Our project is a student housing project in which we are certfying under New Construction v4. There are residential units that are on the ground floor with exterior entrances as the main entrances. Would it be acceptable to use the requirements outlined under v4 Homes / Midrise, which require 4' length mats in residential units?
10' length in these units will not work given the space configurations and size of the units. 10' would cut across the entire living space in some instances. Would the v4 Homes / Midrise 4' requirement work as a special circumstance? Anyone have a similar experience ?
v4 Homes / Midrise requirement: "At each primary entryway from the outdoors, design and install a permanent walk-off mat that is at least 4 feet (1.2 meters) long and allows access for cleaning"
Thanks!
Dave Hubka
Practice Leader - SustainabilityEUA
LEEDuser Expert
494 thumbs up
December 9, 2022 - 8:28 pm
The BD+C reference guide states "For Option 1 Entryway Systems, the systems are required only at the ground level, for each residential entrance from the outdoors."
I have been involved with a few LEED v4 NC residence halls on college campuses and they located entryway systems on ground floor units that had an exterior entrance. Fortunately there were only a couple of such residences.
Lately I have been substituting the v4.1 EQc Enhanced IAQ Strategies credit since the options are more flexible.
My guess is that gbci will not allow you to substitute Homes / Midrise requirements on a project pursuing NC. On a past LEED for New Construction project, I used the construction waste "weight-to-volume conversion table" located within the LEED for Homes reference guide, and gbci would not accept this calculation method on my NC project.
Unless others on LEEDuser have learned otherwise??? I have not had much luck substituting from other LEED rating systems.
Emily Purcell
Sustainable Design LeadCannonDesign
LEEDuser Expert
318 thumbs up
December 12, 2022 - 11:22 am
WE've been able to swap in the v4.1 Multifamily acoustic credit in a v4 NC multifamily project.
I recall also being able to exclude hall director apartments that had direct exterior access from entryway mat requirements on a dorm project. But that was v2009 and those apartments also had hallway entries so not a perfect equivalent. But, worth asking!
Iris Meeker
Director of SustainabilityWalker Architects
2 thumbs up
May 10, 2023 - 1:51 pm
Update: Our team was able to use the v4 Homes requirement as a substitute.
Response provided from GBCI on my project inquiry:
"Yes, our GBCI experts agree that it seems reasonable to provide the 4' long entryway systems requirement for the exterior entrances to the private residential units in the project following the LEED for Homes guidance and 10ft long entryway systems for all other public entrances. Any common lobby entrances leading to private residential units will need to meet the 10' length. Please include an explanation in the Special Circumstances section providing justification for the same. "
Sara BENLOUBA
Green building managerConfidential
12 thumbs up
May 24, 2023 - 4:56 am
Dear iris, dear everybody,
Please, how do you contact GBCI for their advice on technical matters? is it mandatory through CIR which costs 250 Dollars or is there another free way? Thank you for helping us
Iris Meeker
Director of SustainabilityWalker Architects
2 thumbs up
May 24, 2023 - 9:59 am
Hi Sara, you can reach out to USGBC for expert advice without submitting a formal CIR, by sending an email to leedcoach@usgbc.org with your question(s). I always take this route as a first approach. CIR's may be required if it's a project specific technical question. Note that sometimes responses from LEED Coach can take a few weeks or more to receive feedback, depending on the backlog of questions they have in the queue.
Sara BENLOUBA
Green building managerConfidential
12 thumbs up
May 25, 2023 - 3:53 am
Dear Iris,
Many thanks for your quick fedback. It's very useful.