I'm working on a 455,000gsf expansion of an existing warehouse/stroage facility. The existing facility won't be renovated, spare for the demolition of an existing exterior wall to provide enclosed access to th new expansion. All restrooms serving the overall building are already built/within the existing building. The new expansion, while large, will not house any water-using fixtures, as the purpose of this facility is for automated storage/warehousing only. As such, we have a project where there will be zero water use to reduce above baseline; thus, I'm wondering how we can comply with this Prerequisite? Is this to be treated similarly as outdoor water use reduction when there is no permanent irrigation system installed? In that instance, the "reduction" is 100%, by forgoing systems, which also satisfied the Prerequisite and awards the projects (2) points. Does this same logic apply to a project without indoor plumbing fixtures, and if so, are we able to take full credit (and points) as we would by similarly forgoing an irrigation system onsite?
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
454 thumbs up
December 2, 2023 - 1:00 pm
Hey Blake!
I can see this going one of two ways:
My first reaction (and what I lean pretty heavily to) is that this would be treated as an addition, which has the following guidance in the Ref Guide (at the end of the Further Explanation section):
Additions
All fixtures within the project boundary must be included in the prerequisite calculations. If the project boundary includes only the addition, the fixtures or fittings outside the addition do not need to be included in the calculations for prerequisite compliance, even if used by project occupants.
In this case, the Prereq would be N/A, and you would not be eligible for the Credit points, since your project does not have any applicable fixtures.
My second thought of potential is more along the lines of the Interiors project approach, where your Prereq and Credit calcs would be based on the existing fixtures that the occupants would use, regardless of whether they're in your boundary or not. As long as those fixtures comply, you'd earn the Prereq and however many points under the Credit that work out with the fixture rates.
If you want to be safe, I'd email LEED Coach with your proposed approach and get confirmation. Hope that helps!
Laura Long
Sr. Designer, Sustainability and Sr. AssociateNORR
27 thumbs up
February 3, 2024 - 12:31 pm
Thanks for the great feedback, Emily. There is the likelyhood that the LEED boundary on this project may be revised to include an existing guardhouse that may receive a restroom renovation. If that is the case, could we use those new fixtures toward WEc2 credit achivement?
emily reese moody
Sustainability Director, Certifications & ComplianceJacobs
LEEDuser Expert
454 thumbs up
February 3, 2024 - 1:22 pm
Hey Laura, yep! Any fixtures used by the occupants, so the guard(s) would count. Just be careful and specific that it would likely only be used by that person(s) and not the occupants using the rest of the project space. You'd probably want to provide a little narrative clarifying the FTE in the water calculator vs the FTE of the rest of the project to prevent uneccesary review comments.