Hotel with a Conference Center and EnergyStar

Jalal - Energy Star has pretty specific guidelines on whether and how to benchmark facilities like this (in terms of including all SF as one building, or splitting them up). I would recommend reaching out their customer service to see if they will allow you to consider this a single facility. If Energy Star allows it, LEED will generally also be okay with treating it as one facility.

Jalal, I think LEED will see these as two buildings. The best source for understanding this is the LEED Minimum Program Requirements supplemental guidance document (you can easily find it via Google).

Jenny, can you respond to a follow-up on your comment about LEED following Energy Star with respect to a single facility? Our client performs aviation repair under FAA supervision in a secured three-building facility. We plan to compare site energy for EAp2 with other similar facilities client operates in other states. Plant floor areas in each building is generally 1/3, 1/3, 1/3. Each was built separately on separate, but continguous, legal decriptions many years ago but the three have morphed into one, and each does not have all its own utility services. Other shared components are fenced site, parking, purchasing, operations, HR, etc. It woud be far simpler to aggregate and get one certification than to artificially separate everything for three certifrications. Would "Special Circumstances" on PIf2 be the best place to explain all this?

Jalal - If Energy Star says they are separate buildings, it's pretty much guaranteed that LEED would not let you certify them under a single application under the current rules. Jim - Sounds like you are in a trickier boat, since the facilities have shared utilities. Check out the MPR Supplemental Guidance, and if there's any doubt about your ability to claim them as a single structure, use a CIR to get advance clearance: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6473 Both of you might find the USGBC Guidance for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Projects handy: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2326 In particular, this PDF will give you the low down on certifying buildings as part of a "master site", which is supposed to offer some efficiencies in pursuing certifications for multiple buildings on a campus: https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=7987