Log in
LEED v2009
Healthcare
Sustainable Sites
Connection to the natural world - direct exterior access for patients

LEED CREDIT

Healthcare-v2009 SSc9.2: Connection to the natural world - direct exterior access for patients 1 point

LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Explore this LEED credit

Post your questions on this credit in the forum, and click on the credit language tab to review to the LEED requirements.

Credit language

USGBC logo

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

Requirements

To provide direct access to an exterior courtyard, terrace, garden or balcony with a minimum area of five square feet per patient for 75% of all inpatients AND 75% of qualifying outpatients with clinical Length of Stay (LOS) greater than four hours.

  • Qualifying outpatients may include outpatient renal dialysis, infusion therapies, ambulatory surgery intake and stage 2 recovery. Patients with length of stay greater than four hours, whose treatment makes them unable to move, such as emergency, stage 1 surgical recovery, and critical care may be excluded. Places of respite outside the building envelope that meet the requirements of SS Credit 9.1, Connection to the Natural World—Places of Respite, that are immediately adjacent to clinical areas or with direct access from inpatient units may be included in the calculation.
  • Qualifying spaces must be designated as non-smoking and meet the requirements of IEQ Prerequisite 2, Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control.
  • Qualifying spaces must meet the requirement for outdoor air quality enumerated in IEQ Credit 5, Indoor Chemical and Pollutant Source Control, and be located more than 100 feet from building exhaust air locations, loading docks, building entrances and roadways subject to idling vehicles.
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.

USGBC logo

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

Requirements

To provide direct access to an exterior courtyard, terrace, garden or balcony with a minimum area of five square feet per patient for 75% of all inpatients AND 75% of qualifying outpatients with clinical Length of Stay (LOS) greater than four hours.

  • Qualifying outpatients may include outpatient renal dialysis, infusion therapies, ambulatory surgery intake and stage 2 recovery. Patients with length of stay greater than four hours, whose treatment makes them unable to move, such as emergency, stage 1 surgical recovery, and critical care may be excluded. Places of respite outside the building envelope that meet the requirements of SS Credit 9.1, Connection to the Natural World—Places of Respite, that are immediately adjacent to clinical areas or with direct access from inpatient units may be included in the calculation.
  • Qualifying spaces must be designated as non-smoking and meet the requirements of IEQ Prerequisite 2, Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control.
  • Qualifying spaces must meet the requirement for outdoor air quality enumerated in IEQ Credit 5, Indoor Chemical and Pollutant Source Control, and be located more than 100 feet from building exhaust air locations, loading docks, building entrances and roadways subject to idling vehicles.
See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about Healthcare-v2009 SSc9.2