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Forum Categories BOMA 1996 - Office Buildings Question

BOMA 96 - Staircase Landing

Dominic Tremblay: Interlope Multimedia; March 7, 2024

I think I found conflicting answers to this question: How are staircase landings classified in BOMA 96? i know that the landing between two floors should be classified as MVP, but what about landings on the floor level? Do we classify them as MVP when inside a fireproof door? What if this door at a different location from one floor to the other? And finally, what if this staircase leads (on the ground floor) to an exit corridor leading outside?

Thank you!

David Fingret: Extreme Measures Inc.; March 7, 2024

Hi Dominic,

BOMA 1996 is a good but outdated standard that doesn't cover the vast amount of situations that the modern office standards do. In BOMA 1996, the entire stairwell, including the landings is generally included as a Major Vertical Penetration (MVP). The Standard states:

MAJOR VERTICAL PENETRATIONs shall mean stairs, elevator shafts, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts, and
the like, and their enclosing walls.

With this in mind, fireproof doors, and the location of doors doesn't really matter. Our interpretation is that you would simply include all stairs as MVP and if the stairs are enclosed by walls, include the entire stair enclosure. We always considered the landings to be part of the stair system and therefore part of MVP. If the staircase leads to an exit corridor then you can include the exit corridor or any circulation around the stairs themselves as Building Service Area.

I hope this helps,

David