The AEC glossary for architects and planners

Neighbourhood where daily needs are reachable in 15 minutes on foot.

Site-specific costs above standard build rates.

Ground floor uses that engage with the street.

Private or shared outdoor space for residents.

Woodland continuously present since 1600 (England).

US county reference for a parcel of land.

Hours of sunlight a window receives over a year.

LPA mechanism to remove permitted development rights.

Building Cost Information Service rates.

Net usable area divided by gross internal area.

UK government BIM mandate for public projects.

Unit of measure under the statutory BNG metric.

Network of water and vegetation features for resilience.

UK requirement to leave biodiversity 10% better post-development.

BRE guidance on site layout for daylight and sunlight.

UK environmental assessment method for buildings.

European daylight standard replacing BRE 209 metrics.

Required position of a building's front facade.

The maximum permitted three-dimensional volume of a building.

Office finished to a basic occupiable standard.

Tariff charged per sqm on new floorspace to fund infrastructure.

Statutory power to acquire land for public benefit.

Area of special architectural or historic interest.

Ratio of internal to external illuminance under overcast sky.

Number of dwellings per hectare of net residential land.

London Plan policy D3 density approach.

Statutory time for an LPA to decide a planning application.

Calculation of whether a development scheme makes enough profit, or can afford its land.

Designing for off-site fabrication.

DTM is bare earth, DSM includes buildings and trees.

Formal assessment of a major development's environmental effects.

Carbon emissions from materials, construction, and end of life.

Rating from A to G of a building's energy efficiency.

Identifier for a coordinate reference system.

Ratio of total building floor area to plot area.

Ground area occupied by a building.

Assessment of flood risk to and from a development.

Total expected sale or letting value of a completed scheme.

Open standard for encoding geographic features.

Floor area measured to the internal face of external walls.

Designated open land around major UK cities.

Building, monument, site, place, area or landscape with heritage significance.

Open BIM data model standard.

England's primary deprivation measure.

US Green Building Council rating system.

Volunteer-led UK climate emergency design guide.

Light Detection and Ranging point cloud data.

Council body responsible for planning decisions in its area.

ONS census geography of about 1,500 people.

Method for assessing landscape and visual effects of development.

England Building Reg standards for accessible homes.

The overall three-dimensional bulk of a building.

UK regulation banning letting below minimum EPC ratings.

Off-site fabrication of building units.

Satellite measure of green vegetation.

Usable internal area excluding columns, lifts, and toilets.

England's primary planning policy document.

Crowdsourced open geographic database.

Application for principle of development with reserved matters.

Voluntary fabric-first low-energy building standard.

Number of route choices through an urban area.

Development you can do without applying for planning permission.

Initial contaminated land assessment from records.

Challenge to a refusal heard by the Planning Inspectorate.

UK term for FAR. Total floor area divided by plot area.

Map showing spatial application of local plan policies.

Paid LPA discussion before submitting a planning application.

Lighter-touch consent for certain permitted development.

Developer's profit divided by total development cost.

Developer's profit divided by gross development value.

London index of public transport accessibility, 0 to 6b.

Legal rights to cross land on foot, horse or bike.

Treatment of contaminated land before development.

Detailed matters approved after outline consent.

Quality of living conditions for nearby residents.

Eight-stage UK industry framework for building projects.

Strategic Definition. Establish best means of delivering the client's needs.

Concept Design. Architectural concept, outline structural and MEP.

Legal right to receive natural light through defined apertures.

Value a developer can pay for land after costs and profit.

LPA's view on what an Environmental Impact Assessment must cover.

Legal agreement for planning obligations attached to a UK consent.

NPPF test that steers development to lowest flood risk areas.

Required minimum distance between a building and a site boundary.

Base building delivered without internal fit-out.

Site identified in a local plan for specific development.

Footprint of buildings as a percentage of plot area.

Quantitative analysis of spatial configuration.

Standard for indexing earth observation data.

Drainage that mimics natural processes.

UK design standard for sustainable drainage.

Building substantially taller than its surroundings.

Sensitivity test of viability to a single variable.

Unique reference for a registered title at HM Land Registry.

Visual and character assessment of an area's built form.

Order protecting individual trees, groups, or woodland.

Compact, mixed-use development around high-frequency transit.

Temperature uplift of urban areas vs surroundings.

England's classification system for permitted land uses.

LPA's list of required documents to validate an application.

Test that a scheme can be delivered while meeting policy.

Percentage of skylight reaching a window from an obstructed sky.

Total CO2e over a building's life.

Total cost over a building's life including operation and demolition.

Text format for vector geometry.