A new standard for measuring retail property has moved a step closer to being materialised with the release of draft measurement standards that are now open for consultation. According to the International Property Measurement Standards (IPMS) Coalition, which is leading a project to create and embed globally benchmarked standards for measuring buildings, the consultation will run until August 10.
The draft IPMS: Retail Buildings is the latest building class in a series of standards that establishes consistent measuring practices for property assets. The coalition had earlier published IPMS: Office Buildings (November 2014), IPMS: Residential Buildings (September 2016) and IPMS Industrial Buildings (January 2018).
“The goal of IPMS is to develop and embed a measurement standard that is understood globally and can therefore provide confidence and consistency to the industry,” said Lisa Prats, Chair of the IPMS Coalition. “As a property type, retail is very international in nature because it is usually owned, developed, used and occupied by multinational companies across the world. A common measurement approach is particularly beneficial to these parts of the property sector and I hope that all industry stakeholders will support our efforts by commenting on and sharing the consultation document.”
The IPMS Coalition consists of more than 80 professional and standards-setting organisations from around the world. Rics professionals are among those already applying the standards.
“As a member of the IPMS Coalition, Rics has already integrated IPMS: Office and Residential Buildings into the Rics Property Measurement Professional Statement 2nd Edition. We encourage Rics professionals to consult on the latest building class, IPMS Retail, which will in due course, be reflected in the latest update to the Professional Statement,” said Alexander Aronsohn, Rics Director of Technical Standards.
