I am on a project currently where we are pursuing option one of the Heat Island credit, we are curious as to whether we are able to pursue option B as well. Essentially, our project is a healthcare facility on an existing hospital campus. The existing campus has a couple parking garages. That being said we are proposing for parking to be on the first floor while the second and third floors are functional. We are curious as to whether we can attain option B because though we have covered parking in our intervention the rest of the campus has multilevel parking structures where the top level would be considered uncovered parking. That being said the question lies in the scope of the credit. Are we able to pursue the second option with the parking spaces that we are proposing or would it include all of the parking campus wide, since the other garages support the campus as a whole, including our future building.
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emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
446 thumbs up
October 18, 2018 - 9:50 pm
Hi Mary,
For this credit, regular NC projects are allowed to pursue both options for 2 points, but it appears that Healthcare projects must choose one option to pursue/document. Although the language in the guide is a little inconsistent about when you include parking areas outside your boundary and when you don't, LEEDuser advises that "the total vehicle parking capacity must include any leased, owned, or designated spaces located outside of the project boundary, and must be consistent across credits." Given that, I would think that if you choose Option 1, you would document the space within your project boundary, but if you opt for Option 2, you should include all parking that is provided for your building users. On other campus-type projects, such as universities, I have documented any spaces that were dedicated specifically for my project users, but was not required to account for public garages and similar lots. If you need guidance specific to your project scenario, you may want to contact GBCI and explain the context to get official advice on what should be included.
I don't see anything contrary to a healthcare project being able to claim the exemplary point available here. If your project can meet the requirements of both Option 1 and 2, you are then eligible for the Exemplary Performance point, which would be documented as one of the Innovation credits. Projects are allowed a maximum of 2 EP points per project.