So far, these forms are still generic and the changes I do see in them I am anticipating seeing in the newer versions of LEED. The balloted version of LEED HC is more helpful to me in determining whether to change our healthcare projects from LEED NC to LEED HC.

I would like to see discussion on campus projects for hospitals. These buildings are built differently than other campus projects but the campus guideline provides little to clear up boundaries through existing buildings. For example, the lower floors become very large and what started as one building can become absorbed by a second building to the extent that the original building line is obliterated. How do you define a building then? Smoke compartment? Original footprint? Mechanical zones? By departments? To date, we've been very conservative and have been walking away from the Building Reuse credits because we could not document that the building we're adding onto is a subsection of the larger hospital entitiy of 10 more buildings all smooshed together because we could not define these lower floors well enough.

Another issue is the portion in PI form 1, number 4 that comes from the current LEED NC MPR1, that no given parcel of property within the LPB will ever be attributed to another LEED project building. What happens when you build the next addition smack up against the current project? Or if you're doing a lot of site work to prep for a multiple building additions and you're forced to count the site work in the first project due to MPR 3 sub item 1, where all contiguous land that was or will be disturbed for the LEED prject must be counted? Assuming that you don't use a campus approach, does this mean a free standing building that is 50,000 s.f. or more not eligible to be LEED? What do you do when your local government requires all buildings over 50,000 s.f. to be LEED certified? (For the record, I do think that the USGBC will clear that up but right now it is a loop hole.)