Our client has a large factory which is under construction. He now wants to add office space and will add an office building to the project. He wants the office building to be LEED certified. Can we certify just the office building or do we need to certify both the factory AND the office building?
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Steve Khouw
PrincipalDNA GreenDesign
169 thumbs up
November 13, 2012 - 4:03 am
Emmanuel, because the buildings are disimilar in forms and functions, you will have to register separately even under the same mastersite. If it is desired to certified just the office building, you can...just restrict the project boundary to encircle only that building and associated site/landscape. But why would you do that if there is an opportunity to also certify the factory green too?
Emmanuel Pauwels
OwnerGreen Living Projects
131 thumbs up
November 13, 2012 - 4:18 am
Steve,
Where (in which document) does USGBC indicate that a site with a building which has different funtions needs to be certified seperatly? If I have a building that is connected and that has systems in common but it consists of an office part and a factory part, can it not be certified as 1 project?
I am quoting for another project as well, which is a logistic center which also consists of a factory space and an office space and I assumed the whole logistics centre could be certified as one building.
The reason why we would not certifiy the factory in the project I was initially inquiring about, is because construction of that building already started and it would be too hard to change design elements and the construction company has not implemented an Erosion Control Plan ... so, too late to start the certification process. On the other hand, the office building is something they want to add to the building (it will be connected to the factory) and since that is still in early design phase, certification is still possible. What is your opinion Steve?
Steve Khouw
PrincipalDNA GreenDesign
169 thumbs up
November 13, 2012 - 12:29 pm
Sorry I meant EBOM group projects, sorry to mislead you. For D+C projects indeed the buildings have to be under same contract and built over same time, which here it sounded not the case.Yet I still stand that clusters of very similar buildings are perfect for Group certification.
Again I asked you, as to singularily certifying the one office building (ignore or take out the factory from the LEED project boundary) - why not? Even if there is an inter-connection, so long as it is for circulation (such as a covered walkway) not a substantial physical building connectivity (like sharing the same base), I can't see any reason why not. Just exclude the factory from the LEED project boundary, unless it is integral to the office building site's performance...like sharing energy, water etc.
Refer also to page 22 of the LEED 2009 MPR Supplemental Guidance (http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=10131) about separate buildings.