I've read all the comments here, but I'm still at a loss. I have a 3-building campus project in which one building is LEED CI and the others are LEED NC. The LEED CI building just had a huge change of project scope in which the restrooms (among other areas) are now not being touched. Our MEP engineer advised we are exempt from the WE prerequisite because restrooms are not in the scope of work, but I am not so confident.
Our LEED project boundary currently includes the entire building and a piece of the surrounding site, such that all three buildings' project boundaries combined comprise the LEED Campus Boundary/Master Site. Possibly I can alter the boundary such that the restrooms are excluded, but the restrooms are in the tenant space as the entire building is owner occupied. Can someone please advise whether this project is now ineligible for LEED certification by not renovating the restrooms, or can we get around WE Prereq. 1 compliance by some means?
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
May 25, 2011 - 9:23 pm
Laurie, I have a more basic question—why are you using LEED-CI on this project? Is the floor area being altered 40% or less?In any case, it seems odd to exclude the bathrooms if the whole building is otherwise in your scope of work. Also, the "tenant space" is the driving factor in whether those fixtures should be considered, and it sounds like the bathrooms are in your space.
Laurie Hughet-Hiller
9 thumbs up
May 26, 2011 - 5:01 pm
Thanks Tristan, I spoke with a couple of LEED project reviewers who also agreed that in the case of this project the restrooms could not be exempt from WEpr1. So we'll be replacing the fixtures in the restrooms to meet the prerequisite.
This project could almost go either way with LEED NC or LEED CI (CI was chosen before I got involved). The Rating System Selection Guidance advises not to use CI when there is "major renovation in 40% or more of the gross floor area of the building." Based on LEED's definitions of "alteration" vs. "major renovation" it was decided that what is being done is alteration not major renovation. It's basically a TI project where the owner happens to own the building. Hopefully this approach is correct.