Gross floor area in real estate is the total floor area inside the building
envelope, including the external walls, and excluding the roof.
Definitions of GFA, including which areas are to be counted towards it and
which areas are not, vary around the world. Adding to this confusion is the
practice among some developers to use gross leasable area and GFA
interchangeably, or to use GFA as GLA, even though GLA usually excludes
corridors and other public areas inside the development, while both figures
include areas occupied by structure, like walls and columns.
Around the world = In Hong Kong =
Hong Kong law Chapter 123F, Building Regulations, Regulation 23 sect 3
sub-paragraph defined that: Subject to sub-paragraph, for the
purposes of regulations 19, 20, 21 and 22, the gross floor area of a building
shall be the area contained within the external walls of the building measured
at each floor level, together with the area of each balcony in the building,
which shall be calculated from the overall dimensions of the balcony, and
the thickness of the external walls of the building.
sub-paragraph: In determining the gross floor area for
the purposes of regulations 20, 21 and 22, the Building Authority may disregard
any floor space that he is satisfied is constructed or intended to be used
solely for parking motor vehicles, loading or unloading of motor vehicles,
or for refuse storage chambers, refuse storage and material recovery chambers,
material recovery chambers, refuse storage and material recovery rooms,
refuse chutes, refuse hopper rooms and other types of facilities provided to
facilitate the separation of refuse to the satisfaction of the Building
Authority, or for access facilities for telecommunications and broadcasting
services, or occupied solely by machinery or equipment for any lift,
air-conditioning or heating system or any similar service.
The non-accountable GFA is further defined in Practice Notes for Authorized
Persons, Registered Structural Engineers and Registered Geotechnical Engineers no
APP-2. Permitted GFA in Hong Kong land lease
agreement generally the maximum GFA to develop. However it may be further
reduced by the effect of plot ratio, maximum site coverage, maximum permitted
height of building and Outline Zoning Plan. Moreover, roof and other uncovered
area is exclude in Permitted GFA but usually had restricted use as opening
space, corridor or emergence escaping area.
Green features Since 2001, to encourage the
incorporation of green features in building developments, further
facilities could be excluded/disregard in GFA. and defined at Joint Practice
Notes on protection and improvement of the built and natural environment no.1
and 2. Since such facilities granted extra floor area to develop and usually
included in the GFA/ selling area the developer sold to end-user, which made
end-user confused, government planned to abolish the exclusion of green features
and use alternative way to encourage green features. For the total floor
area, HK use the term Site Coverage. = In Singapore =
GFA in Singapore, defined by Urban Redevelopment Authority as of March 2014
is: 3 Definition of Gross Floor Area
3.1 All covered floor areas of a building, except otherwise exempted, and
uncovered areas for commercial uses are deemed the gross floor area of the
building for purposes of plot ratio control and development charge. The
gross floor area is the total area of the covered floor space measured between
the centre line of party walls, including the thickness of external
walls but excluding voids. Accessibility and usability are not criteria for
exclusion from GFA. 3.2 URA reserves the right to decide on
GFA matters based on the specific design of a development proposal on a
case-by-case basis. With effect from January 2014, Private
enclosed spaces and private roof terraces are counted as part of the
bonus GFA capped at 10% above the Master Plan that also includes balconies.
See also Floor area
Floor area ratio Gross leasable area
References