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LEED v4
Retail – New Construction
Indoor Environmental Quality

Construction indoor air quality management plan

LEED CREDIT

Retail-NC-v4 EQc3: Construction indoor air quality management plan 1 point

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Credit language

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Requirements

Develop and implement an indoor air quality (IAQ) management plan for the construction and preoccupancy phases of the building. The plan must address all of the following. During construction, meet or exceed all applicable recommended control measures of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning National Contractors Association (SMACNA) IAQ Guidelines for Occupied Buildings under Construction, 2nd edition, 2007, ANSI/SMACNA 008–2008, Chapter 3. Protect absorptive materials stored on-site and installed from moisture damage. Do not operate permanently installed air-handling equipment during construction unless filtration media with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 8, as determined by ASHRAE 52.2–2007, with errata (or equivalent filtration media class of F5 or higher, as defined by CEN Standard EN 779–2002, Particulate Air Filters for General Ventilation, Determination of the Filtration Performance, [East Asia ACP: Construction IAQ Equivalent]), are installed at each return air grille and return or transfer duct inlet opening such that there is no bypass around the filtration media. Immediately before occupancy, replace all filtration media with the final design filtration media, installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. Prohibit the use of tobacco products inside the building and within 25 feet (8 meters) of the building entrance during construction.

Alternative Compliance Paths (ACPs)

IAQ-MED">East Asia ACP: Construction IAQ Equivalent
Projects in East Asia may use filtration media classified as medium efficiency (中效过滤器) or higher as defined by Chinese standard GB/T 14295-2008(空气过滤器). See all forum discussions about this credit »

What does it cost?

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

Frequently asked questions

Our project is outside the U.S. and MERV filters are not available. We want to run the HVAC system during construction – what should we do?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

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See all forum discussions about this credit »

Documentation toolkit

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LEEDuser expert

Ashwini Arun

WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager

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USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

Develop and implement an indoor air quality (IAQ) management plan for the construction and preoccupancy phases of the building. The plan must address all of the following. During construction, meet or exceed all applicable recommended control measures of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning National Contractors Association (SMACNA) IAQ Guidelines for Occupied Buildings under Construction, 2nd edition, 2007, ANSI/SMACNA 008–2008, Chapter 3. Protect absorptive materials stored on-site and installed from moisture damage. Do not operate permanently installed air-handling equipment during construction unless filtration media with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 8, as determined by ASHRAE 52.2–2007, with errata (or equivalent filtration media class of F5 or higher, as defined by CEN Standard EN 779–2002, Particulate Air Filters for General Ventilation, Determination of the Filtration Performance, [East Asia ACP: Construction IAQ Equivalent]), are installed at each return air grille and return or transfer duct inlet opening such that there is no bypass around the filtration media. Immediately before occupancy, replace all filtration media with the final design filtration media, installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations. Prohibit the use of tobacco products inside the building and within 25 feet (8 meters) of the building entrance during construction.

Alternative Compliance Paths (ACPs)

IAQ-MED">East Asia ACP: Construction IAQ Equivalent
Projects in East Asia may use filtration media classified as medium efficiency (中效过滤器) or higher as defined by Chinese standard GB/T 14295-2008(空气过滤器).

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, 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.

Our project is outside the U.S. and MERV filters are not available. We want to run the HVAC system during construction – what should we do?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

LEEDuser expert

Ashwini Arun

WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about Retail-NC-v4 EQc3 View the LEED v4.1 version of this credit