Log in
LEED v4
Neighborhood Development
Neighborhood Pattern & Design
Compact development

LEED CREDIT

ND-v4 NPDc2: Compact development 1-6 points

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

Design and build the project such that residential and nonresidential components achieve the densities per acre/hectare of buildable land listed in Table 1 at build-out or within five years of the date that the first new building of any type is occupied (excluding those portions of parking structures devoted to parking), whichever is lower. Table 1. Points for density per acre (hectare) of buildable land.

Residential density

Nonresidential density (FAR)

Points

DU/acre

 DU/hectare

> 10 and ≤ 13

> 25 and ≤ 32

> 0.75 and ≤ 1.0

1

> 13 and ≤ 18

> 32 and ≤ 45

> 1.0 and ≤ 1.25

2

> 18 and ≤ 25

> 45 and ≤ 62

> 1.25 and ≤ 1.75

3

> 25 and ≤ 38

> 62 and ≤ 94

> 1.75 and ≤ 2.25

4

> 38 and ≤ 63

> 94 and ≤ 156

> 2.25 and ≤ 3.0

5

> 63

> 156

> 3.0

6

DU = dwelling unit; FAR = floor-area ratio. The scoring of a mixed-use project is calculated with a weighted average, according to the following steps.
  1. Determine the total floor area of all residential and nonresidential uses.
  2. Calculate the percentage residential and percentage nonresidential of the total floor area.
  3. Determine the density of each component as measured in dwelling units per acre or hectare and floor-area ratio, respectively.
  4. Referring to Table 1, find the appropriate points for the densities of the residential and nonresidential components.
  5. If the points are different, multiply the point value of the residential component by its percentage of the total floor area and multiply the point value of the nonresidential component by its percentage.
  6. Add the two scores.
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

Design and build the project such that residential and nonresidential components achieve the densities per acre/hectare of buildable land listed in Table 1 at build-out or within five years of the date that the first new building of any type is occupied (excluding those portions of parking structures devoted to parking), whichever is lower. Table 1. Points for density per acre (hectare) of buildable land.

Residential density

Nonresidential density (FAR)

Points

DU/acre

 DU/hectare

> 10 and ≤ 13

> 25 and ≤ 32

> 0.75 and ≤ 1.0

1

> 13 and ≤ 18

> 32 and ≤ 45

> 1.0 and ≤ 1.25

2

> 18 and ≤ 25

> 45 and ≤ 62

> 1.25 and ≤ 1.75

3

> 25 and ≤ 38

> 62 and ≤ 94

> 1.75 and ≤ 2.25

4

> 38 and ≤ 63

> 94 and ≤ 156

> 2.25 and ≤ 3.0

5

> 63

> 156

> 3.0

6

DU = dwelling unit; FAR = floor-area ratio. The scoring of a mixed-use project is calculated with a weighted average, according to the following steps.
  1. Determine the total floor area of all residential and nonresidential uses.
  2. Calculate the percentage residential and percentage nonresidential of the total floor area.
  3. Determine the density of each component as measured in dwelling units per acre or hectare and floor-area ratio, respectively.
  4. Referring to Table 1, find the appropriate points for the densities of the residential and nonresidential components.
  5. If the points are different, multiply the point value of the residential component by its percentage of the total floor area and multiply the point value of the nonresidential component by its percentage.
  6. Add the two scores.
See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about ND-v4 NPDc2