LEED HC WEc4.2 vs Pilot Credit 17

April Eisenhauer

Mechanical Engineer

ccrd

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

January 31, 2013

A long-term healthcare project I have been working on that was registered under LEEDv2.2 recently got resistance for submitting LEED HC WEc4.2 as an ID credit. Our review came back requiring us to switch to Pilot Credit 17. At this point it is not a big deal since we comply with all of the requirements and it is just the paperwork required to provide the clarification, but can anyone confirm why we got the resistance in the first place and why our original submission was not acceptable? It sounds like everything about the submission was correct; they just wanted us to revise it to Pilot Credit 17. How are project teams supposed to know if a Pilot Credit is more appropriate than a credit from a different rating system?

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Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 01:41

April, I don't know what kind of "resistance" you got, but here's my best guess: the PC17 language is more up-to-date with where USGBC sees a cooling tower water credit going—the PC17 language is more recent than HC WEc4.2. So perhaps someone thought that as long as you were doing an innovation credit, they might as well have you use this new language that's being piloted, and thus it's a win for the project and a win for LEED development rather than just the former. The requirements are also intended more broadly for BD&C, and not just HC.This is pure conjecture, mind you, but I think it's plausible.As a general rule, I would advise teams to consider the Pilot Credit Library as a first place to go when considering innovation credits, because of the feedback that it provides to the LEED development process.

April Eisenhauer

Mechanical Engineer

ccrd

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 15:58

Makes sense. Really the only resistance we got was that the credit was bounced back during review so we had to provide some additional documentation. I think it will be accepted this go-around. Thanks for your thoughts! I think I will look through the Pilot Credit Library for my next project.

Susan Walter

HDR

LEEDuser Expert

894 thumbs up

Fri, 02/01/2013 - 17:16

I wonder if it also has something to do with the nature of your project. Is is all new construction or renovation? My other thought was the difference between a v2.2 project and v3. The GBCI often sees renovation projects in hospitals as more aligned with CI or CS than HC as well.

April Eisenhauer

Mechanical Engineer

ccrd

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

Mon, 02/04/2013 - 16:12

Susan, our project is new construction - healthcare facility. I had heard that you could submit credits approved in newer versions of LEED as ID credits which is why we pursued that one from LEED HC. I was just surprised that we had to re-issue it as a Pilot Credit instead. Again, it wasn't really a big deal since we met all of the requirements either way. Good thought, though. Some rating systems align better than others.