Dear All,
According to LEED Reference Guide, credit Site Development – Protect or Restore Habitat:
- REQUIREMENTS (pg 163): “projects that achieve a density of 1,5 floor-area ratio may include vegetated roof surfaces in the calculations”;
- FURTHER EXPLANATION (pg. 169): it is necessary to “Determine the density of the project and surrounding areas by calculating the ratio of the anticipated building footprint to the total project area… This calculation, the Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR) is used in many LEED credits”.
Can you please clarify the meaning of density of 1,5 floor-area ratio in this specific credit ? Is it the:
- Ratio of building footprint to site area ?
- Ratio of the building footprint to site buildable land ?
- Ratio of buildings footprint in the surrounding areas to surrounding areas buildable land (in this case, how are these surrounding areas defined ?)
- any other ratio ?
Thanks in advance,
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
454 thumbs up
February 1, 2018 - 2:43 pm
Hi Pedro,
Your question may (or may not) be answered by the LEED v4 Glossary, which can be downloaded here (they really make it difficult to find on the USGBC website):
https://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-v4-glossary-terms-translations
It is also explained in the "Getting Started" section at the front of the BD+C Reference Guide.
I believe for this credit, you determine your FAR, which is total building floor area (not footprint) divided by total buildable land area within your project boundary. Then, you'll know if you meet the 1.5 minimum and can count vegetated roof areas in your calculations, provided it meets the requirements for appropriate plantings.
Ricardo Sá
Director of SustainabilityEdifícios Saudáveis Consultores (503 910 767)
84 thumbs up
February 12, 2018 - 6:53 am
Hi Emily,
Thanks for your response! For the total building floor area may i include enclosed car parks?
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
454 thumbs up
February 14, 2018 - 10:18 am
Hi Pedro,
No, your building area should not include structured parking. I base this on the definition provided for density provided for this credit.
Yassir Hammoud
May 19, 2021 - 3:23 am
Hello,
I was wondering if the total builing floor area used to calculate FAR should includes basements area such as technical, mechanicals rooms or cloakrooms and other common circulaltion areas. We have an office bulding with 6 undergrounds floors, should we count those floors as well and exclude just car parks ?
Thanks
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
454 thumbs up
May 25, 2021 - 11:43 am
Hi Yassir,
Yes, the spaces you listed should be part of your total building area. You can use the definition of "gross floor area" from the USGBC Glossary (now provided online at this link (the one above no longer works): https://www.usgbc.org/glossary?utm_source=website&utm_medium=article&utm...):
Gross Floor Area (GFA):
Generally, the gross floor area is 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 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 ID+C projects ) 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, chimneys and floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles