer 2

• WCs
• Plant and lift rooms
• Stairwell
• Meter and service cupboards and service risers
• Areas less than 1.5m in height
• Cleaners’ room
• Permanent circulation areas
• Space occupied by permanent, continuous air conditioning, heating and cooling apparatus if space it occupies is rendered sustainability unusable, or if it protrudes 0.25m or more into a useable area

Question 3

What are the pros and cons of IPMS? Why do clients still request NIA when IPMS is the standard?

Answer 3

Pros:
- Benchmarking property measurement information across international markets.
- Common and transportable method for property practitioners to use.
- Occupiers, invetsors, and owners have the ability to benchmark their property without needing to spend significant amounts of money and resource calibrating space measurements.
- Greater transparency and consistency to all properties
- Consistency in data
- Fundamental economic building block of all property metrics used in operation, leasing, acquisition, deposition and valuation.
Cons:
- Not widely adopted yet

Question 4

Talk me through this measurement?

Answer 4

Measured on NIA and then took the sufficient measurements for IPMS - columns and internal dominant face

Question 5

Why did you take both IPMS and NIA measurements for the office, and what are the key differences between these two methods?

Question 6

Can you explain the process you followed to calibrate your distometer, and why is this important before conducting an inspection?

Question 7

How did the floorplans provided by the borrower assist you during the inspection, and what steps did you take to ensure they were accurate?

Question 8

Why is it important to calculate both IPMS and NIA floor areas for this office, and how might each be used in valuation or leasing discussions?

Question 9

What considerations did you give to ensure that the NIA measurements were compliant with the RICS Code of Measuring Practice (6th Edition)?