In the guidebook, the definition of Regularly occupied spaces are areas where workers are seated or standing as they work inside a building. I would like to inquire the following:
1. What is the definition of "partially occupied"?
2. What are the guidance or guidelines (i.e. % of time used, etc) that i can use to classify my area as partially occupied, vacant, etc?
3. An example would be is, if i have a space that is only used for gathering? that space is only used 1 hour a week and facilities equipment operates only when the space is being used? Shall i classify this as partially occupied or unused space?
thanks again...
David Posada
Integrated Design & LEED SpecialistSERA Architects
LEEDuser Expert
1980 thumbs up
November 5, 2012 - 3:40 pm
Alfred,
1. Instead of the term partially occupied, the LEED Glossary says "non-regularly occupied spaces are spaces that occupants pass through, or spaces used in pursuit of focused activities for less than one hour per person per day (on average)."
2. These guidelines can be found at https://new.usgbc.org/glossary and in the footnotes of the IEQ Space Matrix table at http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=10539
3. It sounds like your gathering space might be similar to the space type in the IEQ matrix defined as “Educational facilities: Multi-use assembly” which are considered Non-regularly occupied spaces.
The area you enter for Regularly Occupied Space does get linked to the EQc8 credits for Daylight and Views. Since there are often regularly occupied spaces that can be excluded for EQc8, such as computer labs, gyms, video conferencing, you have a place in the EQc8 forms to clarify your regularly occupied space in case all of it does need to comply with EQc8.
Kimberly Frith
323 thumbs up
November 6, 2012 - 3:01 pm
LEED doesn’t address “partially occupied” spaces, so you have to classify your space as either regularly occupied (based on the one-hour rule which David mentioned) or non-regularly occupied. The IEQ space matrix is a very helpful resource for projects with unusual space types. Some examples of “non-regularly occupied” spaces include auditoriums, multi-use assembly rooms in educational facilities, and congregational areas in houses of worship.
Alfred Rosales
Energy Manager, LEED AP1 thumbs up
November 8, 2012 - 1:04 am
David, Kim,
Thanks for the feedback and recommendation. We are now able to classify and categorize the rooms.
I do have a follow-up questions below, these questions were actually experienced while entering the numbers in the Table L-1 Space Usage Type and Table PIf3-2. Where the "Total regularly occupiable gross square footage (sf) in Table L-1 is fed to Table PIf3-2 to determine "Building average percent occupied".
Questions:
1. Occupied vs. Occupiable? In Table L-1, there is a column titled: Regularly Occupied Area (sf). For this column, do we need to input the regularly occupied area regardless whether the space is "currently" vacant or not? or only the regularly occupied area during the time of application?
If we just enter the regularly occupied space during the time of submission, the "Building average percent occupied" in Table PIf3-2 will always be 100%.
2. Our Building today is not 100% occupied and we have vacant spaces for future office use, and the said space are not regularly occupied (no people working in a sitting or standing position). How should these vacant space be entered in the Table L-1?
thanks again and more power.