Project Information form

Ronald, sorry for the slow reply, but could you please post this to our CS PIf1 forum? Thanks.

Maura, I would keep it simple—enough information to answer the question, but not so much to give the reviewer a lot of extra material to sort through.

You can name the spaces whatever you like as long as it's clear and consistant -- it doesn't have to be the real space names. I'm not sure what you mean by "spaces greyed out," this may or may not be an issue, I would contact GBCI about it. 

If your sections describe the interiors of the project, it should be okay. You'll want to ensure that the scale/detail is appropriate. By this I mean, most interior elevations are drawn at 3/8" or 1/4" to 1'-0". If your sections are smaller than that, details are likely left out. You may want to consider elevating a few key elevations at a larger scale.

Hi Markus, in my experience this narrative submittal is often short and sweet addressing some, but not always all, of the information requested on the form, so it's typical for revisions to be requested. However, if you feel that you've already included the requested descriptions in your narrative, it may help to designate your responses with numbers or highlights to clearly demonstrate that all the required information has been included. (For example "Our process for preparing the LEED certification application consisted of steps 1, 2, and 3. Examples of substantial challenges include x, y, z.")

Not that it needs to be this formal or lengthy, but here's an outline from the LEED Online v3 Help section (Home > Navigating Projects in LOv3 > Later: Reviews & Reviewers > Submit for Review) that you might consider using/modifying to explain how your team prepared the LEED certification application:
1. Designate a Project Administrator or project manager who will be submitting the application for review
2. Complete all forms
3. Mark all credits in the application complete
4. The project owner signs the LEED Certification Agreement
5. The submittal requirements have been met
6. Verify CIRs are complete and any instructions are clear to the reviewer, if applicable.

I understand metric is acceptable - some of the Beta forms now also allow metric.

We submitted plans and elevations in metric and they were accepted. LEED is going international in a big way.

Thanks for sharing your experience Mike. I'll do in metric and post to the forum any further comment.

Renee, did you receive any message about the nature of the issue with the form?

I submitted my question to GBCI and was informed that a denied PI form does not require an Appeal (thankfully). I revised it and submitted it with my other credits that had required clarification. They have since been approved.

Tristan, just for clarification, my company had a name change and my response shows my name as "Stantec IP" instead of "Renee Shirey".

Renee, if you now have company-wide IP access to LEEDuser (anyone out there who wants the same, contact me), you should still be able to log in to your personal account for the purposes of posting to the forum.

David, I don't think 3D renderings are a requirement. If what you have are elevations, then that should be acceptoable.

It's probably the gross square footageSum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 7.5 ft or greater. It is measured from the exterior faces of exterior walls or from the centerline of walls separating buildings, but excluding covered walkways, open roofed-over areas, porches and similar spaces, pipe trenches, exterior terraces or steps, chimneys, roof overhangs, and similar features. of all parking areas, which would include spaces, drive aisles, ramps, etc. In some projects, that might include all paved areas, but not necessarily.

Since this data field doesn't appear to be linked to any other forms, I suspect this number is used more for understanding the general work scope and scale of the project, and not for performing specific calculations that would make a difference in earning a credit or meeting a pre-requisite.

Part of the challenge of LEED is knowing when we need to use exact, precise numbers consistent with other numbers, and when we can use less precise "round numbers." One way to check that is to check the credit forms or download the "active versions" of the sample forms – where the data fields are highlighted in yellow they are linked to other credit forms, so for these it may be more critical to be precise. It looks like the area for parking is not linked, so if it doesn't raise any red flags, you could treat is as a round GSF number.

Thanks for your response David. We will review to make sure that information is not linked to any other forms and if it isn't just use "round numbers."

Hi, I had a minor lapsus with the scope question. Of course tenant areas are part of the CS scope. Anyway, the question about leasing still stands. Any idea?

Hi, Luis! If the project you are certifying is a CS project, then you have to imagine that you are the owner of the Core and Shell building when filling out the Project Information forms. For example, even if the spaces will eventually be "owned" by some entity, they are not technically "owned" by the Owner. Therefore, you would need to indicate those spaces as "leased." You would only indicate them as "owned" if the Owner intends to occupy them. This also helps to clearly indicate which spaces are not in the CS scope. You should note that projects where more than 50% of the space will be "Owner-occupied" are considered better suited to apply as NC projects. I hope that this helps to alleviate some of your confusion.

As to your second question, you would answer most of these questions (which portions of the scope are Owner versus Tenant) under PI form 5.

You can produce an Owner/Tenant lease agreement that is the basis of future lease agreements. They may want to see the first couple of signed leases and they may want an additional letter stating committment to that type of lease.

In the interest of simplicity, I'd stick with PDF files, since you don't know who, where, or on what system your project will be reviewed.

The main role of the overview documents is to help the reviewers understand the context of the whole project and systems since individual credits are often reviewed by different people. Since they may not see the documentation for other credits, you can minimize misunderstanding and off-base requests for clarification by providing good background information. For mechanical sheets, usually the overall plan sheets rather than details or enlarged plans are sufficient.

Is everyone taking it to just mean the HVAC dwgs (piping & ducts), and not the electrical, plumbing, etc? Same goes for the mechanical schedules - include just the HVAC schedules, or schedules for all MEP items? Since it asks for a narrative describing all the systems, it makes me wonder what they mean by "mechanical".

Renee,

Yes, the HVAC drawings for piping & ducts are the mechanical drawings for this area of LEED Online. You'll need to provide lighting drawings if you're pursuing SSc8 or EQc6.1, and a plumbing fixture schedule for WEp1.

If that is the case, I find it strange that the individual credit/template doesn't ask for those specific dwgs, or that at least the PI 4 directions don't clarify what to upload (if going for this credit, upload this information). Thanks for the info - I will add in the elec dwgs with the mechanical, and the plumbing schedule with the mech schedule (probably the elect one too, for good measure).

Renee, I'm sorry if my response was confusing. If you're pursuing SSc8, you would upload the lighting drawings under the SSc8 required uploads section, not under PIf4.

Similar to my comment above, a descriptive file name should be sufficient, such as "east_elevation.jpg" "main_entry_from_south.jpg".

Mechanical schedules refer to the HVAC info typically found in spreadsheet form on the mechanical plans. Info usually includes equipment tagLEED Technical Advisory Group (TAG): Subcommittees that consist of industry experts who assist in developing credit interpretations and technical improvements to the LEED system., manufacturer, model number, fan volumes, heating / cooling capacities and efficiencies.
The mechanical engineer should be able to supply this info.

Susan,

When you are using Google Maps, there is a way to link to what the screen is showing, on the top right of the webpage click "link". Here's an example link to the GBCI office in DC):

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=2121+L+Stree...

It has the building address identified with a marker. If your project doesn't have a street address identified in Google Maps yet, I would use the nearest intersection and upload your vicinity map showing the actual location.

Hope this helps!

Deborah, I'm guessing you're working on PIf4, which asks you to fill out different space usage types.

I would fill out the square footage for the residential portion, and then enter another space usage type for the retail portion(s). There are seven choices for the retail space, and I'm guessing you could easily narrow it down to one or two possibilities, e.g. "open shopping center."