I am working on a number of facilities owned by the same entity and they want to have the outdoor air testing done at all the facilities as one scope of work for a contractor, however, the performance period for each project will not start at the same time - will be in the next few years. The EBOM Reference Guide states: “outdoor air testing generally occurs during the performance period (Max 2 years). Exception can be made if….pursuing EAc2.3 ongoing commissioning…and can be done up to 5 years before the end of the performance period.”
The project we are doing are not able to achieve EAc2.3 so does that mean we can’t do the testing unless we are starting the performance period? I interpret this to mean that if one unit isn’t working and we can’t get it fixed quickly and the performance period is started, then we have to retest all units once the performance period is restarted, which doesn't seem to make sense just because the projects don't pursue EAc2.3.
Does anyone have any experience with this or can anyone provide an insight?
Michael Smithing
Director - Green Building AdvisoryColliers International Ltd.
304 thumbs up
August 19, 2015 - 8:54 pm
The performance period for each credit can be different and can (in general) last for any period between 3 and 24 months. LEED requires that the performance periods END at essentially the same time, but they can start at different times. This means that you can perform the indoor air quality testing up to 24 months before the end of the performance period for each building.
Jennifer Turchin
PrincipalCoda Group Inc.
29 thumbs up
August 19, 2015 - 8:57 pm
Correct - but what if it is longer than 24 months until the start of the Performance Period (this is likely with a quasi-governmental client). Then is the testing going to have to happen again? This is onerous.
Michael Smithing
Director - Green Building AdvisoryColliers International Ltd.
304 thumbs up
August 21, 2015 - 2:50 am
The rules say the testing will have to happen again,and you can never count on wiggle room with LEED review teams. I would wait as long as possible to bring as many of the projects within the 24 month performance period as possible. For the later projects I would refer to the owner's "portfolio approach" to testing and then reference the previous projects. No guarantee it will be accepted, but there is a reasonable chance.