Hi folks,
I'm looking at the Existing Building Reuse language. I've always assumed that it applies to all existing buildings that are retained within the project area, but I'm hearing from others that it only applies to buildings that are renovated as part of the project. Anyone know?
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Eliot Allen
LEED AP-ND, PrincipalCriterion Planners
LEEDuser Expert
303 thumbs up
April 12, 2012 - 2:49 pm
Nadav, the key to this is in the Reference Guide’s Implementation section 4 second paragraph: "For buildings that will have new uses or major renovations…” So there isn’t an absolute requirement for renovation, but at a minimum there has to be a change from a previous use to a new use.
Eliot
Ted Bardacke
LEED Faculty (ND), AICP, Senior Associate, Green UrbanismGlobal Green USA
62 thumbs up
April 16, 2012 - 12:59 am
Eliot is most likely to be correct about the Reference Guide, but we have been awarded this credit, via option 2, on a certified project just for the mere presence of existing buildings within the project boundary. Buildings that will remain just as they are. So GBCi may be interpreting it differently.
Meghan Bogaerts
Manager, Neighborhood DevelopmentU.S. Green Building Council
50 thumbs up
May 4, 2012 - 5:12 pm
GIBc5 acknowledges that projects that preserve a portion or all of an existing building for reuse to earn the points for this credit. This does not include existing structures in their current use, but rather, as the Ref Guide says, includes existing buildings that will have new uses or major renovations with some portion preserved. An example of the former would be a residential conversion (formerly a residential unit transformed into a neighborhood law office). An example of the latter would be the new NPR headquarters in DC, which is a major renovation with structural portions of the former existing building preserved. If Ted’s project was awarded for existing structures in their current use, this was an accidental oversight by GBCI and will not be allowed in the future.
Nadav Malin
CEOBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
844 thumbs up
May 8, 2012 - 10:00 am
Thanks, Meghan! This is getting clearer. But I'm still not entirely clear about how the 20% threshold in the 2nd bullet works. If my project includes a bunch of existing buldings that are untouched during the project, are those included in the total (and therefore count against the 20% achievement) or are they simply ignored in the calculation?Put another way, is the 20% a calculation of buildings renovated vs. buildings demolished, or buildings renovated vs. buildings retained as-is AND demolished?
Meghan Bogaerts
Manager, Neighborhood DevelopmentU.S. Green Building Council
50 thumbs up
June 6, 2012 - 9:25 am
Hi Nadav, I'm sorry for the delay in replying. Do not include existing buildings that are remaining untouched in the credit calculations, either in the numerator or denominator. Buildings undergoing a use change (say, from residential to office) or construction are the basis of the credit. Of those buildings, save 20% of the surface area.