No Fixtures Installed in Core & Shell Scope

Lauren, are you familiar with CS Appendix 4 from the LEED Reference Guide? I would review that.To your point, zero plumbing fixtures = 100% reduction only if the CS bulding remains a shell. If that's the case then it should be NC, not CS. Since it is built with the intention that it will be occupied and water will be used, LEED wants you to have some controls in place to ensure that water is used efficiently.Does that make sense?

Lauren,

The idea behind LEED, as it had been explained to me, is to provide a quantifiable measurement of a “Green” building/construction project, compared to a standardized baseline.
(Tristan, or any other moderator, please correct me if I am misinterpreting or misrepresenting anything here.)

In the case of WEp1 & WEc3, the quantifiable calculation is the following:
[ { (Annual Water Use in Baseline Building) - (Annual Water Use in Design Building) }
/ (Annual Water Use in Baseline Building) ] x 100 = Annual Water Use Percent Savings

If the Annual Design Water Use is 60,000 Gal, and the Annual Baseline Water Use 100,000 Gal, then your savings would be the following:
[ { (100,000) – (60,000) } / (100,000) ] x 100 = 40% Savings

Or if the Annual Design Water Use is 0 Gal, and the Annual Baseline Water Use 100,000 Gal, then your savings would be the following:
[ { (100,000) – (0) } / (100,000) ] x 100 = 100% Savings

However, if the Annual Design Water Use is 0 Gal, and the Annual Baseline Water Use 0 Gal, then your savings would be the following:
[ { (0) – (0) } / (0) ] x 100 = Undefined Savings

If you have no basis of comparison, there can be no quantifiable measurement of savings, or level of “green”. GBCI does not want to permit loopholes that allow building owners/developers to build a shell and call it “LEED Certified” by claiming the tenant will add insulation, ventilation, high efficiency HVAC, low flow plumbing, day-lighting, etc. However, GBCI does allow for options if an owner/developer chooses to build a shell. GBCI has included the provisions to allow the project to attain LEED Certification IF the owner/developer can provide a legally binding and enforceable lease agreement mandating that the tenant meet all of the requirements claimed by the owner/developer in the LEED CS certification process.
The owner must provide the core, in addition to the shell, that meets the LEED requirements, or mandate that the tenant provide an adequate core to meet the LEED requirements. But a core and shell must both be provided to attain LEED for Core and Shell certification.

I refer back to my statement that an owner cannot purchase an empty lot and claim it is a LEED Platinum Building.

I hope this helps you to explain intention of the guidelines to the owner/developer in this case.

Thanks,
Tony

To follow up with a couple questions, as I am used to NC, not CS:
1) Dumb question first. Where is Appendix 4? (the tenant/lease agreement) It's not in the CS book appendices or the recent CS May update PDF; is it a separate download buried in the USGBC website somewhere?
2) I am building out a space with 90% of fixtures provided, but some future tenants will select their own fixtures. Further down this page, on July 14 2010, a comment says fixtures not in the project scope should not be included. This thread indicates that I need an agreement on the remaining 10% of fixtures. Which is it, and if I don't get an agreement in place, can I assume that the remaining 10% of fixtures are equal in the baseline and proposed cases? (worst-case scenario)
3) My project is CSv2.0, where there is no WE prereq. I would think even if I had no fixtures as part of the scope, I could just pass on those points and be OK, which points me towards the July 2010 method of analysis.

Thoughts?

Curt,

Appendix 4 is in the back of the LEED 2009 (v3) Green Building Design and Construction Reference Guide. I'm not sure that this appendix was included, or if this option was available, in LEED CS v2.0.
And I don't want to comment on the second part of your question, because I'm not as familiar with the CS v2.0 Reference Guide. I'll leave that to someone more knowledgeable. Hope that helped a little!

Thanks,
Tony

Ah, perfect thank you. Can't believe I didn't check the 2009 books. Yes, Tenant Guidelines are available in CSv2.0 and referenced in the guide, but App. 4 appears to only exist for CSv2009.