residential high rise: leed rating system selection
Jul 29 2010
My client is developing a speculative high rise residential building and is intentioned to pursue Leed certification. The client is a developer and once the building is completed he will sell all the units on the market. The developer will control the entire construction including the internal fit out, except for the furniture which will be typically chosen and bought separately by the buyer of the unit. I believe we should use the "new construction" rating system but reading the "when to use Leed for New Construction" and the considerations made about the amount of property occupied by an owner/tenant we have some doubts wether we should rather look at "core & shell".
It would seem very strange to me that all the residential high rise buildings (basically all speculative) should go with the "core & shell" rating system but if anybody can help to confirm my gut feeling it would be very helpful!
4 Comments
RE: residential high rise: leed rating system selection
The majority of these projects have pursued LEED-NC. I'm not aware of any that have done CS - but there is movement to extend LEED-H to high-rise residential projects, and I think that Pilot program may be open, so it's worth looking into it.
There are several advantages that LEED-H offers over NC in terms of how credit requirements fit the project type, and the integrated deesign benefits of personal contact with a local Rater who provides project review, site inspections, and energy benchmarking.
stefano sani replied Jul 30 2010
So you confirm that Leed for Nc is appliable to a speculative residential high rise where the units will be sold and therefore will not be occupied by the owner?
If that's the case it seems to me somehow misleading the fact that the "when to use Leed for New Construction" paragraph on the design guide says:
Some projects are designed and constructed to be partially occupied by the owner or developer, and partially occupied by other tenants. In such projects, the owner or dveloper has direct influence ocer the portion of the work that they occupy. for such a project to pursue LEED for New Construction certification, the owner or tenant must occupy more than 50% of the building's leasable square footage. Projects in which 50% or less of the building's leasable square footage is occupied by an owner should pursue LEED for Core & shell certification.
David Posada replied Sustainability Manager, GBD Architects Jul 30 2010
Yes, we've done quite a few.
And yes, the reference guide can be confusing, largely due to the challenge of writing credit language that is not so prescriptive it unreasonably limits your choices, but not so generic it doesn't give clear direction. Each version has gotten more specific in its language, but there are still plenty of grey areas, especially when it comes to residential projects, which is why we're seeing the future shift toward applying LEED-H to high rise residential projects.
Realize that LEED NC was primarily written for commercial office buildings, so if you read that paragraph in the context of a spec office building it makes sense. A core and shell office building where the owner doesn't occupy and control the build out of the tenant improvements is very different from a spec condo building. In the condo building the developer is building out virtually all the interior partition walls, ceilings, floors, HVAC, cabinets, kitchen and baths, finishes, etc, so NC can definitely be applied.
stefano sani replied Jul 30 2010
thanks a lot, you could have not been more clear than that.
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