Integrative Process v4.1 - Project Team Letter

Project location: U.S. and Canada

July 24, 2019

Kelli Kimura

Opsis Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

13 thumbs up

Project location: U.S. and Canada

July 24, 2019

Hello,

I wanted to clarify when the Project Team Letter should be completed for the v4.1 IP credit. The credit language says the letter should, "Describe the approach developed by the project team for engaging a clearly defined and manageable integrative design process beginning in pre-design and continuing throughout the design phases". Should the letter be dated and written before the completion of schematic design (similar to the water and energy analysis), or can it be written/dated later in design to include how the integrative process influenced other design phases.

Thank you in advance for your help!

Post a reply

Vikas Khanna

LEEDuser Basic Member

September 16, 2020 - 6:37 am

Hi Kelli
Were you able to draft a letter for your Project?

Kelli Kimura

Opsis Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

13 thumbs up

September 16, 2020 - 2:13 pm

Hi Vikas,

I have not started drafting this letter yet, but did receive clarification from the v4.1 folks at GBCI. See below:

"There is no date by which the letter must be completed. While the integrative design process must begin early in the design process, the nature of the credit means that it may extend late into design or even into construction. As noted in the Implementation section of the LEED v4.1 Guide, "The letter must include a separate summary for each issue area analyzed by the project team, describing how the analysis informed the design and building form decisions in the project’s OPR and BOD and the eventual design of the project". By using a team narrative rather than the worksheet required for LEED v4, project teams have greater flexibility to tell the story of their full integrative process."

Vikas Khanna

LEEDuser Basic Member

September 17, 2020 - 6:59 am

Thanks for the above information Kelli :)

Hashir Usman

LEEDuser Basic Member

March 9, 2022 - 7:57 am

Hi Kelli,

Were you able to draft the letter? What aspects did you include? Did you attach the energy systems and water analysis as an annex or just write a summary for it? Could you please let me know as I am also drafting this letter and would like to hear about your experience?

Thanks a lot!

Bests,

Hashir

Kelli Kimura

Opsis Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

13 thumbs up

March 21, 2022 - 2:12 pm

Hi Hashir,

I have drafted this letter and we've had a good experience so far with this approach being accepted during design/construction review:

Letter included a few paragraphs summarizing each early analysis category chosen
Letter highlighted the progression of early analysis at different stages of design (typically predesign through CDs or even construction/occupancy). For example, outlining timeline of when early energy analysis was conducted in SD and when it was updated following this.
Early analysis report or outputs listed and attached as appendix items
Signatures included one person representing each discipline or stakeholder group. E-signatures have been the most efficient collection method.

Hope this helps!

Hashir Usman

LEEDuser Basic Member

March 23, 2022 - 9:37 am

Thank you so much Kelli, it is really helpful. Just another small question; Did you add the list of all the team members (with their positions/roles) who participated in the IDP or did you just provide a broad overview such as client team, design team, contractor, etc.

Thanks a lot again!

Bests,

Hashir

Kelli Kimura

Opsis Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

13 thumbs up

April 5, 2022 - 5:06 pm

Hi Hashir,

We did not have a formal list of all team members, just listed signatures of each group's representative at the end. I could see this list being helpful to include, maybe as an appendix item, for large projects or those with many stakeholder groups. In the letter we did provide a broad overview of which groups were involved at different points of design, like you described.

Hashir Usman

LEEDuser Basic Member

April 25, 2022 - 10:15 am

Thanks a lot Kelli :)

Aleksandra Suchomska

LEEDuser Basic Member

July 25, 2022 - 5:53 am

Hi Kelli,

How to keep the letter format when developing this credit? Did you add the return to the addressee at the beginning of the letter? Who did you turn to? Thanks a lot.

Best regards,

A.Suchomska

Kelli Kimura

Opsis Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

13 thumbs up

August 9, 2022 - 9:54 pm

Hi Aleksandra,

Our team used a typical business letter format with the date, address (USGBC's address in this case), subject and a "To Whom it May Concern". That worked fine for us!