Proposing on a project that has four buildings. 3 buildings are 100% residential. 1 building is mixed-use with 25% retail + office, and 75% residential. The owner only wants to certify the mixed use building instead of all four buildings. The one building would be required to pursue LEED for Homes Midrise per the selection guidance.
My question is this: Can we only certify one building when the other three buildings are similar and also being built at the same time? My understanding is that would be considered false advertising because it makes it look like all the buildings are LEED for Homes, when only one is actually certified. But, I cannot find official language on this topic. Does anyone know where I might find guidance on this?
Thanks!
Michelle Rosenberger
PartnerArchEcology
519 thumbs up
May 22, 2014 - 12:26 pm
Hi Katrina,
It is my understanding that you can always choose whether to certify one building or several in a multiple building scenario. If you are literally building them all concurrently under one contract, you would have to go to some effort to separate materials and waste issues. I have never heard a distinction made specifically for LEED for Homes Midrise with respect to this, though if your building is 5 stories or more you could consider LEED NC if you are going to use LEED 2009. Midrise is not mandatory for these buildings until v4. You might check the Multiple Buildings guidance. In a Master Site scenario, you are not obliged to certify everything even when it is within your campus boundary.