From the wording in the reference guide, I had understood that the ventilation requirements of printer rooms are not relevant in CS where these are part of the tenant fit-out (CS guidance, page 512: "Tenant space activities such as use of copiers, fax machines, and printers are not considered within the scope of the LEED Core & Shell program; however, consider including compliance specifications in tenant design and construction guidelines."). Brilliant, I thought, just has to go in as a recommendation in SSc9.
In the 2009 Credit Form in LEED Online, however, it requires confirmation that binding legal language is in tenant agreements enforce all criteria of the credit where these are outside the CS scope of work - somewhat stronger than the more friendly "guidelines" of the Ref Guide.
Anyone with experience on this? It is necessary to dictate that large printers and copiers lie in dedicated rooms with sufficient ventilation (despite the fact that not many landlords are keen to prescribe just strict regelments on interior fit outs and occupancy)?
Thanks in advance for any advice
Susie Spivey-Tilson
LEED Fellow, Senior Program Manager for Global Energy & SustainabilityCBRE
LEEDuser Expert
158 thumbs up
August 30, 2010 - 12:25 pm
This isn't the first case where the Reference Guide and the Credit Form in LEED online contradict one another.
My first line of defense would be to send a technical inquiry specific to the credit to GBCI and have them acknowledge the difference and to confirm if the legal language is required for credit compliance (more so than the recommendation to include in the Tenant Guidelines).
Most tenants won't have copiers and printers that are high volume enough to require placement in a separate room with negative pressure and exhaust, though some might.
We recently completed a LEED CS building that included reference in the lease to a "LEED Tenant Directive" for all tenants. In this we addressed design issues for all tenants that affected the base building - i.e. all tenants were required to reduce LPD by 15% at a min, all tenants were required to recycle construction waste, and meet all EQc4 requirements, among a few others. The directive laid out the specific design requirements as well as the process by which the owner/property manager would check the inclusion during design reviews. The LEED directive and the Tenant Guidelines were linked documents.
So the owner was able to require certain LEED specific design items by reference to the LEED directive in the lease, without the wording actually showing up in the lease itself. The wording for an item such as this could be to the effect of "in the event the tenant requires a separated high-volume copy area X Y Z ventilation requirements must be met in accordance with LEED CS 2009 EQc5 requirements."
Good luck!
Victoria Lockhart
Arup Associates125 thumbs up
October 25, 2010 - 11:45 am
finally a response to my technical enquiry: legal language definitely required! Thanks for your additional help and advice, Susie!
Response from USGBC Technical Customer Service:
" If future tenant spaces are anticipated to have “high-volume copy, print, and fax equipment” located within the building, then your Core and Shell project must include a legally binding document that states these spaces shall comply with the requirements of IEQc5 when completed, as stated in the 2009 LEED IEQc5 Form, if you wish to achieve a point for this credit. Because this is a “Case C” credit, as explained in CS Appendix 4 on page 620 of the LEED Reference Guide for Green Building Design and Construction, 2009 Edition, it is required that the project team provide tenant lease or sales agreements to support IEQc5 compliance data. Please note that the requirements of such agreements would only apply if the tenant’s project fit-out actually involved high-volume copy, print, &/or fax equipment. "