I am working on a project in a region where the regional priority credits include SSC1 paths, C, E, G, H, and L, but do NOT include path A - selecting a LEED certified building. At first glance, it looks like we our project only qualifies for 6 points maximum (paths E, G, and H > 3 SS credits and 3 regional priority credits for each of these = 6 credits total). However, I am wondering if there is a way to get the 5 credits for being in LEED building, and still get the three regional priority credits we qualify for also. Does anyone know if that is the case and how to go about documenting the credits if we can claim them?
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Kristina Bach
VP of InnovationSustainable Investment Group
151 thumbs up
August 22, 2012 - 9:53 am
Regional Priority:
First, I just want to confirm that you are in LEED-CI v2009 and not LEED-CI v2.0. The pathways in v2009 are numbered whereas in v2.0 they were lettered. Since your question references lettered pathways, it’s a little unclear whether you are in LEED-CI v2009. If you are in LEED-CI v2.0, there are no Regional Priority Credits (RPC) at all and so the question is somewhat mute as they wouldn’t apply to your project. I'm going to assume that was just a typo and that you are in LEED-CI v2009, so we’re discussing SSc1 Option 1 (Certified Building) versus SSc1 Option 2 – Path #s (Other Quantifiable Benefits).
SSc1 - LEED Building vs. Pathways:
Unfortunately, LEED Online v3 (LOv3) will only recognize a regional priority point as an option when the specific linked pathway/option is attempted. This means that if RPC is noted as available for SSc1 Option 2 – Path 4 and you instead select and submit under SSc1 Option 1, you will not receive any RPC points as the correct path/option was not selected and the RPC hasn’t been automatically linked by the LOv3 system. So, in your case, it sounds like if you really want to submit under the previously certified building/space option (SSc1 Option 1), that’s going to preclude you from being able to achieve any RPC point within SSc1 (as those are all associated with SSc1 Option 2 - Path #s).
The other important thing to note is that RPCs are awarded at the CREDIT level and therefore there is a maximum of one additional RPC point per CREDIT. The RPC needs to be attempted on the Credit Information Tab for SSc1 (the credit) within LOv3. As SSc1 is the credit and all of the paths are just compliance options to achieve that credit, you would only be able to achieve a maximum of one RPC point for SSc1 – even if you demonstrated compliance with all three of your noted pathways. You can obviously attempt any combination of pathways (as long as they total no more than 5 potential points) so it’s not as if you need to pick only one of the RPC-eligible pathways to pursue. You should just recognize that you could only get a maximum of one RPC point for SSc1 regardless of how many RPC-eligible pathways in SSc1 you complied with.
Your Specific Project:
So for your particular project – we’re really talking about 5 points versus 6 points total available for SSc1. At this point, it probably becomes an internal debate on how badly you might need that one additional point versus the extra work required to document base building compliance with the individual pathways within Option 2. In either case, you would definitely want to note the project as previously certified within PIf5 (Previously LEED Certified Details) and provide there the required official documentation from USGBC/GBCI to confirm the certification (note that screenshots of LEED Online and PDF Review Summaries don’t qualify; you’d need something like the official USGBC/GBCI-provided scorecard, congratulations letter, certificate, etc.).
By making sure you appropriately documented the previous certification in PIf5, that gives you a very good fall-back for the Final Review to ensure that you would be able to achieve at least 5 points for SSc1. It would enable you to attempt the pathways in the Preliminary Review via SSc1 Option 2 – Path #s if you wanted and try to get the six available points (5 full + 1 RPC). If you ran into any issues documenting compliance/achieving the individual pathways at the base building level, you could then always revise your compliance route before the Final Review to SSc1 Option 1 and be sure that you would get the five points available for being in a previously LEED certified building/space. At that point, you would then only miss out on the one additional RPC point available for your location.
But again – it’s based on how badly you need/want that one additional point. Documenting the individual pathways at the base building level is obviously going to be much more work than just submitting under SSc1 Option 1. If that one point is not going to be critical to a threshold, it might not be worth the time/effort required for the pathways...
It's incredibly frustrating to me that your region selected so many RPC options all within the same credit; that severely limited your overall RPC options... I'd love to know the project zipcode (if you're willing to share).
Hope that helps clear things up! More that willing to help answer any follow-up questions you might have.