(I'm not sure my comment went through in the other thread, since it wasn't the 2nd Public Comment forum.)

I represent Jacobs, a global design firm that performs architectural and engineering design for a multitude of industrial manufacturing project types (semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, EV battery manufacturing, etc.).  Our factory-owner clients are no less interested in high LEED certification levels (such as LEED Gold) than other project owners, which presents a great challenge for our LEED teams.  Generally speaking, we would like to continue to see credits and strategies included in v5 that are achievable by our industrial project types.

Specifically, the following previously available Enhanced IAQ Strategies do not appear to be included in the latest version of the IEQ category credits:

  • Option 2.A. Exterior Contamination Prevention: our projects use an industry-standard computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model to document the requirements of this strategy.  This is a complex analysis, but it complements owner priorities to protect occupants.
  • Option 2.D. Additional Source Control and Monitoring: the HazMat Handling Plan and all the requirements for the leak detection systems are normal parts of the design and operations planning for our industrial projects.

The two above strategies (in conjunction with v4 Option 1) have historically allowed us to achieve both points in this credit, as well as exemplary performance.  Many of the other v4 Option 2 strategies (or the v4.1 strategies) are not possible for our project type, so we rely on these industrial project-related strategies for 3 total points.

We understand that the Project Priorities and Innovation category may possibly be used to document some of these project type-specific strategies.  However, this does not help us make up potential lost points within the IEQ category that we cannot otherwise achieve with this project type. For example, most manufacturing facilities do not have the opportunity to include biophilic environments, daylight, quality views, lighting or thermal comfort controls, etc., which appear to be a large portion of the points available in this category for v5.

The two strategies listed above are still ways that these projects protect their occupants, as well as nearby properties, from the potential risks involved in industrial manufacturing.  We would appreciate it if some strategies for industrial projects would still be included in the main credit categories.  Thank you!