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Making integrative design measurable
Update: USGBC has closed Pilot Credits 5 and 6 to new project registrants as of 1/12/11.
This prerequisite (PC5) and accompanying credit (PC6) were introduced to elevate integrative design to specific, actionable and measurable steps in the design process rather than assume that project teams will engage in integrative design in a meaningful way.
Developed for health care
The Green Guide for Health Care developed the initial language for this credit; further refinements occurred through the LEED for Healthcare development process, including collaboration with the LEED Steering Committee and its Management Subcommittee. Refinements included alignment with the ANSI Market Transformation to Sustainability Guidelines Standard March 2007. Pilot Credit 5 is derived from the draft LEED for Healthcare ID Prerequisite 1: Integrative Project Planning & Design.
D&C rating systems
Although developed in a health care context, PC5 and PC6 are open via IDc1 to all projects using these LEED 2009 rating systems: NC, CS, CI, and Schools. Since they are actual credits in LEED for Healthcare, they can't be pursued as pilot credits in that system.
Credit Submittals
General:
- Register for Pilot Credit(s) here.
- Register a username at LEEDuser.com, and participate in online forum
- Submit feedback survey; supply PDF of your survey/confirmation of completion with credit documentation
Credit Specific:
Currently, credit submittals have not been finalized; as the pilot continues, these require-ments will evolve. At this time, please submit one to two pieces of documentation to sup-port your claims, and assist in the development of the submittals.
Both credits
- List of decisions proposed during the design charrette, compared with the final design decisions
- List of paid/contracted team members, along with the dates for meet-ings/construction/participation
Pilot Credit 5
- Document the Preliminary LEED Meeting, which must happen no later than 50% Design Development. Clarify whether the identified four key project team mem-bers is derived from the list under Integrative Project Team and actually is the In-tegrative Project Team.
- Preliminary LEED Action Plan and Checklist; participants in the Preliminary LEED meeting (names and project roles/responsibilities)
- For Integrative Project Team: require a minimum of 4 PLUS the Owner/Owner’s representative (change from 4 including Owner/Owner’s rep). Include roster of In-tegrative Project team with names and project roles/responsibilities, along with a log of participation
- A mission statement that addresses triple bottom line considerations; recom-mended that the triple bottom line considerations be carried over into this more generic Integrative design process.
Pilot Credit 6
- Ensure that your project is using the most recent version of the ANSI MTS Guideline
- Conduct and document regular meetings with project team, for a minimum of 12 meetings with the integrative design team
Additional Questions
- How cost-effective was pursuing this credit, in relation to other credits?
- Are these strategies you’ve already pursued on projects prior to this submission?
- Are there any professionals not represented in our list for an integrative project team?
USGBC
Excerpted from LEED Pilot Credit Library
COPYRIGHT © 2011 BY THE U.S. GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVEDPilot Credit 5: Preliminary Integrative Project Planning & Design
Intent
To maximize opportunities for integrative, cost-effective adoption of green design and construction strategies. To utilize innovative approaches and techniques for green design and construction.
Requirements
(This is a prerequisite and must be completed if projects plan on pursuing Credit 6)
Use cross discipline design and decision making, beginning in the programming and pre-design phase. At a minimum, ensure the following process:
- Preliminary Rating Goals. As early as practicable and preferably before Schematic Design, conduct a Preliminary LEED meeting including a minimum of four key project team members, including the Owner or Owner’s representative. As part of the meeting, create a LEED® action plan that, at a minimum, includes the following:
- The targeted LEED award level (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum);
- The LEED credits that have been selected to meet the targeted award level; and
- The primary responsible party selected to meet the LEED requirements for each prerequisite or selected credit.
- Integrative Project Team. Assemble and involve a minimum of four of the following project team members from the list below, including the Owner or Owner’s representative, and as many as feasible.
- Owner or Owner’s Representative
- Owner’s capital budget manager
- Architect or building designer
- Mechanical Engineer
- Electrical Engineer
- Structural engineer
- Energy Modeler
- Equipment Planner
- Acoustical Consultant
- Telecommunications Designer
- Controls Designer
- Building science or performance testing
- Green building or sustainable design consultant
- User groups
- Facility managers
- Housekeeping staff
- Functional and space programmers
- Interior designer
- Lighting consultant
- Commissioning agent
- Community representatives
- Civil engineering, landscape architecture, habitat restoration, or land planning
- Construction Management or General Contractor
- Life cycle cost analysis; construction cost estimating;
- Other disciplines appropriate to the specific project type.
- Owner’s Project Requirements Document. Prepare an Owner’s Project Requirements document for the project.
- Design Charrette. As early as practicable and preferably before schematic design, conduct at least one full-day integrative design workshop with the Integrative Project Team as defined above. The goal of the workshop shall be to optimize the integra- tion of green strategies across all aspects of the building design, drawing on the expertise of all participants.
Potential Technologies & Strategies
- Reinforce corporate/institutional commitments to environmental health and community responsibility.
- Use cross discipline design, decision-making, and charrettes. Use goal-setting workshops and build a team approach to the project.
- Prepare checklists for points and strategies prior to beginning the design process; refer to the checklist at milestones during the design process.
- Engage owner, staff, contractors, user groups and community groups, educating them on the benefits of green design and bringing them into the design process at key points in the decision-making process.
- Participate in peer-to-peer information exchange and problem solving.
- Consider performance-based incentives in professional contracts that reward achievement of Integrative Design Goals and Project Vision. Incentives may be based on life cycle cost-based equipment and material selection, levels of achievement in LEED, or comparisons to benchmarks of existing facility performance or combinations of these and other benchmarks.
- Contractually apportion professional fees to create specific line items for the Integrative Design Charette and subsequent monitoring and follow-up meetings. Integrative Design may benefit from re-apportioning design fees to provide a higher percentage early in the process leading to stronger integration and streamline in subsequent design stages.
- Consider seeking foundation support for integrative design initiatives.
- Preliminary Rating Goals. As early as practicable and preferably before Schematic Design, conduct a Preliminary LEED meeting including a minimum of four key project team members, including the Owner or Owner’s representative. As part of the meeting, create a LEED® action plan that, at a minimum, includes the following:
Organizations
LEED Pilot Credit Library
The homepage for the LEED Pilot Credit Library. The LEED Pilot Credit Library is intended to facilitate the introduction of new prerequisites and credits to LEED. This process will allow USGBC to test and refine credits through LEED 2009 project evaluations before they are sent through the balloting process for introduction into LEED.
Articles
Foundations of LEED
Background for the LEED Pilot Credit Library is provided in this foundational document.
LEEDuser is produced by BuildingGreen, Inc., with YR&G authoring most of the original content. LEEDuser enjoys ongoing collaboration with USGBC.
35 Comments
PC5 still available?
Hello,
Am I still allowed to submit PC5? I have a registration confirmation from Nov 2010 and survey completion confirmation in Sept 2011. All eco-charretes and LEED meetings have been documented throughout the design and construction process. But I would like to confirm if my project is still eligible to attempt PC5 since it seems like it can be quite time intensive just to present all the records and information in a coherent submittable format. Please advice.
Thanks!
Eeshoo
Hi Eeshoo, with all pilot credits, if your project registered prior to the credit closing, you may continue to pursue the credit. It sounds like that is the case for you. Projects must register here: http://www.usgbc.org/leed/pilot/PilotLibraryProjectReg.aspx before the credit closes in order to be eligible, but once that registration is complete, the actual credit submittal can happen much later. Hope that helps.
Multiple Projects pursuing Pilot Credits 5&6
I have several projects planning to pursue PC 5&6 - how does this translate for online participation? Am I required to participate separately for each project? Or just increased amount of participation, compared to single projects?
Hi Miranda: As part of the participant survey, there are several questions about LEEDuser participation and the user experience. Based on this information we can check the LEEDuser forums to determine whether a project team member has participated. If you have multiple projects using the same pilot credit, one or several comments will suffice. The goal is to share experiences, help to improve the credit & process and get clarifications that benefit your projects and others.
Pilot Credits 5 & 6 Closing Today
As a reminder, this credit, and credit 6 will be closing at the end of today (1/11/2011). They will be replaced by Pilot Credit 42: Integrated Process, which is based on the credit currently in Public Comment (http://www.usgbc.org/leed/development).
If you wish to use this credit in the future, register by the end of the day today. Projects that register by today will be able to continue using this credit on their registered project, and the LEEDuser forum will remain open for achievement discussion.
@Batya - our project is registered and I have submitted for Pilot Credit 5, but it has not yet been approved. Am I correct in understanding that I cannot submit for Pilot Credit 6 until 5 is approved? And, will that be affected by the fact that the credits are closing today? thanks.
Hi Joanna
You may submit for pilot credits 5 & 6 at the same time. Completing credit 5 is a prerequisite to earning credit 6, but they can be attempted at the same time. If you have already registered for both credits, then the date when you submit does not matter. You may submit through LEED Online to earn the credit when your project is ready to be reviewed, even if that is several months from now.
Hope that helps.
I completed my submission for Pilot Credit 5 some weeks ago, but am now having difficulty accessing Pilot Credit 6 to upload documentation. Should I re-open (i.e. select "In Progress") IDc1.3 in order to access it?
To clarify, I think what is causing the confusion is that Pilot Credits 5 and 6 are grouped together on the pilot credit library project registration form. However, I don't see a way to submit the documentation for them separately. Thanks.
In my conversations with USGBC regarding Pilot Credit 5, I was told that I didn't have to attempt both the prerequisite and credit (PIc6) in order to be awarded a point. I was successful in this strategy and hope you can do the same.
Thanks John - that is useful to know. However, we were hoping to get one point each for both 5 and 6, so we would still like to submit docs for 6.
Joanna - you should be able to submit for each separately (for example, submit 1 under IDc1.1 and the other under IDc1.2). I know some projects have had difficulty doing this because of the way the form is built in LEED Online. So, if you are unable to submit each credit separately, upload all of the documentation under 1 ID credit, along with a narrative explaining the form problem, and that Credit 5 should earn 1 point under IDc1.X and Credit 6 should be 1 point under IDc1.Y.
Thank you Batya.
Pc5 - PrelIminary Project Planning
The LEED Pilot Credit Library Webinar I participated in today was long overdue and much appreciated. I applied for the Pilot Credit program back on 11/18/2009 and it took until 8/6/2010 before I received confirmation of participation. It appears with the webinar, and the documentation recently updated on 9/15/2010, the Pilot Credit Libary is officiallly available for use. Visit this website for all the details - http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2104
I pursued Pc5 on a school project where LEED certification was required because the project received state funding. Because The Neenan Company is a design-build architectural firm, our integrated designAn integrated design process (also called "integrative" design by some proponents) relies on a multidisciplinary and collaborative team approach in which members make decisions together based on a shared vision and holistic understanding of the project. Rather than a conventional linear design process in which a design is passed from one professional to another, an integrated process has all key team members talking together through out the design and construction process as they share ideas and use feedback across disciplines to iteratively move toward a high-performing design. process helped us meet the requirements of this credit. My one frustration with the requirements is that they appear different between what is stated in the Pilot Credit Library posted on July 2010 and what I see on LEEDuser. For instance, no mention is made of the Owner’s Project Requirements on LEEDuser, where it is clearly stated in the credit requirements. This is similar to what happens between submittal templates found on LEED Online and the requirements as stated in the reference guide. It is imperative that requirements of a credit are fully understood at the beginning of a project. Hidden surprises usually add costs to the project, can jepordize credit attainment and make for unhappy clients.
I look forward to continued use of the Pilot Credit Library on future projects. I think attaining all of the Innovation in Design points should be possible on any project if you pursue a few of the Pilot Credits. Don’t let LEED Online fool you, you can pursue more than one pilot credit on a project. One more tidbit of information, currently you only need to document the process to achieve a pilot credit point. You do not need to meet the requirements, though you should make a good faith effort to do so.
Hi John, I"m the editor for LEEDuser. I want to understand your comment that LEEDuser doesn't mention Owners Project Requirements. The OPROwner's project requirements (OPR) is a written document that details the ideas, concepts, and criteria that are determined by the owner to be important to the success of the project. doc is mentioned above in our posting of the credit language. Can you clarify what you see as missing? Thanks.
Tristan,
Sorry, I should have been clearer and looked at the tab "Credit Language". I do see that the exact same language is used there as that which is used in the Pilot Credit LIbrary. What confused me is that under "Bird's Eye View" tab there isn't a reference under "Pilot Credit 5" to the OPROwner's project requirements (OPR) is a written document that details the ideas, concepts, and criteria that are determined by the owner to be important to the success of the project.. Hope this helps you understand how I could have misinterpreted the requirements. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for clarifying. The language above under Credit Submittals is straight from USGBC. I couldn't say exactly why it differs from the credit language (which is also straight from USGBC), except that often in LEED, not all credit requirements are represented as required documentation, and vice versa.
I just uploaded the required documentation for the Pc5 credit. When I clicked "Complete" I received a message that a documentation form was missing. However, it is my understanding that there is no standard documentation form for the pilot credits. Is this just a default message? Also, I participated in the survey but there was no way to print and scan for upload when completed. Is it safe to assume that there is some way for the pilot credit reviewer to verify my participation?
Joanna,
I received an email saying I had completed the survey, so I would expect you would receive the same. I submitted this email as part of my documentation package. I would agree, there is no standard documentation form for Pilot Credits, so I would say this is just a quirk with LEED Online. I submitted my documentation on 10/22 so I expecting comments back by the end of November.
Gluck (good luck),
John
Thanks for the feedback, John.
The documentation required for pilot credit submittals is not one standard form, as mentioned above. For each pilot credit, you should submit the following information:
1. confirmation email from pilot registration
2. confirmation email from survey completion
3. project specific documentation (outlined in each pilot credit document)
If additional information is needed, the reviewer will let you know during the review.
Do you know how long it usually takes to receive email confirmation for the survey? I completed the survey yesterday but have not yet received confirmation. I am ready to complete the submittal - that is the only piece missing. Thanks.
Joanna,
My experience was that I completed the survey at 2 p.m. and had the email confirmation by 3:30 p.m. the same day. I just went out and checked the pilot credit website and it looks like they just added another 30 pilot credits.
John
Joanna, regarding your question, the Pilot Credit Library staff sends confirmation on the surveys every couple days when we pull the surveys from the database. We will get you your confirmation soon, so as to not hold up your submittal process.
John is correct, we now have a total of 41 credits available for pilot testing, which coincides with the 1st public comment period for rating system development. We're testing all proposed new and substantially modified credits throughout the course of public comment periods (spanning 2011 at minimum) so we can receive additional feedback to help evolve the credits. More information on the continued development of the LEED rating system can be found here: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2360
Thanks Chrissy and John - I appreciate the prompt replies.
Hello,
I have a question regarding the two credit specific requirements for Pilot Credit 5. We are asked to provide the following:
- List of decisions proposed during the design charrette, compared with the final design decisions
- List of paid/contracted team members, along with the dates for meetings/construction/participation
For our submittal, we intend to include meeting minutes/agendas that outline design options and decisions made during various phases of design. Also recorded are the names of team members who participated in meetings. The documentation will cover key meetings and milestones for the design phase, but will not be comprehensive of the entire process. Is documentation as described sufficient, or is USGBC expecting us to summarize everything in an actual list? Since the design process was a rather complex one over an extended period of time, this could end up being a very tedious task. We would really appreciate feedback on how other projects approached these two requirements.
Thank you!
teresa
Teresa,
The requirements have changed slightly from when I first started pursuing this credit. I think you are covered with the second requirement - team members and key meetings. I would just make sure you list what design decisions were made in regards to LEED during the design charrette and which of those decisions were actually implemented. I found it easier to understand what was required of me by looking at the actual requirements of the pilot credit I was trying to achieve, in my case PIc5. I see four requirements - Preliminary Rating Goals, Integrative Project Team, Owner's Project Requirements and Design Charrette. Hope this helps.
I would agree with John. The submittals are not set in stone for this credit. What we're looking for is the simplest proof that the project has an integrated process for identifying synergies and issues.
Thank you both for the helpful feedback :)
pilot credits - we need your help!
Hi LEEDusers -
The idea behind pilot credits is to get feedback from project team members on the concepts we're testing so that USGBC can learn from your experience and make these credits better (so that you can make your buildings better, so that we can learn from that, so that we can make LEED better, so that you can make your buildings better...).
We can't do it without you so get on with it already.
Spread the word to friends and colleagues and if we run in to each other at Greenbuild, I'll buy you a beer!
Brendan, it seems that, once LEED Automation is fully launched, IDP would become even more prevalent, and therefore reduced credit documentation would seem to be appropriate --since team collaboration is it's premise as I understand it? Maybe there's a credit option that could offer (ala LPE) reduced documentation that would encourage both LEED Automation and IDP not to mention the other benefits of automation--less cost to owner, cleaner documentation, clearer and faster team communication, and eventually more LEED projects.
And how about a Canadian rain check for your Greenbuild beverage offer?
For the record, I love the Pilot library--one of the Best of LEED Improvements --right along with the RPCs.
Hi John,
I'm curious why you believe LEED Automation will promote integrative design. I'm not disagreeing, but wondering what it is about Automation (which is taking many forms) that would do this.
Also, regarding the extensive documentation requirements--I think that much of that is tied to this being a pilot credit, and therefore designed for LEED staff and committees to collect feedback about how the credit is working. As pilot credits become actual credits they won't require nearly as much.
Nadav, first, thanks LEEDuser for providing an invaluable tool for LEED practitioners--keep up the great work!
Re: IDP and Automation, I am no Auto-head but here's my thinking. The LEED Automation products that I have seen feature improved information sharing, transparency, continuity, and, most importantly to IDP, team collaboration. Instead of separate LEED hoops (updating checklists, LEED status report, LEED online credit by credit access and updates, plus extra emails and phone calls) Automation's promise of one-stop shopping has to be appealing --even if not the end-all. How does this align with your impressions?
How about a LEEDUser Forum just on Automation-- would that help air the topic out?
Thanks, John.
I thought that's what you might be referring to, but wanted to confirm. I'd love to hear from people who are using some of the integrated LEED project management tools, to see if they really are helping making the design process more integrated.
And I love the idea of a dedicated forum page on LEED Automation. Adrianna Schneider has already started such a page with a question she posted. Shall we take this conversation over there?
Get the most out of LEED
This is great, because it will not only maximise the potential of creating greener buildings using LEED as the guide, but also solve so many problems and headaches during the LEED certification project process.
However, since the Architects are the main sales force in the industry, they've usually finished schematic design just so they can present to the owner in the competition phase against other Architects and then they are the ones to present LEED to the owner AND / OR the owner has already bought the site.
By the time the LEED AP hears about the project, site selection is a foregone conclusion and not the Architect or the Owner has the faintest idea what it means to make a LEED building.
Somehow this plan needs to get to all potential owners even before the Architect does...maybe we should be approaching the banks with some green education. If they're not the owners themselves, they most often have the power to lend on specific terms to potential owners.
The same goes for forcing BIM down onto project members from the owner.
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