Minimum occupancy

Asil Rashid

Sustainability Consultant

LEEDuser Basic Member

0 thumbs up

Project location :

Ireland

November 12, 2018

I am working on certifying an office building for LEED EBOM v4 that has just been certified for LEED Core & Shell. It's not fully occupied yet, it's multi-tenant-based and the systems (meters) have just been set up. My question is two-tiered:

1- What is the minimum occupancy requirement to start establishment/baseline and consequently performance period?

2- I am setting up a timeline to try and understand establishment versus performance period. I am assuming that for some of the prerequisites and credits performance period begins after the establishment/baseline period. In which case, we are looking at another 3-4 years before we can apply for certification. Is this correct?

Thank you.

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Trista Brown

Project Director

WSP USA

LEEDuser Basic Member

381 thumbs up

Mon, 12/17/2018 - 19:50

Hi Asil, the difference between establishment and performance are covered on page 12-13 of the Reference Guide. Personally I think they make it more confusing than it needs to be. Basically, establishment items are more static, and performance items are ongoing. The performance period is the snapshot in time where you diligently track actual performance and report that data to USGBC in your LEED application (typically 3 months, except for EAp2 which is a year). You can definitely complete establishment items during your performance period (for example, document exterior lighting for SSc4). So I wouldn't worry too much about whether something is categorized as "establishment" or "performance". You should be more focused on determining all the actions you need to complete and thinking through when it's optimal to schedule the performance period. To your other question, minimum occupancy is discussed on page 19 of the RG. EAp2 is the only prerequisite/credit with hard and fast rules for minimum occupancy. In this case, you have to follow ENERGY STAR's minimum occupancy requirements:

Office/Bank/Courthouse/Financial Center must be greater than 50%
Hotel must be greater than 55%
Multifamily must be greater than 75%

(https://portfoliomanager.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/211696827-What-should-I-use-for-occupancy-level-if-it-fluctuates-) Hope that helps!