I have a roof plan that was created by the original architect. I can add a few things in Photoshop and have a pretty nice looking submittal but I was wondering if this would be frowned upon. It feels like I am "stealing" the architects work. My team has debated erasing the existing title block and adding our own, or adding a blurb about how the drawings are being used w/ permission from the client solely for LEED purposes. What is normally done in the submission process with this issue? Do we even need to change anything with the existing title block?
Thanks.
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1976 thumbs up
December 20, 2010 - 12:20 pm
It may be acceptable to mark up or alter the drawings, as long as you a) have permission from the architect as well as the client for the specific use or changes, and b) make it clear which information is yours.
We've had LEED reviewers who suggested we hide or turn off unnecessary information in the drawings or make it very obvious where the relevant LEED info was. Their priority is more for efficient review and are less concerned with format formalities. Anecdotally, I'd say that LEED submissions need to "clear, complete, and credible," (to coin a phrase) but there are no legal or policy guidelines for format, title blocks, or attribution.
Many architects will remove their stamp from the title block of drawings submitted for LEED and provide a disclaimer "For LEED Documentation - Not Intended for Construction" to make it clear that these are not Construction Documents, which become part of a legal contract between the general contractor and owner.
You might consider adding a key note with date and LEED purpose to the title block or notes area and then use revision clouds, color circles, or highlighting, etc to make the LEED specific information on the drawings more obvious. With permission, you could also use the original drawings as "backgrounds" for your own photoshoped sheet, and make your markup and highlighting clearly your own.