Commercial Lease Agreement - Maximum Occupancy
For commercial office space is it typical to have an occupancy limit in the contract?  If so what would the typical limit be for a building with 20,000 sq. ft. floor plate?
[{"id": "cwvvjhb", "text": "Go to your city planning department and ask. Differs between states", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cwwy0ye", "text": "This is going to primarily depend on the fire code in your local area.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "cwxwvwe", "text": "There will likely be one limiting factor, but that is decided by code, usually. \n\nA few things to consider:\n\nYour stairwells may be the limiting factor based on fire code in your area. How many, how wide... will inform how many people can escape a fire by code. The requirements are sometimes different depending on whether the building is sprinklered or not. \n\nYou may also want to have your M&amp;E engineers suggest a limit based on the ability to supply fresh air to the occupants. In some areas this is code and in others it's just guidelines, but ASHRAE is usually the go-to standard for this. If not enough fresh air is supplied employees could feel tired, lack focus, so this is actually pretty important. \n\nAlso, your engineers can calculate the heat load of the proposed build-out and occupancy and determine if the existing HVAC system can handle the load. They take into account the equipment (servers, desktop computers, laptops, photocopiers etc..)\n\nWhile all of these things will give you a number (i.e. you HVAC can handle X, your egress is Y and your fresh air supply is Z) the smallest number is what the occupancy should be set at. \n\ne.g.\n\nHVAC Limit = 175\n\nFresh Air = 160\n\nEgress (fire exit) = 133\n\nTherefore your limiting factor is egress and occupancy limit is 133.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]