Hi there.
I have a question regarding identifying the LEED project boundary as it relates to rainwater management.
The project we are attempting to certify is a building located on a two-building business park. These two buildings share the landscaped area, plaza and underground parking although they are separate buildings. We are attempting the rainwater management credit and from what I understand, I am to include the hardscaped footprint of the other building in my calculations (i.e. include the roof of the other building we are NOT certifying into the total hardscaped area of the project site). Other responses regarding the LEED project boundary state that we should exclude buildings that are not attempting certification from the project. In this case, considering the building footprint is used in SSC2´s hardscape calculations, should I include it in the project boundary?
Thank you!
Laura
Paula Melton
Editorial DirectorBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
180 thumbs up
January 18, 2018 - 10:55 am
Laura,
Despite the SSc2 calculations, I do not believe that you should include the other building in your project boundary since you are not also certifying that building. Consider cross-posting to the SSc2 forum to see if others have insights on how this has worked for them in the past.
Trista Brown
Project DirectorWSP USA
449 thumbs up
January 26, 2018 - 3:09 pm
Hi Laura, I think you'll probably want to follow the same LEED boundary you're using for the rest of your application, which should likely exclude the footprint and site area (both vegetated and hardscape) associated with the building not pursuing certification. It can be a little awkward to split up the kind of shared campus site you're describing, but if you're avoiding gerrymandering and have a reasonable-looking boundary you should be okay. Alternatively if you need to include the entire business park in the rainwater calculations, you could probably use a group approach for just that credit, and provide a SSc2-specific LEED boundary and clarifying narrative for why you're approaching it that way.