Owner Supplied Furniture - non-residential

Hi Leanne,
While there is no published guidance that clarifies this question one way or the other, I believe based off the Reference Guide we can reasonably assume that owner-supplied furniture must be installed prior to the air testing.

Above the bullet for "Ensure that all owner-provided furniture has been installed in residential projects", the RG says to install all finishes, furniture, and furnishings before testing. I am not sure why the specifically call out the residential in a separate bullet, but I think the only time furniture may not apply is if the building was a Core & Shell space.

Following the intent of the credit, regardless if the owner specified low-emitting furniture, the air quality test is meant to inform the building occupants to any potential contaminants in their indoor air. If the testing happens without the furniture installed, and the furniture off-gasses significantly once installed, the AQ test would not have done its job. In order to provide the most value to the building, and to comply with LEED, owner purchased furniture should be installed prior to the AQ test.
I hope this helps!

In the "Changes from LEED 2009" section of the reference guide for this credit, it is very clear. "Installation of movable furnishings (such as workstations and partitions) before testing or flush-out is now required rather than just recommended."

Hi Leanne et al,

I am confused by this with respect to full flushout vs. partial flushout. If owner supplied furnishings are what is being referred to by "movable" furnishings, how does that occur with a full flushout process? On our non-residential project, the GC will substantially complete the building with everything that is permanently installed and then turn over the building to the Owner for move in. How would a full flushout occur if the Owner has not begun the move in process that brings in the furnishings?  Leanne did you get any insight into this as part of your review process?

Thanks for the response Leanne.

Related but separate...we have a project that has existing furnishings (things like cabinets, not systems furniture) that are over a year old; these items will be moved in along with some existing lab equipment just prior to occupancy for immediate use. In the past and with other credits, there was a general rule that things over a year old did not need to play by the same rules as new (or newish) items...anyone know if this would be the case here, too?

Also, we're assuming that the actual equipment is not under the same rules as furniture; it's not called out anywhere that I can find.

Any thoughts?

Emily I had a similar situation on a LEED v4 ID+C project. Our project was approved having demonstrated that the existing furniture to be relocated was over 2 years old and thus met the definition of reused in accordance with ID+C Interiors Life Cycle Impact Reduction Option 2 Furniture Reuse.

Emily - I have a project with lab equipment, some existing over a year old and some new. I'm hoping your assumption that lab equipment does not fall under the rules of furniture is correct. Do you have any updates on how things have gone for your project?

Hi Sara,

I ended up asking LEED Coach so we could be more confident. This was their response:

"For this project, it is acceptable for existing furniture that is 1+ years old to be installed after IAQ testing, provided the furniture is not refurbished prior to installation (e.g. painted or cleaned with VOC-containing products) and there are no punch list items associated with the furniture installation that would generate VOCs or other contaminants.

This is a one-time exception that may not be applied to any other projects without advance approval from GBCI. As there are no exceptions for reused furniture in the published guidance, we recommend that the project team upload a copy of this correspondence with the credit submittal." 

It matched our conclusions, but I would recommend reaching out for some project-specific guidance, too, to be certain.