All ACP for international projects allow Metric Unit submittals

Jean,
It seems like the USGBC has just provided a tool to help with the conversion process.
"Complete all your metric (SI) to imperial (IP) unit conversions for LEED documentation, with one consolidated tool." - http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=220

Hi Jean,
I believe you stand correct: GBCI now accepts metric measures not only for the ACP but also for the drawings. I have inquired about this in an official e-mail.

Maria,
I will jump for joy when metric units are accepted! I do see that some of the ACP forms (7 out of 49 credits) will accept both units; however I don't see an explicit statement allowing this in the website documentation and the November 1, 2011 LEED Reference Guide for Green Building Design and Construction Addenda, for example, still reference the following language "Units of Measurement Guidance
In order to facilitate certification review by U.S. based reviewers, it is necessary to submit pertinent aspects of review-related documentation in English and convert units to U.S. Standard (i.e. Imperial) units of measure, unless noted otherwise in the credit or prerequisite description. It is not necessary to translate every aspect of every construction document into English and imperial units, but only those necessary for evaluation of criteria. The project team should be prepared to provide additional translation(s) if requested by the reviewer in their preliminary review comments." from 11/3/2010. Perhaps it's just a case of not coordinating the official documents? Please share any official response you receive.
By the way did you see the requirements for EBOM energy benchmarking? It might be a really big problem for European projects....

Additional information
I was re-reading the LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings Operations and Maintenance With Alternative Compliance Paths For Projects Outside the U.S. and on page iii is the following:
"Please note that LEED Online is written in English and that all metrics used within LEED online are Imperial (IP) units. All projects are required to submit documentation in English, using Imperial units., Project teams that typically work in Metric (SI) units should use the ACP Conversion Tool to convert measurements to Imperial units."
Dear USGBC / GBCI please clarify the metric-imperial issue?

Hi Eric, here is the response I got on the question regarding drawings and metric system:
"To answer your question, projects can now submit their documentation in Metric units. We understand that most projects outside of the U.S. use Metric, so we want to be as accommodating as possible to these project teams. Please note that we have not been able to convert all of our LEED Online forms to Metric, therefore, we have created a conversion tool that should help teams using Metric convert any measurements to Imperial units for use in the forms."
I believe we can submit the drawings with metric, but still convert the forms and calculations to imperial.

One of my colleagues recently asked USGBC International the following question:

Considering the fact that the update introduces metric conversions for all current LEED measurements, is it already acceptable by reviewers to provide project documentation and drawings in metric system? Or it is still a subject to discussion with the respective reviewing team.

The response was as follows:

To answer your question, projects can now submit their documentation in Metric units. We understand that most projects outside of the U.S. use Metric, so we want to be as accommodating as possible to these project teams. Please note that we have not been able to convert all of our LEED Online forms to Metric, therefore, we have created a conversion tool that should help teams using Metric convert any measurements to Imperial units for use in the forms.

We interpret this to mean that the LEED On-line forms still need to be filled out with imperial measures but that metric drawings are now accepted.

Maria and Michael,
I sent an e-mail to Deon and Sean and hopefully they will clarify the issue for us. I asked them to post the answer back here.

Eric, it was exactly Sean who replied to our inquiry. Will be interesting to hear their comment on the rest of the documentation and submittals. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Maria is correct, projects are now allowed to submit supporting documentation in Metric units (plans, specifications, etc.). As mentioned previously, we have not been able to convert all of our LEED Online forms to Metric, therefore, we have created a conversion tool that should help teams using Metric convert any measurements to Imperial units for use in the forms.

We will be sure to clear up any confusing language in the rating systems.

Thanks!

Thanks for the clarification. It's a great step forward to be able to submit the supporting documents in metric units!

At one stage we had to regenerate the reports - one in metric, and one in imperial. We then submitted the two Trane Trace reports.

If the LEED system did the conversion in the background back to imperial for the US-based invigilators, then no one would be disadvantaged.

Hello,

We are currently developing an office building near Paris, and our client is considering LEED as an important option for its project.

I have two questions concerning the gross floor area definition.

1/ Should I consider the US gross floor area definition since we are using a similar definition in France
(with one difference : a headroom height of 1.8 meters or greater)?

2/ If I have to use the US gross floor definition, should I consider a headroom height of 2.2m (LEED) or 2.3m (ASHRAE) ?

In the LEED document : “Rating System Selection Guidance, version 4, last update 1 September 2011”, the gross floor area is defined as :

"Gross Floor Area: (based on ASHRAE definition) Sum 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 (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements must be taken from the exterior faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED-CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non-enclosed (or non-enclosable) roofed-over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. Note: while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits."

While it is defined in the ASHRAE 90.2007 as : ANSI / ASHRAE STANDARD 90.1-2007 :

"the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate-floored tiers, and penthouses with headroom height of 2.3 meters 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, chimney, roof overhangs, and similar features."

Thanks for your help !

Hi Loic,

When determining the gross floor area for your project, please use the ASHRAE height of 2.3 meters or greater for headroom.

Please contact GBCI technical customer service at http://www.gbci.org/org-nav/contact/Contact-Us/Project-Certification-Que... if you have any further questions about which space types should be included in the gross floor area for your project.

Hello Sean,

Thanks for your answer, actually i have sent this question to GBCI and waiting the answer.