We are working on a manufacturing plant outside United States. The project consists of the manufacturing area which includes 6 buildings, these 6 buildings are placed in 3 rows and 2 buildings per row, all of these buildings are continuously connected with a 3 story circulation spine. which runs in the middle of the site connecting all of the different manufacturing buildings. There is an additional building which houses the admin and staff support spaces like cafeteria, lockers etc. This Admin building is not connected with the circulation spine instead only a covered walkway connects this admin building to the manufacturing area. the goal is to pursue LEED gold under NC, but with preliminary analysis seems like the manufacturing area can get LEED silver and the admin building can get LEED gold.
My questions are
1. Is it possible to pursue LEED certification for this project as one single building where we pursue LEED NC silver for the whole project? since the admin building is merely an extension of the manufacturing part and functionality wise both parts are interdependent.
Or
2. do we consider this as two different buildings, the manufacturing plant and the admin building and go with the master site where we can get diff levels of certification for the two buildings, LEED-NC silver and LEED NC gold under different project registrations with common campus credits.
Thanks in advance.
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Erin Holdenried
Sustainability Architect125 thumbs up
May 28, 2013 - 1:37 pm
For a project like this, there are generally two options: pursue Group Certification OR Individual Bldg Certifications using the Campus Approach/Master Site. The project cannot pursue certification as one large building because the Admin building is only connected by circulation to the manufacturing plant (see MPR Supplemental Guidance Rev 2, pg 22 on "Defining one building"). Even if the buildings serve each other and are fucntionally connected, they are physically separate (by LEED standards) and therefore are considered separate buildings. It is also possible that the manufacturing building is actually a series of separate buildings that must be treated distinct, for LEED purposes. But, without see the plans, I couldn't say for sure. At a minimum, the Admin Building and Manufacturing Building must be treated as two distinct buildings. It is up to you whether a Group Certification or Individual Certifications with a Campus Approach makes more sense for the project.
Louise Schlatter
ArchitectSSOE Group
86 thumbs up
May 28, 2013 - 2:20 pm
While it is clear our associate EH knows how to read the MPR Supplemental Guidance Rev 2, I encourage you to question the Guide and its interpretation. You have a single project, none of it is sufficiently unique to stand alone on its own merits.
Your arguments for this would be enhanced if 1) the “3 story circulation spine” includes conveyors, if 2) you are treating it in the building code as a single building (your phrase “6 buildings” is really an area description), and if 3) the owner is planning to use a single general contractor (or manager) for the entire project.
My suggestion is to directly engage the USGBC/GBCI in this discussion.
Erin Holdenried
Sustainability Architect125 thumbs up
May 28, 2013 - 2:38 pm
Thanks Louise for bringing that up, I definitely agree with your advice to engage USGBC/GBCI on how to proceed.
Aditi, it sounds like you project is complex and it would be benefit from getting approval/guidance from GBCI/USGBC on your certification approach before you register your project.
My advice is previous comment is based on experience I have had with similar manufacturing campuses. In many cases, the Admin building is treated separately from the manufacturing building.
Aditi Padki
Project Architect, LEED AP BD+CSmithGroupJJR
May 28, 2013 - 5:41 pm
Thanks for your replies, the whole project is under one single general contractor and going to be started and finished at the same time.....in all architectural and construction aspects this is one single entity.
It just seems like the the individual building campus/master site approach will work better here since under group certification we will have to pursue one rating system and one certification level for all the buildings that means we will only be able to reach LEED NC silver, where as with individual bldg certifications under campus/master site we will be able to pursue different levels for manufacturing and admin buildings i.e. LEED NC silver and gold respectively.
Louise: I have read your previous threads and totally agree with you but just not sure if the team is willing to spend the time, and anyways the USGBC route works better for us in this situation.