We are working on a 30+ acre medical campus for a single developer. There will be a total of 9 buildings in this development, and all buildings will pursue LEED certification. I am trying to determine if this site would qualify for the LEED Campus Guidance and in particular a Master Site? The Guidance states "All buildings or spaces are located on a single site, as defined in the LEED Minimum Program Requirements for the applicable rating system." I'm trying to determine the meaning of the "single site" since each building will be on difference parcels each leased to different entities and not one contiguous site. This may be an exercise in terminology, but I wanted to be sure I am interpreting this correctly.
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Susan Walter
HDRLEEDuser Expert
1299 thumbs up
December 15, 2014 - 11:45 am
My understanding of Master Site, and it may be flawed, is that all buildings on the campus certify under the same LEED program. You mentioned this is a medical campus. If there is any inpatient program in the project? If yes, the project needs to follow LEED HC which has additional pre-requisites than NC. Under the Campus Guide, all buildings have to meet all pre-requisites. You have a similar problem with the Group Approach. It is going to depend on your program and the similarity or dissimilarity across all the buildings. If you have a blend of inpatient and outpatient functions, I would recommend a call to the GBCI.
Another thing to consider is length of time, our healthcare projects span years and years. We were just discussing that when a certain project started, the co-worker did not have any children. Now he has one in kindergarten and a two year old. The project in question is only half way done and the first portion is less than 8,000 s.f. Another co-worker's son will be 10 when her project is completed. It was underway when she started and he was a year old. Taking a considered look at the sunset dates for LEED is a very serious recommendation when working on large healthcare projects and with healthcare master plans.
Richard Barlow
Dir. of SustainabilityMHAworks
December 16, 2014 - 9:41 am
Thank you, Susan! I found that up to three different LEED rating systems are permitted under one Master Site, but due to the project types, they will most likely be LEED HC. We're looking at a 5-6 year window for this particular developement, but I'm aware we may be "upgrading" to v4 in the middle of it all, and of course, projects change direction all the time.
My other concern is that the Master Site documentation is really wanting all properties to be at a schematic design level with footprints, GSF, and FTE calculated for each. I don't see how this will be possible since these buildings have not yet been realized. I'm wondering if this is the right path for this development since just a general masterplan with blocks and "potential" uses does not seem to be enough information to submit a Master Site for review.
Jon Clifford
LEED-AP BD+CGREENSQUARE
LEEDuser Expert
323 thumbs up
December 21, 2014 - 1:04 pm
Richard—I’ve not used the “Master Site” approach outlined in the latest (April 2014) “LEED Campus Guidance for Projects on a Shared Site,” and I am more familiar with the “Group” approach. However, I have some observations:
1. Page 8 of the Guidance allows teams to wait to make their Master Site submittal along with the submittal for their first building. If you choose this option, by then, your schematics for the later phases may be better defined.
2. Page 7 offers some flexibility if campus and individual boundaries cannot be identified in the schematic site plan.
3. Page 9 says that it is possible (with additional expense) to revise the Master Site after the initial review.
4. The graphic on Page 5 show two Master Site registered under the same Campus. I would ask GBCI whether you could register your early phases under one Master Site and later phases separately.
5. That same graphic shows a Group Project registered under the first Master Site. If your campus includes a core cluster of buildings that will be constructed concurrently, it might be advantageous to document these buildings together under a single Group registration, separate from the rest.
Finally, to address a concern raised in your original post, the MPR Supplemental Guidance document (http://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-2009-mpr-supplemental-guidance-revis...) clarifies when non-contiguous parcels may qualify as a “single site.” It also clarifies the other MPRs. These points may help you evaluate the best ways to delineate your Campus, Group, & individual project boundaries.
Richard Barlow
Dir. of SustainabilityMHAworks
December 22, 2014 - 2:18 pm
Thanks, Jon! We've decided to tackle the site with two master sites. One that will cover what we know now, and one to cover the remainder of the buildings once they get more defined. Thanks everyone for your input!