Hi,
The project is a 3-storey high building, single tenant. The tenant already occupies the building, and going to renovate about half of the floor area. About 25% of the floor area (on 2nd floor) is confidential and not under the renovation scope, and the client won't give any information about that space.
My question is, is the project eligible for commercial interior or EBOM? Can I exclude the confidential space (which is separated from the normal space on 2nd floor by internal partition)? Thank you!
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1976 thumbs up
April 17, 2017 - 5:50 pm
Your project may be eligible, but you'll need approval from USGBC to confirm this. What makes me think this is the section below on page 19 - 20 of the 2009 Minimum Program Requirements Guidance document:
"There are many situations in which a single entity owns, manages, and/or occupies an entire building, and wishes to certify a renovated portion of the building that is not separate from other portions by one of the attributes listed above. This can include, but is not limited to, the following:
- Part of one floor
- Multiple, non-contiguous parts of one floor
- Multiple certifying floors separated by non-certifying floors
For example, multiple unconnected office spaces within a warehouse may be renovated, but not the main warehouse floor area... Such spaces are not automatically disqualified from attempting to certify under LEED-CI.
Project teams with this situation must submit a narrative in PIf1 in LEED Online v3 confirming that the conditions below are met: [I'm paraphrasing below]
a)[ ...edge of construction doesn't coincide with ownership/ leasing boundary];
b) Construction is conducted under single contract;
c) All the construction is within the project boundary, and at least 60% of total area is being renovated;
d) LEED boundary is drawn at a clear functional and physical barrier [such as internal walls]
e) Signage will demarcate the LEED space;
f) LEED boundary is understandable to the reviewer and allows them to understand what's being certified & what's not; helpful to follow HVAC zone boundaries."
Under 2009, it looks like your situation might be eligible since the confidential area is not under renovation, there is an internal partition boundary, and your estimate of renovations covering "about half of the floor area" is close to the 60% threshold. Note this is not v4, but hopefully the intent might be the same.
If you look at the Credit Library for CI-v4 Minimum Program Requirements
http://www.usgbc.org/node/2742911?return=/credits/commercial-interiors/v...
we don't see the exception I copied above from the 2009 guidance, but it's worth submitting a request for your project, use the requirements of the 2009 language, and see if that will be accepted for your project.
Hope that helps.