We have a new hospital building pursuing LEED-HC that is currently under construction. The hospital just announced a lease with a separate owner that plans on building out a full floor of inpatient / operating suites. This build-out will be 7% of the entire hospital area (the remaining 93% is owner-occupied), will be leased by another entity, will be built by a separate contractor, will be completed at the same time as the main hospital building and does not plan on pursuing LEED-CI. The build-out will make alterations to the building envelope at that floor and may make potential changes to the HVAC system on that floor. We were just prepared to submit design credits for review for the overall project, but our MEP engineer has raised concerns about the energy model. Does this new separate build-out project mean that we must modify the energy model of the overall project to take any envelope and HVAC changes into account?
Thanks.
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
Susan Walter
HDRLEEDuser Expert
1299 thumbs up
February 13, 2015 - 5:20 pm
Well, that is an unfortunate situation. Who decides to build a LEED HC building and then lets a portion of it completely slide away from that standard, especially for critical patient care areas like surgery?
There are a couple of things going on here beyond the energy model question but let's tackle that one first. My reaction is yes because the envelope is changing and the HVAC is likely to change. Given the tenant use, HVAC change is likely. This will impact the performance of the building. You may want to go ahead and submit your project for review and include a narrative about this situation and ask for advice from the GBCI. You could also call and request a consultation on this issue. They will want you to know for certain what the other team is planning on doing with the mechanical and envelope systems.
The other issue I see is going to separate the LEED spaces from the non LEED space. The GBCI will require you to accurately sign the project such that the non LEED space is not assumed to be LEED certified. Think 'you are entering a LEED building' at all connections to this tenant space.
A tricky condition will be the tenant space as shell space. Whenever I submit a project with shell spaces which is often, the GBCI wants policies and signed letters stating that these shelled spaces will be fitted out to the LEED standard of the building. What I'm not sure about is how you can convince them that this 7% is tenant and not essentially shell space. How are you dealing with the site credits? You now have to sign the LEFEV parking to the LEED building only and exclude the surgical patients (for example, I don't know you're doing that credit). I recommend you read the campus guides. The forum is here: http://www.leeduser.com/topic/new-leed-guidance-campuses-and-multiple-bu... Okay, that link didn't work out so well. If you go to the Forum tab, there is a Hot Topic in LEED area to the right and you want the Multiple Building forum listed there. Here's the newest Campus Guidance which I think you need to read to see if or how it applies. http://www.usgbc.org/resources/campus-guidance
Kristina Bach
VP of InnovationSustainable Investment Group
151 thumbs up
February 13, 2015 - 5:49 pm
The other thing you need to be aware of is that the project has potentially now moved into falling within the scope of LEED Interpretation 10102. That LI places some significant requirements on non-CS projects which include future/other tenant spaces. That LI will impact a large number of credits on the project (not just your energy model).
I would strongly recommend holding off on submitting anything for review until you've had a chance to look at that LI and factor in how that future tenant space will need to be included in your project. As each credit only generally gets two rounds of review, I'd hate to see you waste one round with questions about how to include that future space without having taken a first stab at meeting the LI requirements/including that future tenant space.