Hi All, I'm working on a Healthcare v4 project that has detected iron in significant concentrations on the project site and it appears to possibly be a background contaminate but this is still being investigated. As the risk of elevated iron underneath a parking lot and building is potentially not directly harmful to building and site occupants, the client is considering performing a risk assessment to state a case that the site would not cause site occupant's health and this would be submitted to the local government to review. If the local government deems the risk to be sufficiently low and grants permission for the facility to go ahead with construction without going through a full remediation process, would this be acceptable for the fulfillment of this prerequisite?

I'm wondering if anyone has come across an interpretation from the GBCI for something like this, as I haven't found anything in the addenda. I interpret this path as following the full local procedure, however the prerequisite requires remediation if contamination is suspected.

The closest mention I've found is the following CaGBC statement in regards to brownfield remediation for NC 2009 LEED Canada projects, however the USGBC often interprets differently and this is a different rating system: The use of a Risk Management plan approved by the relevant regulatory authority is acceptable as part of the remediation for achieving this credit. The relevant regulatory authority is considered to be the expert and final authority on remediation measures that are considered acceptable.

Maybe I'm missing something obvious but any feedback would be appreciated!

Thanks