From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,"'U.S. Metric Association'"
<[email protected]>
Subject: RE: [USMA:39168] Re: Pure SI for area in UK?
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 21:45:27 +0100
Steve missed the most important point that I was making. From 1-Aug-2007
it
will be mandatory that estate agents supply the "useful floor area" of a
house that has four or more bedrooms in square metres. Square feet will be
optional and will not appear on the "Energy Certificate".
A typical energy certificate is shown
http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/856/ExampleofEPC_id1504856.pdf. The
format of the certificate and how the various parameters are calculated is
laid down by law. The energy inspector will have very little room for
maneuver.
Once HIP's are the norm, the energy assessor will have to show how his
calculations were made. The law requires that he use metric units for all
his measurements, so if your next estate agent is not very good with a
calculator, it will be the imperial measurement that will be all over the
place, not the metric measurement.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Stephen Humphreys
Sent: 23 July 2007 20:31
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:39168] Re: Pure SI for area in UK?
"Until now, it has been unusual for estate agents to quote the floor area
of
properties that they are advertising"
However without exception Estate agents advertise the length and widths of
room. In most cases this is in feet and inches only but sometimes a
bracketed meter amount is included.
I remember when I sold my last house the first agents I used did this and
apparently my living room was 23 ft long (33.1 metres). Obviously someone
wasn't very good with the calculator!
So with houses sqft tends not to get used but instead a LxW figure is
quoted
which I think is a better way of describing a room (system aside)
Also - office space is "mainly" in sq ft - but you are right in saying that
some show "sq m" (although very very few and this tends to accomany the sq
ft size).
Office space and house dimensions seem to be an area where metric has not
really made in-roads, probably because you tend not to buy a house by its
dimension.
>From: "Martin Vlietstra" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
>Subject: [USMA:39167] Re: Pure SI for area in UK?
>Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 19:50:13 +0100
>
>The situation in the UK is a "Very British Mess"
>
>
>
>Sometimes office space is advertised in square feet, sometimes in square
>metres, sometimes in both. Farming subsidies (which are set by the EU)
are
>paid per hectare so farmers know exactly how large their farms are in
>hectares. Of course, the moment some journalists see the word "hectare",
>they whip out their calculators and give an Imperial equivalent to a
>ridiculous number of decimal places. The Farmers Weekly on-line magazine
>is
>a right mess when it comes to land sales, but all of the figures that I
saw
>regarding British crop yields were in metric units (even though many had
>Imperial units in brackets).
>
>
>
>Next month sees the introduction of Home Information Packs in England and
>Wales. What this means is that before you sell a house, you must get
>together a dossier that has an "Energy Certificate" and copies of various
>other papers regarding your property. One of the mandatory features of
the
>Energy Certificate is the estimated energy required to heat the property
to
>a specified temperature, taking into account the method of construction,
>the
>"useful floor area in square metres" and the energy per square metre.
>Until
>now, it has been unusual for estate agents to quote the floor area of
>properties that they are advertising. (Typically they are advertised as
>being 3/4 reception rooms, 3/4 bedrooms).
>
>
>
>The EU Commission working party has stated its position regarding the
>proposed amendment to the EU directive on units of measure. Basically,
it
>seems that the 31-Dec-2009 deadline will be removed, but that the
directive
>will be extended to included areas of "customer protection" in addition
to
>"commercial purposes". I understand this to mean that it will be
mandatory
>for advertising literature to have metric units. Also, the acre is being
>dropped form the list of imperial units that might be used.
>
>
>
> _____
>
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf
>Of Mike Millet
>Sent: 23 July 2007 03:17
>To: U.S. Metric Association
>Subject: [USMA:39150] Re: Pure SI for area in UK?
>
>
>
>I don't think it's gone quite totally. I hear lots of references to the
>acre
>in various BBC shows such as My Family and some of the earlier ones.
>
>If I recall correctly, there is still some confusion as to whether or not
>the UK uses square foot or square meter for things like office space.
>
>At least most other references on the shows are in SI though. I
remember
>one episode of My Family where the husband was mad because the neighbors
>had
>taken ten centimeters of his property and built a fence.
>
>Mike
>
>On 7/22/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
><mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote:
>
>I noticed in this BBC News science article that only the hectare is used
>for
>area.
>It looks like non-SI units for area are either a vanishing breed or gone
>altogether:
>
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6909249.stm
>
>Perhaps UK readers can confirm.
>
>Ezra
>
>
>
>
>--
>"The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?"
>
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