CI-2009 PIf3: Occupant and Usage Data

The regularly occupied space entered for IEQc8.1 & 8.2 should be similar. The form will prompt you for explanation if the areas deviate from PIf3 by more that 10%.

Regularly occupied PIf3 17,706 sf
Regularly occupied EAp2 14,164 sf

The difference is more than 20% but none of the forms prompts us to take further steps.

The same happens with the unconditioned area.

GH

I was just referring to IEQc8.1 & 8.2. I am not as familiar with the EAp2 in regard the regularly occupied area discrepancies. But, is there a reason why they are different in your project?

In LEED HC, there are columns for outpatients and inpatients. I would list them separately into each column so you can get the water calcs right. PI f3-2 is just for staff, you'll report patients in PIF3-3. There isn't a PIF3-4.

In LEED NC, I would keep outpatient and inpatients separate again to get the water calcs right. Surgical inpatients use very little domestic water where outpatients use more. Typically we report the inpatient daily water use at the inpatient unit and not in the surgical department. But we've not registered just a surgical addition separately from inpatient sleep units.

We are glad to have any insight

Start with the numbers that the owner is giving you. Then ask if this is a department expansion. Are they increasing the number of ORs due to a rise in surgical volumes? Or are they shifting things around for other reasons? You may have to go back to the master plan or a CON to determine this. Your project manager should understand that.

How is the 2nd floor intended to be used in the future? I think you have to make a reasonable stab at future occupancy but other posts discuss this better than I can.

If the floor isn't occupied on a full time bases, where are the staff members the rest of the time? What is the anticipated volume? Average length of surgical procedures? The owner has a ton of data on these things.

Clearly the ORs will drive the occupancy numbers for your calculations but you have to remember to include all the invisible support people. The CSR people who stock the sterile core areas, EVS staff who do the terminal cleanings, maintenance people servicing the AHUs, and others. These folks likely won't be assigned to your project space full time but some of their time is spent there and it it likely more than people realize.

I find it helps to think a little bigger and consider the overall hospital operations when determining occupancy. The department getting the new space is pretty easy because you have direct access to that manger. But, the facilities guys aren't getting new office space in my projects but they are all over the buildings all day. So, we plan on having 1 facility person in each building every day. Then when needed, we divide up that person's time for the project.

For documentation, provide a back up document. Explain how the scrub rooms aren't occupied except by staff going into the OR and that you have counted them in the OR. Explain how the storage and sterile core areas are stocked and who is stocking them.

Since there aren't specific rules on how to estimate peak occupancy, one thing to remember is we don't have to use the maximum possible occupancy that is allowed by the building code for a particular room or space - that would over-estimate the number of people using the building.

In this case you'd want to look at your typical peak occupancy for the whole building, not just one space such as the gym. The key is figuring out whether those people are already being counted in your students & staff, or if those 10 events a year bring in 1000 outside visitors. Who are the 1000 people in the gym?
For example, is there an after-school game ten times a year the gym when the rest of the building is fairly empty? Or is there a monthly event during school hours when the gym might be full with students and 200 visiting parents?

If it’s the after-school game scenario, you could average those spikes in visitors out over the year like you have to account for their water use over the course of the year. You may have enough bike parking to meet the 5% requirement of the game-time occupancy, if the rest of the building is reasonably empty, but confirm that.

If there is a regularly occurring event where you typically have 200 visitors in addition to your full FTE count of students and staff, then you’d need to provide additional bike parking for 5% of that peak (10 spaces). Water use would be estimated similar to the after-school game: 200 visitors x 10 times a year / 250 days of operation = 8 visitors.

It’s easy to over-think this number – you’ll probably have some combination of these scenarios, so ball-park estimates are probably fine. The intent is to account for the water use of all the people who come to the building over the course of a year, and to provide enough bike racks at the busiest moment that occurs with reasonable predictability. (As an analogy, the average daily maximum temperature in July might be 95 degrees F, but the historical record is 108 F. We’d use 95, not 108 as the “peak.”)

Loretta,

Since the number for “Peak building users” in PI Form 3 is linked to SSc4.2, SSc4.3, SSc4.4, and WEp1, one way to address your situation is to exclude the children in the PI Form and add them back in to the WEp1calcs by creating a special “fixture group” that includes them for their water use.

You’ll want to make sure that adjustments you make to the occupancy numbers trickle down to the different forms properly. In the PI form 3, under Occupant Information, select the option for "includes non-standard occupancy patterns" and you should get a Complex Occupancy table to enter more specific occupancy numbers for your situation. Make sure you provide a narrative explaining your assumptions and reasons, and indicate here if you are excluding the children from the “Total building users at peak moment” and adding them back in a WEp1 fixture group.

Does that make sense?

Yes. That's what I was looking for. Thank you.

LEED uses an ASHRAE definition of gross floor areaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.) (see hyperlink).

That definition says we should "Exclude non‐enclosed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways..." so it sounds like your exterior corridor would not be included in the gross floor area.

Hi Tanja,
You should not include or exclude spaces in PIf3 because it would make it difficult to achieve certain credits. But, I do have a couple tips:
1) check out the IEQ Space Matrix to help determine which spaces can be categorized as regularly occupied, and what spaces can be excluded from certain credits. ( http://new.usgbc.org/resources/eq-space-type-matrix )
2) For the views credit, spaces can sometimes be excluded if they have security requirements or are used for video conferencing (or any other justifyable reason where the usage of the space would be hindered by daylight.
3) For the daylight credit, spaces can be similarly excluded. However, the the security argument is less viable because spaces can use strategies such as solar tubes and translucent panels to allow daylight into a space without compromising security.
4) For any excluded regularly occupied space, you will need to provide a narrative justifying why those spaces are excluded from credit compliance.

Thanks,
We have looke through the IEQ metrix and we have decided to "include" all areas in PIf3 as regular occupied spacesOccupied Spaces are defined as enclosed spaces that can accommodate human activities. Occupied spaces are further classified as regularly occupied or non-regularly occupied spaces based on the duration of the occupancy, individual or multi-occupant based on the quantity of occupants, and densely or non-densely occupied spaces based upon the concentration of occupants in the space., even the concert and congress halls and then in IEQc8.2 we are showing what areas have been excluded and why in "special circumstances" since the calculation will not be right otherwise.

Marcio, seems to me that you should be consistent and enter them as FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories..

Kay, hard to say.... double-check that every input has a value in it, even a null value. Check that you have the most up to date form that doesn't have bugs.... contact GBCI if all else fails.

Thanks Tristan, you are always so helpful.
Have a great afternoon.

Michael, look for the IEQ Space Matrix in our Resources tab on IEQc8.2.

Dominique,
I'm assuming the reviewer advised you to change the firefighters to "residents" so that the water use calculations would be more accurate. Using "residents" instead of FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. assumes those people are taking showers and using water as an apartment resident would do, rather than how an office worker would do.

It also sounds like you have 3 shifts with 5 firefighters on each shift. Is that correct? If so, I think the reviewer would want you to list 15 residents (three shifts of five people) since the water use per day would be most like an apartment with 15 people. In your situation, it's probably more important to count the number of people using the building than the number of beds.

If there are people who use the building more like an office worker, where they are working a regular schedule but not bathing or cooking, than those people should be counted as an FTE.

If you have short term visitors to the building, those would be considered transients.

You might want to check “Additional Details” at the bottom of the form and use the narrative box to explain your response to the reviewer’s comments. You can describe your number of firefighters per shift, number of shifts, and any other workers or transient visitors to the building.

Hope that helps!

Courtney - The reg occ space and unconditioned space does not need to add up to the GSF of the space.

Andy, what was the design review comment, and what was it in response to?

The MPR Supplemental Guidance for MPR#2 does say buildings need to be "permanent" - so temporary or movable buildings can't earn certification. Your situation is unique and complicated enough that you probably need to contact GBCI and get their official opinion.

Thanks david!
It is a very complicated situation! I have already asked GBCI, but no response yet..

did you have a reply already on this issue? I would say that the permanent facility is build for 30.000 with a temporary facility to expand to 45.000. An other theory could be that future plans are not secure for now..so it's build for 45.000.

Have you tried utilizing the Rating System Selection Guidance on the new USGBC website - http://new.usgbc.org/leed/certification/guidance? USGBC took the previous September 2011 Rating System Selection Guide document and made it into a website. Check out Step 3 and the 40/60 rule. It states: "If a rating system is appropriate for more than 60% of the gross floor areaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.) of a LEED project building or space, then that rating system should be used."

It might help to think in terms of "gross square footageSum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 7.5 ft or greater. It is measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings, but excluding covered walkways, open roofed-over areas, porches and similar spaces, pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, and similar features." and what support spaces are included in the gsf of the office space: circulation, restrooms, mechanical rooms and storage on an office floor is usually included, so you don’t need to split those out into their own space name rows. Structured parking would not be included.

Since the sf of “Regularly occupied area” is linked to the IEQc8 Daylight and Views credits, it’s common to exclude those support spaces in that column and list a number more like the net square footage for that column of the table. Once you get to the EQc8 credit forms, you still have another chance to indicate the area of regularly occupied space that needs daylight, which often excludes specific spaces such as copy rooms, file rooms, server rooms, etc.

Since you have a core & shell situation where you might not have that level of detail, you could probably use the office space gsf for the Gross Area column and then assume 85% of that will be net sf for the Regularly Occupied Area column. Unconditioned Area might be vertical shafts.

In general, it’s less important to be extremely precise in your calculations and sub-areas, and more important to be consistent across the forms.

I would push back on the comment that “residential occupants are any occupants which reside in the project building, regardless of the length of stay” for your short term staying personnel in your narrative. This does not jive with the way that hospitality projects deal with their guests who are considered transients, which seems to be what you have. Since you have actual occupancy data, you have a good justification to make your case. Consider looking at Addendum ID#100001069 - https://www.usgbc.org/leedinterpretations/LISearch.aspx?liaccessid=10000... - for additional thoughts on hospitality occupant calculations and the use of historical occupancy numbers.

Thank you MIchelle - the LEED interpretationLEED Interpretations are official answers to technical inquiries about implementing LEED on a project. They help people understand how their projects can meet LEED requirements and provide clarity on existing options. LEED Interpretations are to be used by any project certifying under an applicable rating system. All project teams are required to adhere to all LEED Interpretations posted before their registration date. This also applies to other addenda. Adherence to rulings posted after a project registers is optional, but strongly encouraged. LEED Interpretations are published in a searchable database at usgbc.org. is helpful. We suspected our project type would present challenges in regard to occupancy since it doesn't perfectly fit in the categories provided by LEED. I think this will help us to better explain our reasoning.

The LEED interpretationLEED Interpretations are official answers to technical inquiries about implementing LEED on a project. They help people understand how their projects can meet LEED requirements and provide clarity on existing options. LEED Interpretations are to be used by any project certifying under an applicable rating system. All project teams are required to adhere to all LEED Interpretations posted before their registration date. This also applies to other addenda. Adherence to rulings posted after a project registers is optional, but strongly encouraged. LEED Interpretations are published in a searchable database at usgbc.org. mentions that hotel guests should be treated as residents ("Fixture use assumptions for hotel guests follow the fixture assumptions for residential occupants"), and the day use guests (who are not sleeping there but maybe there for lunch? I'm picturing a resort type hotel with amenities to attract visitors) are considered visitors. Brooke - it sounds like your description is that the soldiers are sleeping in the barracks, and therefore would indeed be using the showers and other fixtures like residents, correct?

Yes - they do sleep and shower at the facility just as a hotel guest would. The interpretation uses the phase transient occupants - so you think they should all be considered residents?

Residents makes the most sense when you think about how they use the building. For most projects, transient occupants are only there for a short amount of time in the span of a day (think clients visiting a consultant's office for a meeting, or students in a university building for a class) and only half of them are expected to use the flush fixtures once a day (0.5 uses/transient-day). I think most folks who stay in hotels use the potty more than 0.5 times/day, right? :-)

Yes - that makes sense from the point of view of the WE credits but looking at Site credits for bicycle storage and changing rooms it is unlikely a guest would bring their bike along if they are only going to be there a few days.
I haven't done any hospitality LEED projects - are hotels guests calculated as residents?
Thanks for your help & opinions!

I want to clarify that the reference I made above is to an addendum item, not an LEED InterpretationLEED Interpretations are official answers to technical inquiries about implementing LEED on a project. They help people understand how their projects can meet LEED requirements and provide clarity on existing options. LEED Interpretations are to be used by any project certifying under an applicable rating system. All project teams are required to adhere to all LEED Interpretations posted before their registration date. This also applies to other addenda. Adherence to rulings posted after a project registers is optional, but strongly encouraged. LEED Interpretations are published in a searchable database at usgbc.org..

I am working on a hospitality project now and hotel guests are treated as transient occupants. A difference is made between the peak transients and daily average for SSc4.2 vs. WEp1/c3. Look at the linkages to the credits on the Pif3 form for more on the connections.

Peak is calculated at 100% occupancy times 1.5 people per room for a hotel times the number of rooms. Daily average is calculated at 60% occupancy or historical data (per Addendum) times 1.5 people per room for a hotel times the number of rooms. Day visitors (like people who are at the hotel to attend a conference but are not staying there) are added to daily average transients of the hotel guests as calculated above. You might want to also check out another addendum - ID#100001070 - https://www.usgbc.org/leedinterpretations/LISearch.aspx?liaccessid=10000... for more on fixture usage assignment for WEp1/c3.

One key to classifying a particular user group as transients or residents is to look at what each approach assumes about water use, bike racks, parking, and energy use and see if that fits the likely use of the building. You can always use different fixture groups to reflect different water use, so you might need to dig into the WEp1 guidance document to see how retail customers and transients have different water use assumptions such as # of flushes per day.

These usage patterns can make a difference in whether we're providing enough facilities to meet the "level of service" for LEED, but we've also seen inaccurate FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. assumptions change the balance of plug loads, internal heat gains from occupants & lighting to the point where energy performance took a hit, or water treatment systems had problems.

So, after reading both LEED addendas, I am still confused! Should hotel guests count as tranisents or residents?

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

If the occupants are staying over night, they should be considered residents, regardless of if they stay one night or 6 months. The "resident" classification defines how the occupant will use the space. Someone staying overnight will use space the same way as someone staying for 6 months. Remember that the occupancy calculations look at the occupancy of a building over a typical 24 hour day. Transients would be any visitors that are there for a few hours or less, not staying over night. Note that for transients, retail customers and students/visitors have different plumbing fixture usage rates.

I understand you need use the fixture usage patterns for residents for hotel guests for the WE credits, but in terms of Plf 3 form only do you list # of average hotel guest under Transients or Residents?

They should be counted as residents.

You can input the number of residents at the bottom of the form. And, your FTEs will be "0".

If my FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. is "0" I don't meet minimal occupancy and can't be certiifed?

Ah! You are right! I have a project in a similar situation with only residents, and I just noticed the PIf3 form reads "N". There is another similar comment under the FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. discussion board, but with no answer.
http://www.leeduser.com/topic/calculating-ftes
If anybody has a solution to this problem of meeting minimum FTE in an all residential building, please speak up.

The policy is that you can certify a building with 0 FTEs, you just can't earn any points via IEQ credits.

That said, it seems to me on a common-sense basis that this rule should not apply to a building like this one. Or perhaps it should be certified under LEED for Homes, especially if there are kitchens in the building used by the residents, and it's low-rise.

No kitchens and it is 4 stories and over 250,000 square feet. It is a military barracks with rooms, showers/bathrooms, and a few common areas.

Make sure you include a narrative somewhere in the project description or PI forms that explains why your occupancy is all residents, and no FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories.. You could also include that explanation in the optional narrative boxes in the EQ credits.

See response from GBCI below:

From: "No reply GBCI"

Thank you for contacting the Green Building Certification Institute about how to fill in PIF3 for a barracks building. I've looked at your form but nothing is filled in so far. For 'Space Usage' check 'US fed' and 'Residential' and for 'principal project building activity', select "LodgingLodging are facilities that provide overnight accommodations to customers or guests, including hotels, motels, inns and resorts.: Dormitory". You will not be asked about FTEs and the project is definitely eligible to pursue IEQ credits.

I hope that helps, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to use the contact form at http://www.gbci.org/contactus and select "Follow up to GBCI Response," inputting your case number from this email's subject line.

Sorry, this question was meant for the NC 2009 rating system

You're in the right place. For critical mass purposes, the PI forums are combined under one rating system, and they appear as CI.

Jean-Baptiste,
For Industrial Facilities: Warehouses & Storage the IEQ Space Matrix is divided into “active” and “inactive” storage and the footnote 1 tells us to use our best judgment in deciding how to classify these spaces due to their varied nature. For inactive storage, several of the IEQ credits don’t apply, but for active storage they do.

We’ve earned IEQ6.1 Controlability of Lighting in an industrial facility by providing task lighting and controls for zones where the tasks require higher levels of visual acuity, such as doing paperwork, inspecting or sorting materials, adjusting machinary, etc. and providing non-controlled, ambient lightingLighting in a space that provides for general wayfinding and visual comfort, in contrast to task lighting, which illuminates a defined area to facilitate specific visual work. for areas of tasks such as pallet stacking, circulation, and material storage. We didn’t earn the thermal comfort credits, and daylighting with skylights was considered. It may be possible to provide localized conditioning with fans or radiant heaters in places where the staff spends time between tasks, or while they are operating machinery.

Depending on your situation and how frequently the stock rotates, you may end up classifying some areas as active storage and some areas as inactive, and use very targeted/ localized lighting and thermal comfort controls. You probably won’t be able to earn all the IEQ credits, but some may be achievable.