Multiple Buildings - One Registration
425 Thumbs Up
Post a Comment
The Question: Is one project registration acceptable to USGBC/GBCI?
Background:
- Project has been registered under a single project registration.
- Project Scope Description at time of registration stated multiple buildings planned.
- Two buildings to be constructed on a common site for one owner.
- Buildings will be constructed simultaneously by one Construction Manager using similar construction materials and techniques.
- A rainwater cistern is located immediately adjacent to one of the the buildings and serves both.
- Electric services for both buildings are fed from a common electric meter.
- A PV array planned for roof of one building, grid tied to benefit both.
- Project size is relatively small. Bldg 1 is 5600s.f. and Bldg 2 is 5200s.f.
Thanks in advance for any wisdom you may have to offer!
3 Comments
Two building connected by bridge.
The project involves two buildings, one is an office+workshop (50,000 sqf) and the second building is Dining area for the first building (7,000 sqf). They are connected by a bridge at ground level. The question is, is it possible to register one project, since there is a single HVAC chilled water plant, common electric meter, and the bridge is closed and conditioned?
According to MPR Supplemental guidance buildings "Gross floor areaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 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‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.)... other than parking and circulation should be contiguous throughout the structure" I don't quite get what they mean. Does the bridge connecting the buildings enough?
Thanks in advance!
Happy new year.
Santiago.
Looks acceptable
You'll want to give the MPR Supplemental Guidance document a close read, especially for MPR's #2 and #3, but nothing in your situation appears to preclude you from registering this as one LEED project. One construction schedule, one CM, one owner.... sounds like one project.
See http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6473
The small size of each building is an especially compelling reason to treat this as a single project, as the soft costs for documentation can become a higher percentage of total project costs as the project size gets smaller. Anything you can do to streamline commissioning, materials tracking, documentation etc. will be worth doing.
I would agree with David that a single-building certification looks possible here, but I would strongly encourage you to contact GBCI to run this by them.
For earlier LEED rating sytems, there was a multiple building and campuses application guide. It's still available, but hasn't been update for LEED 2009. Thus when questions come up in situations like this, we are left guessing to some extent.
Also note at the MPR supplemental guidance document is a helpful resource, but it specifically says:
"With a few exceptions, this document excludes guidance specific to multiple building projects."
I would hate to see you go too far down the single-building road and then have to change course.
Start a new LEED comment thread