When the building entrance space is less than 3000 ft2, ASHRAE does not require a vestibule. (§ 5.4.3.4 Exception g)
Is this correct?

What would be the recommended time/phase during a New Construction project when one should submit the preliminary design review? I have read in some of the comments that it is done before construction starts, after construction documents are completed. Is it recommended to wait for that long, I am concerned that if things have to be changed as per review comments, it will have to be done after the drawings are already out. Is it then better to submit while CD phase is going on? What are the drawbacks in doing an earlier submission? We would like to attempt at submitting all the prerequisites and the design credits for the preliminary design review.

Our project has submitted for the Design Review and some credits have been marked as anticipated. However, some changes have occurred during the construction and we would like to update the documentation for some previously anticipated Design Review credits during Construction Review phase. We are wondering if there is any extra fee need to be paid for the re-review?

Thanks!

We have commecial mixed use building including retail, office and residential apartment located in climate zone 3A. these three section will have their independent main entrances. Considering the entrance lobby space size and low tracffic frequency of the residential apartment entrance, is it acceptable to use air curtain instead of vestibule/revolving door?

We are working on a project with 4 different shifts. One regular 8 to 5 shift for office and morning afternoon and night shifts for factory workers, there no transients or visitors. At 3 pm morning shft finishes, afternoon shift starts and office workers are in the building. Is it correct that peak occupancy is the sum of all the people that are in the building at that time?

How come I can't use LEED Online v2 with Mozilla anymore? This was the advantage of LEED Online v2 over LEED Online v3 - you could actually run it on Mozilla if you prefer Mozilla to Internet Explorer! (In my opinion, because of the way windows open up, it worked much better in Mozilla.)

Everytime I ask, when is LEED Online going to work on more browsers, the answer is soon soon soon. Someone please make this happen.

It is my understanding, that though one can choose to quote a CIR for equal treatment under a specific credit, CIR's do not constitute a formal part of a credit requirement.
Specifically, we are pursuing LEED schools 2007, credit SSc5.1 for Protect or Restore Habitat. The credit language in the reference guide makes no distinction between lawns and native or adaptive vegetation. The (only) errata available for this LEED version does not add any requirements to the credit language.
In the preliminary comments for our Construction Review--in which we are not anticipated to receive the credit--the reviewer noted "Per previous LEED Interpretations, lawn is acceptable if it: a) is not a monoculture; b) does not require regular maintenance or mowing, and c) does not include any non-native/adaptive species."
Though i understand the new versions of LEED and the intention to have lawns included only if they promote biodiversity etc., this is not part of the requirement of the LEED version we are signed up for.
Can any of you tell me if CIR's can actually be held as part of the credit requierements, or if only the Reference Guide and Addenda/Errata are the formal documents to go by?

I am studying for the LEED Green Associate exam and I am finding some conflicting information regarding how one would commence the LEED for Homes certification process. The Rating System linked from the USGBC's website (dated January 2008) says you would contact a Provider, but the USGBC website section for LEED for Homes says you would begin by contacting a Green Rater. Does anyone know which is correct? Has the process changed?

LEEDusers, I have the opportunity next week to speak with the team at USGBC that has been working on AGMBC Part 2. Yes, the long-awaited Part 2.
I'd like to ask them for information on anything that you're wondering about, in order to share that with you. Please let me know what questions you have about AGMBC Part 2, and multiple building  certification in general.
And yes, I will ask when it's coming out.

The more the Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects (AGBMC) is refined the less it seems to apply to industrial projects. Industrial projects (for both LEED-NC and LEED-EB O&M) are often a set of buildings that, together, have a single purpose. That purpose is generally to make a consumer product. The primary building (or buildings) and its ancillary buildings function as a single facility. None have an autonomous function. That is to say, they don’t comprise a stand-alone function or use without operations of the other buildings. Each building serves the function of the whole and, if they are detached, it is for operational efficiency.

These (new) projects are typically all built under the same owner initiative using any number of various contracting methods. They are built during the essentially same time period, with the ultimate goal being “in production” or “job one”.

The detached buildings alone may or may not meet the MPR minimum size or FTE requirements. If they are inside the LEED Boundary, their energy and water consumption needs to be taken into consideration. If they were to be omitted from the LEED Boundary area, it would start to look like a gerrymandered piece of Swiss cheese.

We have, not without reviewer questions, submitted these as a single project and analyzed it as a whole with all the square footage inside the LEED Boundary accounted for. Under LEED-NC v 2.1 and 2.2 we were able to leverage the AGBMC as guidance for this. With the more recent versions of the AGBMC for LEED v 3, and soon for 4, this fits less and less.

My questions are these:

1. Are there other project types that are being left out in the cold? Projects that need guidance for multiple structures comprising a single project? These may look like a campus, but not function like the campus described in the more current versions of the AGBMC (with Types I and II)?

2. How have other manufacturing projects with multiple and auxiliary buildings handled their submittals?

3. Does anyone active on the LEED Manufacturing User Group know if this is a topic of discussion?