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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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36 Comments
FTE'S in a phase project with multiple phases
We thought we had this all worked out for our project but it was a phased project and we are not trying to achieve Certification for all phases, so how do we count 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.? Do we count the FTE's by Phase, since the LEED app only applies to Phases 1 + 2? Nothing from Phase 3 is included in the LEED application. But the staff in phase 3 is using the the Breakroom, Wellness room and restrooms in the phase 3? Which credits do we count the whole space and which ones do we just count the areas that are includeded in the LEED?
Arvin/Darla: I am correct in my statement that “…The limit of the LEED project is Phase 1 + 2 only.
Must the Bike Rack location inside the LEED Boundary?
We have a project with a complicated site, and we have existing bike racks within 200 feet of the entrance but outside the official LEED boundary? Would this meet the requirement?
Hi Keelan,
If the bike racks are used by another building, you would need to show that there are enough to accomodate both FTEs. IF you can show this then I think it would not matter that they are outside of the LEED Boundary, though I am not positive.
Anyone have experience with this?
Yes, the bike racks can be outside the LEED boundary, as Emily explained. Make sure you meet the conditions of MPR Supplemental Guidance Revision #2, 9-1-2011, page 25, for when facilites used to meet a credit are outside the LEED boundary.
LEED CS Bicycle Storage-
In order to calculate Bicycle Racks at a Shopping Mall we need to consider the mall visitors as occupants?
We are using LEED CS v2.2
Regards
Yes, mall visitors and customers are considered transient occupants and must be included in the number of bike racks. Transient occupants do not need to be included in the calculation for showers - the showers are only needed for employees.
You'll need to estimate the number of transients for the mall. Page 58 of the 2.0 Core and Shell Reference Guide has more detail on how this is done. This version of CS doesn't give a default number for estimating transient users, but you could probably use the v2009 default numbers found in Appendix 1.
For General Retail, the default we can use for estimating occupancy is 1 transient person for every 130 square feet of the total project area (gross sf). The number for employees is the same in version 2009 and 2.0: 1 employee for every 550 sf.
Ref :NC v2.2_SSc4.2- Transient for Hotel Meeting Rooms
For the purpose of calculating Bike Racks, can we avoid considering persons coming for banquets/ meetings as Transients. The project is a five star hotel and meeting attendes are expected to wear at least semi formal attire. It is highly unlikely that they will ride bikes for such visits to Hotel.
If, we have to consider them, how to calculate their number ? The three banquet/ meeting rooms have capacity of fifty each.
We haven't seen projects being allowed to exclude occupants from bike rack calculations in situations where it is mainly a question of attire or custom, since part of the goal of LEED is to reward projects for shifting expectations and behavior. Also, given the multiple uses and functions that can take place in a hotel, the reviewer may not accept that argument.
However, there are several CIRs that did allow a hotels to assume that overnight guests would not be arriving by bike, but ruled that some transients could be expected to come by bike - see interpretation #3130 in the interpretations database. For more background on this, also see interpretations 2494, 2422, 2082, 1936, 3116, 1698, and 1766.
Mixed use: Residential w/ a commerical ground floor
In this senario, would I have to perform an augmented calc., or is the project considered to be "residential?"
Yes, in a mixed use building you need to calculate the # of racks for the commercial space based on 5% of the peak occupancy (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. and transients), and add that to the number you get for 15% of the residential occupancy. (See 2.2 reference guide page 56)
Since many ground floor commercial spaces are built only as a core and shell space until retail tenants move in later, you can always use the default FTE numbers found in the Core and Shell appendix 1.
For example, per the appendix 1, General Retail is assumed to have one employee per 550 sf of gross sf, and 1 transient per 130 gsf. (Restaurants have higher occupancy - 435sf per FTE and 95 sf per transient)
So for 10,000 sf of retail, we get 18.2 FTE and 76.9 transients. With no formula for calculating peak transients, we might assume that the peak number of transients is, say, 40% of 76.9 or 30.1. Our peak occupancy for bike racks would thus be 18.2 + 30.1 = 48.3, and 5% of that would be 2.4 which we round up to get 3 bike racks for the commercial spaces.
Showers are tricky. The residential occupants would have their own showers, and we don't have to provide any for the retail transients, but what about the retail FTE employees? In an all-commercial core and shell buildings we still have to provide showers for the estimated FTE.
In past version 2.2 mixed-use projects with core and shell retail spaces that made up less than 10% of the building gross sf, the building is considered overall as a "residential" building, but we still have to provide bike racks for the retail staff and transients based on the estimated occupancy, same as I described here. But since the owner does not control the build out of the small retail tenant improvements, the USGBC/ GBCI position has not required that showers be provided in the base building for those future retail employees as long as the building's tenant improvement guidelines encouraged the retail tenants to follow LEED guidelines for their build out and provide showers if possible.
Does that address your situation?
I have a similar project, retail ground floor (less than 10% building gross sf) with residential above. In version 2009, can I consider this a residential project and not provide showers for the future retail employees?
Christi, if this is a 2009 question, can you please post it to our SSc4.2 v2009 forum? Thanks.
Athletic Facility - FTE's
Trying to calculate transient 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.'s for an athletic facility that has a Field House and an Ice Hockey Rink. The peak situation would be a basketball game in the field house - that is where the most people will be attending (800 capacity). The rink only has 700 seats. It is not a likely scenario that an event will be happening in the Field House and Rink at the same time.
I have the seating count but am not sure what to do about the multiple locker rooms in the facility. If there's a game, only 2 locker rooms would be in use. Is that what I count, or should I count the total capacity of all of them?
See the last paragraph in the Birds-Eye View above about visitors and 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.'s. It's up to you to define what reasonable for average and peak occupancy of the building (it won't be as high as code occupancy). So if only two lockers rooms would be in use at peak, use that.
The FTE's would include building employees and part-time staff, (who need bike racks and showers). Spectators would not be part of the FTE - they'd be visitors (who need only bike racks, not showers).
Based on the program and use of the facility you'll want to decide whether regular users of the facility are considered FTEs or visitors - probably doesn't make a big difference, since you'll have plenty of showers.
Thanks, David - the Code occupancy count is very high, almost the entire student population of the college! I'll look at it again and make a decision on the occupancy.
Studio/Efficiency occupant
How many occupants in a studio/efficiency? Is one or two?
Since there is not a exact requirement - it's up to the design team's professional judgement to use a number that is realistic, and reasonable for the specific project.
Some projects have used 1 or 1.5 people for a studio, but if you think 2 is more accurate for the number of people who will live there then you should use that.
Some buildings may have more or less occupants than a regional average - retirement housing, student housing, low-income, or worker housing, for example, may be different. You'll need to explain who are the typical occupants in the building and what are your assumptions about the number of people who will live there.
FTEs in a campus setting
Are students counted as transients in a college setting for the purpose of calculating shower requirements? Students coming to the buiding for a single class and from housing on or near the campus are unlikely to use showers in a classroom building.
Yes, I would count them as transients in a classroom building. Staff with offices or others that work in the building all day would be the FTEs.
I was trying to exclude them all together for the shower calc since they would probably not use the shower facilities. I would definitely include them for the bike rack calc. Does this make sense? More importantly, how do you think GBCI will see it?
Makes sense and I think that GBCI will see it the same way. But only they can tell us that. Let us know how it goes.
Distance calculations
I´d like to know if the distance calculation should be done based on a pedestrian passageway, or on a straight linear distance. Couldn´t find any explanation on this on the Reference Guide.
Yes, it should be based on distance traveled by the pedestrian. If it were based on distance as a crow flies, then locations would be allowed that were quite inaccessible in practice—not a good solution.
LEED for Retail Credit Substitution
We are working on a retail project that was registered under NC 2.2 last year. We did not place any showers in the store because there was a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide ruling stating that we could substitute LEED for Retail credits for NC 2.2 credits. The LEED for Retail states that showers are not required, just a lockable room to change in. The CIR on 6/19/2008 states that a "project is allowed to use the credits as outlined in the LEED for Retail rating system as long as the pilot program is underway. Following the full balloting and adoption of the LEED for Retail rating system, the project would be required to switch from the NC 2.2 to the Retail rating system to use the credit requirements." Recently, the LEED for Retail program was accepted and is no longer considered a Pilot Program. Unfortunately, our store is at the end of construction and no showers were installed because we were following the credit substitution from the CIR (the program has been in a piloting stage for 2 + years so we didn't think it would be voted through anytime soon). Our project was constructed under the assumption that we could use this substitution and now we are too far in our document stage to switch over to LEED for Retail. Does this mean now we will not get this credit because the substitution is not valid?
If I'm not following properly, I apologize, but it sounds like the CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide is simply saying you have to change from using the pilot version of LEED-Retail to using the final version of LEED-Retail. I don't read it as saying that the substitution is invalid.
FTEs on multiple shifts
Does anyone have experience calculating FTEs on multiple shifts? The LEED guide says to use the peak shift only, but to account for shift overlap when determining peak building user. How is this overlap delineated exactly? This is a hospital building so each department times the shifts differently. Some employees use an 8 hour and others a 12 hour shift. Has anyone made sense of this?
I am picturing a spreadsheet in which you map out across 24 hours all the shifts and their associated FTEs. This seems like a simple solution, although with a big project just pinning down the data might be a trick.
We are addressing thison a project now. GBCI imagines that the maximum 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 the sum of the two shifts for the purposes of the bike rack count. Makes sense since somebody who rode their bike would not beable to leave until their shift was relieved. If you have staggered shifts, you will have to calculate the worst case scenario. I would think a table or graph would work well to document the numbers. Don't forget the transients.
FTE
can you all provide an 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. calculator? I seem to have lots of transient/visitors in my projects...it would be a helpful tool.
Sue, there is an 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. calc on LEED Online in the Occupant Usage Data Form, which we recommend using.
Can you please indicate where exactly the Occupant Usage Data Form is located?
I'm registered on Leed online for a V2.2 project and don't see this form and can't find it on the USGBC website either.
Thanks
Christopher, the previous discussion was referring to a form used in LEED Online v3 documentation for LEED 2009 projects.
This form is not used for NC v2.2, which uses LEED Online v2.
Shower Location Outside LEED Project Boundary
Is it necessary to include showers required for SS4.2 Alternative Transportation - Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms with the LEED Project Boundary??
Project Background: LEED project in question is a new classroom building on an existing college campus. The intent is to utilize showers located in a nearby( within 200 yards of main entrance) EXISTING building.
Our concern is that by including elements of an existing building within the LEED project boundary, we may open a can of worms impacting other LEED credits.
We hit on this point in the Checklists tab above: "Per numerous CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide rulings, showers can be located off-site within 200 yards of a building entrance as long as they are accessible to building occupants. For example, a building owner could provide occupants with free access to gym facilities nearby to comply with the credit requirements."
You would not have to alter the LEED project boundary to encompass such showers. I agree this would be a massive can of worms!
Hi Tristan. Re your reply, would 2 separate shower facilities meeting the required number of fixtures/spaces but still within 200 yards be acceptable. I'm assuming it would but I'd also like to hear your thoughts. Thanks.
Sounds acceptable to me, especially if there is clear signage or other means of informing bikers of both shower locations.
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