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LEED Pilot Credits
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Site improvement plan

LEED CREDIT

Pilot-Credits SSpc64: Site improvement plan 1 point

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Credit language

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

Intent

This is a pilot credit. To use any pilot credit on your LEED project, be sure to register here. Documentation requirements and additional questions are listed below.
To preserve and improve ecological integrity while supporting high-performance building operations.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit.

Requirements

Establishment

Develop a five-year site improvement plan that includes the following:
  • documentation of existing site conditions;
  • site improvement objectives;
  • performance standards to evaluate ongoing progress; and
  • monitoring protocols.
The improvement plan must address the following topics.
  • Hydrology. Protection and improvement of water bodies on-site, rainwater management and reuse opportunities, potable water-use reduction.
  • Vegetation. Documentation of existing vegetation on-site, turf area reduction, management of native and invasive plants, protection of threatened, endangered or unique species.
  • Soils. Documentation of general soil structure, preservation of healthy soils, remediation of compacted soils, identification of previously disturbed area.
The plan must be developed with professionals trained and experienced in the above disciplines.

Performance

Show that at least 5% of the site is vegetated. Implement all no-cost and low-cost measures. Develop a new improvement plan and implement all new no-cost and low-cost measures every five years.

General Pilot Documentation Requirements

Register for the pilot credit Credits 1-14 Credits 15-27 Credits 28-42 Credits 43-56 Credits 57-67 Credits 68-82 Credits 83--96
Credit specific:
Establishment Provide the following:
  1. A copy of the Site Improvement Plan addressing the areas listed in the requirements. If an area is not specifically addressed, explain the reason(s) why.
  2. A drawing of the existing site conditions
  3. Calculations showing compliance with the 5% threshold
  4. A list of professionals consulted for the development of this plan
Performance Provide the following:
  1. A list of all no-cost and low-cost measures implemented
  2. Every 5 years: the items listed above under Establishment
Additional questions:
  1. The goal of this credit is to improve upon existing site conditions and support high-performance operations by evaluating sustainable site management options. Do you believe that these requirements achieve this intent? Why or why not?
  2. Did you encounter difficulties in gathering the information for the improvement plan? If so, in what ways?
Changes::
  • Changes as a result of 5th Public Comment (01/15/2013): Updated with SSc6 EBOM - Wording changes- rewording for clarification
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 »

Documentation toolkit

The motherlode of cheat sheets

LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

LEEDuser expert

Batya Metalitz

USGBC
Technical Director, LEED

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USGBC logo

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

Intent

This is a pilot credit. To use any pilot credit on your LEED project, be sure to register here. Documentation requirements and additional questions are listed below.
To preserve and improve ecological integrity while supporting high-performance building operations.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit.

Requirements

Establishment

Develop a five-year site improvement plan that includes the following:
  • documentation of existing site conditions;
  • site improvement objectives;
  • performance standards to evaluate ongoing progress; and
  • monitoring protocols.
The improvement plan must address the following topics.
  • Hydrology. Protection and improvement of water bodies on-site, rainwater management and reuse opportunities, potable water-use reduction.
  • Vegetation. Documentation of existing vegetation on-site, turf area reduction, management of native and invasive plants, protection of threatened, endangered or unique species.
  • Soils. Documentation of general soil structure, preservation of healthy soils, remediation of compacted soils, identification of previously disturbed area.
The plan must be developed with professionals trained and experienced in the above disciplines.

Performance

Show that at least 5% of the site is vegetated. Implement all no-cost and low-cost measures. Develop a new improvement plan and implement all new no-cost and low-cost measures every five years.

General Pilot Documentation Requirements

Register for the pilot credit Credits 1-14 Credits 15-27 Credits 28-42 Credits 43-56 Credits 57-67 Credits 68-82 Credits 83--96
Credit specific:
Establishment Provide the following:
  1. A copy of the Site Improvement Plan addressing the areas listed in the requirements. If an area is not specifically addressed, explain the reason(s) why.
  2. A drawing of the existing site conditions
  3. Calculations showing compliance with the 5% threshold
  4. A list of professionals consulted for the development of this plan
Performance Provide the following:
  1. A list of all no-cost and low-cost measures implemented
  2. Every 5 years: the items listed above under Establishment
Additional questions:
  1. The goal of this credit is to improve upon existing site conditions and support high-performance operations by evaluating sustainable site management options. Do you believe that these requirements achieve this intent? Why or why not?
  2. Did you encounter difficulties in gathering the information for the improvement plan? If so, in what ways?
Changes::
  • Changes as a result of 5th Public Comment (01/15/2013): Updated with SSc6 EBOM - Wording changes- rewording for clarification

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.

LEEDuser expert

Batya Metalitz

USGBC
Technical Director, LEED

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about Pilot-Credits SSpc64