We have just started on a residential development in a historic district with the conversion of an existing historic building with landmark status into condominiums and the construction of 15 new houses. Because of the requirements placed on us by the Historic Resources Commission, we cannot remove the interior trim of the building or replace the windows. The building currently has no insulation, and only has a .75" cavity to put in new insulation, so we are facing significant challenges to improve the energy efficiency over ASHRAE 90.1 for this one building. The development as a whole will be as green as we can make it, with LEED H certified houses, optimum site location in an urban infield setting, and sensitive, low impact site design. How do we handle the prereq for minimum energy efficiency in this one particular building?
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Meghan Bogaerts
Manager, Neighborhood DevelopmentU.S. Green Building Council
50 thumbs up
January 22, 2013 - 10:22 am
Hi Anne,
Thanks for your question. There are a few ways this could go. It depends on a few factors. The first thing is that the requirements of GIBp2 apply to new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovations. In the LEED sense, 'major renovations' is defined this way:
A major renovation involves major HVAC renovation,
significant envelope modifications, and major interior rehabilitation. Construction work that is extensive enough such that normal building operations cannot be performed while the work is in progress, and/or a new certificate of occupancy is required.
So, first determine if your building is undergoing that level of renovation. If it is, the second factor is that the 10% savings beyond 90.1 is a weighted average for 90% of the square footage of all your non-res/high rise res buildings. If you have other buildings that make up the 90%, you could leave this building out.
Finally, if this is your only building of this type, you could submit a CIR to GBCI for a project-specific exemption. That inquiry would be much more detailed than this exchange, and would take into account all the particulars of your situation.
Best,
Meghan