Hi, We're currently seeking certification for a combined high school/ middle school new construction/ renovation project that are registered as separate LEED projects but within one campus LEED boundary line. The projects were issued under the same construction documents and are being constructed simultaneously by the same contractor. Both the recycled content and regional materials have been submitted and tracked by the entire combined project rather than having been separated out into individual projects. Has anyone attempted to submit MR credit 4: Recycled Content & MR credit 5: Regional Material as campus credits under the Master Site review?
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
Elizabeth Thompson
Green Building SpecialistUSGBC/ GBCI
78 thumbs up
January 9, 2012 - 3:50 pm
Hi Cheryl,
Because this question mentions that the projects are within the same LEED campus boundary, I assume that the project is using the Master Site Campus Credit approach to the AGMBC, and using a LEED 2009 Rating System. MR Credits 4 & 5 have not been included in the campus credits approach in the AGMBC thus far (see Table 1 of AGMBC Appendix A: https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=10484). Under the Master Site Campus Credit approach, each building is awarded a separate LEED certification and, thus, each building is supposed to demonstrate compliance/achievement for most credits on its own merits. Once functionality is available to support it, the Group Certification approach will allow a larger array of credits (including MR Credits 4 & 5) to be documented on a aggregated basis, because the entire group of buildings is receiving a single (shared) LEED certification and rating. Please see the website above for more information.
That said, the approach you suggest for MR Credits 4 & 5 may be accepted on a project-specific basis in light of the fact that Group Certification is not yet available as an option for your project, and given that certain credits can already be considered for the campus credit approach if the project buildings are all under the same construction contract and constructed at the same time. Using the Campus Credit approach, MRc2 is the only credit in the MR credit category explicitly permitted to use this kind of approach.
To seek official approval in advance for the use of aggregated data for MR Credits 4 & 5, please consider submitting a Formal Inquiry (CIR or LEED Interpretation) that addresses this issue before submitting the Master Site for review. The project team could also propose a method for splitting the total volume of materials proportionately between the buildings, if there is a reasonable basis/method for doing so.
Best wishes with your project's certification process!