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Existing building?
If an existing building plays a starring role in your project, it’s a good candidate for this credit, which rewards the reuse of buildings and their structural components. In this way you can reduce the energy- and resource-intensive manufacturing of new materials, while prolonging the enjoyment of a building’s character and history. If the existing building plays only a small role, on the other hand, it is less likely to qualify for this credit, although it may contribute to materials reuse credits.
If a project includes new construction in addition to building restoration, the project is only eligible for the credit if the floor area of the new construction is no more than two times the floor area of the retained existing structure. A LEED for Core and Shell project can earn...
Step-by-step credit help
Got the gist of the LEED credit but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Members get:
- Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
- Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
- Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
- Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
- All checklists organized by project phase.
- On-the-fly suggestions on useful items from the Documentation Toolkit, Resources, and Credit Language.
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Credit language straight from USGBC
Need to check up on the exact LEED credit language from the LEED Rating System on the fly? LEEDuser includes the verbatim language. Members get:
- Easy access to the official LEED credit language with just a couple of clicks.
- On the jobsite without your bulky LEED Reference Guide? Check up on the credit language details here.
- Credit language content is used by permission of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Your credit-by-credit reference library
Why waste time chasing down referenced standards and supporting resources when LEEDuser links you directly to the ones you need? LEEDuser has gathered all the best tools out there and organized them by credit for easy reference. Members get links to:
- Organizations that can give information or help on a credit.
- Standards or studies that are key reference points for credits and prerequisites.
- Articles that help explain important topics.
- Key documents or references for credit inputs.
- Software tools you can use to run calculations or simulations.
Documentation Toolkit
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:
- Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
- Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
- Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
- Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
- Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
- Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.
5 Comments
Documentation Requirements
In the LEED User documentation toolkit they describe using elevations to verify the exisiting / new calculations. I can see how these would be necessary for calculating surface areas, but as best I can tell they are not an upload requirement for LEED documentation. Is it something the LEED reviewer sometimes requests? I am trying to anticipate how "presentation worthy" our surface area studies need to be. Thanks.
Hi Robyn,
Sometimes the easiest way to think about this is to look at it from the reviewer's perspective. For the reviewer, they have a relatively short amount of time to understand the intricacies of a building that they've never seen or thought about before. The drawings that you submit are the prime communication tool that they reviewer has to rely on.
As such, yes- elevations are critical, as are full sets of plans, site plan, and a photo or rendering. Don't worry about your elevations being all glossy- whatever you used to communicate with your contractor or client is usually just fine for communicating with a reviewer.
Robyn,
You would provide the elevations under the Project Information Form 4 section, along with your other general project docs like floor plans, site plans, sections, narratives, etc.
different requirements for CS
In the CS Reference Guide it says the floor area of new construction under this rating system can be up to 6 times the existing flooarea.
As far as I see this is not mentioned in your Birds Eye View
Best regards
Rober, that is the very first item shown under the "Action Steps" diagram in the Bird's Eye View above, no?
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