SPECIAL REPORT
LEEDuser expert
Luis Huertas
Sustainable Design Consulting
Project Manager
SPECIAL REPORT
LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Frank advice from LEED experts
LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To encourage project location in areas with development constraints and promote the health of the surrounding area.
Requirements
Option 1. Historic district (1 point BD&C except Core and Shell, 2 points Core and Shell)
Locate the project on an infill location in a historic district.
OR
Option 2. Priority designation (1 point BD&C except Core and Shell, 2 points Core and Shell)
Locate the project on one of the following:
- a site listed by the EPA National Priorities List;
- a Federal Empowerment Zone site;
- a Federal Enterprise Community site;
- a Federal Renewal Community site;
- a Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Qualified Low-Income Community (a subset of the New Markets Tax Credit Program);
- a site in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Qualified Census Tract (QCT) or Difficult Development Area (DDA); or
- a local equivalent program administered at the national level for projects outside the U.S.
OR
Option 3. Brownfield remediation (2 points BD&C except Core and Shell, 3 points Core and Shell)
Locate on a brownfield where soil or groundwater contamination has been identified, and where the local, state, or national authority (whichever has jurisdiction) requires its remediation. Perform remediation to the satisfaction of that authority.
SITES-LEED Equivalency
This LEED credit (or a component of this credit) has been established as equivalent to a SITES v2 credit or component. For more information on using the equivalency as a substitution in your LEED or SITES project, see this article and guidance document.
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.
Get the inside scoop
Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To encourage project location in areas with development constraints and promote the health of the surrounding area.
Requirements
Option 1. Historic district (1 point BD&C except Core and Shell, 2 points Core and Shell)
Locate the project on an infill location in a historic district.
OR
Option 2. Priority designation (1 point BD&C except Core and Shell, 2 points Core and Shell)
Locate the project on one of the following:
- a site listed by the EPA National Priorities List;
- a Federal Empowerment Zone site;
- a Federal Enterprise Community site;
- a Federal Renewal Community site;
- a Department of the Treasury Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Qualified Low-Income Community (a subset of the New Markets Tax Credit Program);
- a site in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Qualified Census Tract (QCT) or Difficult Development Area (DDA); or
- a local equivalent program administered at the national level for projects outside the U.S.
OR
Option 3. Brownfield remediation (2 points BD&C except Core and Shell, 3 points Core and Shell)
Locate on a brownfield where soil or groundwater contamination has been identified, and where the local, state, or national authority (whichever has jurisdiction) requires its remediation. Perform remediation to the satisfaction of that authority.
SITES-LEED Equivalency
This LEED credit (or a component of this credit) has been established as equivalent to a SITES v2 credit or component. For more information on using the equivalency as a substitution in your LEED or SITES project, see this article and guidance document.
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 »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
Luis Huertas
Sustainable Design Consulting
Project Manager