What are FAR and coverage?
Floor area ratio (FAR) is the ratio of a building’s total floor area (gross floor area) to the size of the piece of land upon which it is built. It is often used as one of the regulations in city planning along with the building-to-land ratio. The terms can also refer to limits imposed on such a ratio through zoning. FAR is calculated by dividing the gross floor area of a building(s) by the total buildable area of the piece of land upon which it is built.
How to calculate FAR and coverage?
FAR is calculated by a simple formula – total covered area of all floors divided by the plot area.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR) formula
FAR (%) = (total floor area x 100) / Site area
Building Coverage Ratio (BCR) formula
BCR (%) = (building area x 100) / Site area
Floor Area Ratio (FAR) refers to the relationship between the area upon which the building is constructed and the building floor area that is usable or is allowed to be used.
FAR guidelines are determined by municipalities and generally differ from one locality to another.
Ratio will vary depending on the variation in population density, construction-related activities, growth patterns, and the nature of the building’s space or land.
What is Coverage?
The ratio of the building area divided by the land (site) area. Building area means the floor space of a building when looking down at it from the sky. Depending on the Land Use Zone category it is regulated within 60% – 100%, and a building has to be constructed within the specified maximum BCR ratio in the zone.
Coverage – a term typically defined in a land use scheme which describes the footprint of a building structure on a subject property, seen from directly above the subject property. In other words, the coverage is a percentage of the land area of the subject property, derived from calculating such area within the confines of the outer delineation of the footprint of all building structures on the subject property seen from directly above the subject property (i.e a 40% coverage on a site of 1000m² will be 400m² of area covered by buildings).
The following portions of buildings shall be disregarded in the calculation of coverage:
- Unroofed stoep, entrance steps and landing;
- Open balconies, retractable awnings;
- Cornices, chimneys, pergolas, water pipes, drain pipes and minor decorative features not projecting more than 500mm from the building wall;
- Eaves not projecting more than 1,0m from the wall of the building;
- A canopy erected on the street frontage of a shop;
- Electrical high and low tension chambers;
- The area covered by open air swimming pools
