Forum discussion
NC-2009 SSc4.2: Alternative Transportation—Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms
Does LEED have any requirements on spacing or the type of bike racks used? Can crowd control or wheel bender type racks meet the credit requirements? How does LEED define a bicycle space? The crowd control racks may have as many as 20 openings in a 10 foot space. Would LEED count this as 20 bicycle spaces?
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Does LEED have any requirements on spacing or the type of bike racks used? What about security?
Are there specific requirements for the changing rooms, such as size?
Do bike racks have to be within the LEED project boundary?
Is a general storage room that is accessible to residents acceptable for covered bike storage?
Do I round up or down? What if the calculations show that I need 0.5 showers?
Matthew Cunha-Rigby
Sustainable LeaderHDR, Inc.
25 thumbs up
October 2, 2012 - 1:00 pm
LEED does not prescribe the type of bicycle rack that should be used or the spacing between them. LEED only prescribes that bicycle storage/racks be secure and within 200 yards of the building entrance.
In my mind, neither wheel bender or crowd control bicycle racks can be defined as secure. These types of racks only allow a user to secure their wheel to the rack, which makes it very easy for someone to steal the bike. I would also highly discourage the use of "wave" racks. As for the "20 openings" in the crowd control style rack - no way/no how would you be able to fit 20 bikes in a 10 ft space and you would not be able to count each opening as a rack. The manufacturer usually states how many bikes will fit on a certain rack. Generally, depending on the type of rack you use, they can be spaced 2' O.C. and accommodate 2 bikes each (using a U rack).
David Baker has a great info page about bike parking if you want to learn more (http://www.dbarchitect.com/words/writings/72/HOW%20TO%3A%20Bicycle%20Par...).
As someone who commutes by bike daily, I would never lock my bike to either type of rack. Although LEED isn't specific regarding the type of rack you can use, I think you will want to decide whether your approach would meet the intent of the credit, which is to encourage alternative transportation (bikes) and reduce the impacts from auto use. Without providing safe, secure and convenient bike storage, I doubt you would really encourage people to arrive by bike. You might meet the "requirements," but you wouldn't really meet the intent.
Rick Servoss
Mechanical Engineer29 thumbs up
October 2, 2012 - 1:15 pm
I would assume that you, Mr. Baker and I see eye-to-eye on bike parking.
Since LEED doesn't provide guidelines for this, if the project owner were to ask, "what's the cheapest way we can provide 40 bicycle spaces and still meet the requirements?" we're going to end up with this:
http://www.dixieschooldistrict.org/photogallery/mc%20bike%20rack1.JPG
I was hoping for an amendment or CIR that regulates what is and is not an acceptable method of bicycle parking.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
October 4, 2012 - 10:08 pm
Rick,
I'm not sure I'd want to hold my breath waiting for a CIR or addendum on that level of detail! As much as it might help you answer the clients question easily, the downside of that level of detail would be such a prescriptive and complex rating system that would be even harder to use. I don't know of any ASTM standard for bike racks, so we'll have to use our professional judgement of how many bikes can reasonably fit on a rack.