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You can lead a horse to water…
…But you can’t make it drink. In other words, bike racks and showers will probably not be enough to encourage biking in an area that’s unfriendly to bicyclists. If you’re thinking of pursuing this credit, first consider the realities of the neighborhood around your project. Is it realistic that building occupants will ride bicycles and make use of the bike racks and storage or the shower facilities? It’s important to consider whether the intent of this credit will bear out in reality or if your resources might be better allocated elsewhere.
There are some additional costs
This credit entails the costs of purchasing and installing the bike racks, as well as showers and changing facilities if you decide to provide those onsite. For smaller projects, the additional...
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10 Comments
The Square Footage
Under LEED-NC2.2 SS-C2.0 the square footage definition stated
"The square footage of a building is the total area in square feet of all rooms including corridors, elevators, stairwells and shaft spaces. Only 2 stories of a parking structure may be counted as part of building square footage. Surface parking (only 1 story of parking) cannot count as part of the building square footage; this is to ensure efficient use of land adjacent to the total building footprintBuilding footprint is the area on a project site used by the building structure, defined by the perimeter of the building plan. Parking lots, landscapes, and other nonbuilding facilities are not included in the building footprint.. Both structured and stacked parking are allowable in square footage calculations".
Now under LEED v2009 the same definition does not mention nothing about parking structures. The question is do we still consider for LEED v 2009 the same square foot definition as LEED v2.2
thanks.
victoria toplas replied May 14 2010
Look at the BD+C CS Appendix 1:
"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. is defined as the sum of all areas on all floors of a building included within the outside faces of the exterior wall including all floor penetrations that connect one floor to another. This can be determined by taking the building foot print and multiplying it by the number of floors in the building. Projects which contain underground and/or structured parking, may exclude that area from the gross square footage used for the calculation. Other spaces such as common areas, mechanical spaces, and circulation should be included in the gross square footage of the building."
Using default occupancy v/s estimated occupancy
Appendix 1 of the BD+C Reference guide states that "if the buildings and circumstances are not covered in this appendix, provide documentation for comparable buildings demonstrating average gross square foot per occupant..."
Something similar appears on the PI Form 3: "Actual Building occupancy is unknown and the defaultoccupancy counts do not adress the LEED building type. The project team will base occupancy on an alternative methodology"
For a building in Mexico city, 250 gross sf per occupant seems to be a very low occupant density. Of course, this depends on (and here is my first question) what is the definition of gross area? Does it includes below grade parking and all other enclosed spaces? and, what alternative methodologies are acceptable for using a different occupant density?
re: Using default occupancy v/s estimated occupancy
On page 31 of the MPR Supplemental Guidance, it give the definition of gross floor area as : (based on ASHRAE definition) "Sum 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 (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements must be taken from the exterior 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‐enclosed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excrenches, and chimneys."
We don't have specific approved methodologies for using an alternative occupant density. If your building doesn't fit the defaults, we ask that you propose an alternative number, reasoning for that number, and evidence/documentation to back up that reasoning. It's easy and reliable to use comparable buildings, and so we suggest that route.
Jana Schulz replied Apr 13 2010
Hi Cara, thanks for your response. The use of "Basement" is unclear.
Thinking in two hipothetical cases:
Case 1: Core & Shell Building, 50,000 sqf office area. 50,000 sqf underground parking. If underground parking is considered as "basement", Gross Floor Area = 100,000 sqf. Default Occupancy = 400.
Case 2: Core & Shell Building, 50,000 sqf office area. 50,000 sqf surface parking, zero underground parking. Surface parking is non-enclosed thus, Gross Floor Area = 50,000 sqf. Default Occupancy = 200.
Obviously, one of the calculations above is wrong. Which one is it? and what is the correct way to understand it?. What uses are included in "basement" according to ASHRAE definition?
Basements and occupancy
Hey Jana -
It makes sense in most cases to exclude parking square footage from occupancy calcs, or use a very low default occupancy count.
USGBC has not defined 'basement' - I'm not sure about ASHRAE. I know that for us, it's the fact that the basement is a built, enclosed space that matters - the use of the space is not important the way our policies are currently written.
Hopefully this gives you a level of understanding that you need.
Jana Schulz replied Apr 16 2010
Cara, does this mean that in case 1 above, we shuld exclude the parking from the calculations? Doing that we would have only 50,000 sqf office area, with a resulting 200 default occupancy.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Apr 18 2010
That is how I would read the response from Cara Mae, yes.
Hansong Sun replied Apr 27 2010
hello
I have a problem about the number of the bicycle storage.
In our project, client give me the data of person number: 6m2/person(retail), I think it is 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., if every one stay 2 hour everyday, so the all building users should be 4 times about the FTE, but as the index of 6m2/person, two person can not stay in the same time, that is to say, when one person levave, another person can reach. so I think the bicycle storage should also use the FTE. If use all building users for the bicycle storage, bicycle storage will be given more than the fact several times.
thanks
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Apr 28 2010
Is your project larger or smaller than 300,000 ft2? The credit requirements are a ittle different for each case.
The requirements are clear that you must use 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. for showers and changing rooms, but number of building occupants for bicycle storage.
I think you need to double-check your occupancy numbers. Those are very high compared to the default numbers given in the CS Appendix in the LEED Reference Guide. The Reference Guide also distinguishes between employees and transients.
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