I'm working on a new science / health sciences building on the UW Eau Claire campus is Certified Wildlife Habitat through the National Wildlife Federation, is a Certified Tree Campus USA, and 177 acres are Accredited Arboretum through ArbNet. The campus is also are a Monarch Waystation.

However, the specific site (within the LEED boundary) does not meet the LEED v4 or v4.1 requirements SSc Site Development - Protect or Restore Habitat. I could use the campus guidance, but there are no funds to do a campus certification.

I'd like to upgrade to LEED v5 for the SSc: Protect or Restore Habitat, (renamed Biodiverse Habitat in LEED v5), Option 2. Bird-Friendly Glass (1 point), as the project has bird-friendly glass, and I'd like to see the project get credit for what they are already paying for, and the project has already completed all of the Innovation credits.

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Kai Starn

Senior Sustainability Consultant

Steven Winter Associates

LEEDuser Premium Member

9 thumbs up

Tue, 04/29/2025 - 19:20

Hi Theresa, at this time, LEED v5 credit substitutions are not available for previous versions of LEED. Source: https://support.usgbc.org/hc/en-us/articles/4526830606355-LEED-requirements-and-other-guidance#v5-substitutions

Mike Refsland

Sr. High Performance Designer

DLR Group

LEEDuser Premium Member

7 thumbs up

Wed, 05/28/2025 - 16:24

Further confirming Kai's response and link above: I contacted GBCI to ask if it were possible to swap credits from a LEED BD+C v4.1 project into the v5 version of the credit, similar to how we swap from v4 to v4.1 for specific credits. This is the response I received from GBCI on 5/1/2025: "Regarding your question, at this time LEED v5 credit substitutions are not available for previous versions of LEED." To answer your question regarding Protect/Restore Habitat, it sounds like the project simply will not be able to make that specific credit based on your statement, and if your Innovation credits are full you won't be able to add the Bird Collision Deterrence credit. LEED does not allow scale jumping like LBC, so if the wonderful habitats you mention are outside the LEED Project Boundary, they unfortunately won't count towards your Protect/Restore Habitat credit.

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