Usable Floor Area (UFA)

Usable Floor Area (UFA) under the Green Star NZ Education Design Pilot Tool is aligned with the TEFMA definition of UFA as follows. For a more full definition and an area definitions diagram please refer to the TEFMA website.

Usable Floor Area (UFA)

The 'Fully enclosed covered area' of a building or a floor less 'Common use areas', 'Service areas' and 'Non-habitable areas'.

Fully enclosed covered area (FECA)

The sum of all fully enclosed and covered building areas at all floor levels, including: basements (except unexcavated portions), garages, floored roof spaces and attics, penthouses, enclosed porches and attached enclosed covered ways, equipment rooms, lift shafts, vertical ducts, staircases and any other fully enclosed spaces and useable areas of the building. The FECA is computed by measuring from the normal inside face of exterior walls, ignoring any projections such as plinths, columns or piers. It excludes open courts, light wells, connecting or isolated covered ways, and net open areas of upper portions of rooms, lobbies, halls, interstitial spaces etc which extend through the story being computed.

Common Use Areas

Floored areas in the building used for circulation and standard facilities provided for the common use of occupiers, tenants and/or public such as lobbies and foyers to entrances, stairways and lifts, landings and fire escapes, verandahs and balconies, corridors and passages, toilet and rest room areas, cloak and locker areas, cleaner's rooms including stores and cupboards, tea making and similar amenities areas.

Service Area

All areas set aside for building plant and associated services (such as mechanical plant and equipment rooms, electrical equipment and switch rooms, tank rooms, lift motor rooms, meter cupboards, telecommunication switch rooms, refuse collection area) and facilities for the use of occupants, tenants and/or the public (such as loading bays, internal car-parking areas including their access ways).

Non-Habitable Area

Internal columns and other structural supports, internal walls and permanent partitions, lift shafts, service ducts and the like.