We are certifying an office building and there is one retail space at the ground floor of the building that the project team wants to omit from LEED certification. Can this be achieved? How?
Michael, if the retail space represents less than 10% of the total building gross square footage, it can be exempted from the LEED certification documentation. If it is more than that, it (or some portion thereof) must be included. Excluding spaces can get messy and confusing, if not downright contradictory, for many prerequisites and credits (EAp2 and EQp2 come to mind immediately), but the key is the fraction of the building under consideration. There is more detail on this topic to be found in the Introduction to the EBOM Reference Guide.
Hope that helps,
Dan