We are building a new museum/theatre/cultural center (~30,000 SF) that is co-located with the current existing museum (1,400 SF). The new building will house many additional activities that cannot be contained in the original structure. In lieu of demolishing the existing museum, it will be left as is and continue to function as part of the new facility. It will be accessed from the new facility across an exterior plaza. Using the LEED Calculator we can demonstrate that the entire building will be maintained - 100% of the exterior structure and shell elements and at least 50% of the non-shell elements. However, since we are building new AND we are leaving the existing building, do we meet the intent of MRc1.1 - 1.3 "reuse of large portions of the existing structures during renovation and redevelopment projects" and can we count on gaining these credits?
No you cannot count on gaining these credits. In projects that incorporate an existing facility, a determination of whether substantial alterations to the building must be made. For reuse of existing building, if the new facility exceeds the existing square footage by more than 150%, the project is considered a new building, and is thus ineligible for the building reuse credit. In such cases the reused building materials should be included as part of the MR Credit 2, construction waste management credit. See the June 2001 Reference Guide, page 176. Applicable internationally.