This credit addresses materials reuse and optimization for the interior nonstructural elements of your project, as well as furniture and furnishings. Teams should evaluate their new space early in the design process to identify elements that can be reused or refurbished.

Option 3 is available for projects that cannot reuse existing materials, or that want to design for flexibility in addition to meeting one or both of the reuse options. This path allows teams to increase the life of the project space by designing elements that can be easily moved around and reconfigured. 

Commercial spaces typically undergo numerous alterations over the building’s lifecycle, and designing flexible interior spaces is a great way to mitigate waste and the need for new resources.    

What’s New in LEED v4

• The LEED 2009 credits for Building Reuse and Materials Reuse have been combined into one credit. 
• Items that are reused in place or that serve a new purpose contribute to credit compliance.
• The reuse threshold for interior nonstructural elements has been changed from a tired approach (40% and 60%) to a single 50% threshold.
• Option 3, Design for Flexibility, is new.