A General Sustainable Sites Question: The Southeast Regional Treatment Center is a psychiatric hospital comprised of 5 buildings located on 28.4 acres. 3 buildings are fully renovated and 2 are all new construction - not all are connected, but all share a common, beaux-arts campus setting. The project scope identifies the campus as both a legal and project boundary. We are submitting each building individually for certification (at the advice of your committee on Multiple Buildings). Our question is this: since we have no defined or real boundary for the individual buildings, and we have designed the entire landscape/campus as a system in terms of water management, circulation, recreation, hardscape, plantings, lighting, irrigation, etc., may we assume that this site information can be "duplicated" for each building that we submit?
The strategies and documentation for achieving site credits may be "duplicated" in your applications, but a clear description of how the whole site achieves the intended credits is necessary. It must be clear that none of the required areas or facilities is counted twice. Each credit should be carefully assessed and treated fairly, respective of overall site issues (e.g., pervious surfaces) versus individual building issues (e.g., roofing). For example, if the project is applying for SSc5.2, which requires that permanent open space be designated adjacent to the building, the area of this open space must reflect the combined footprints of all of the buildings. As another example, for SSc6.2, an on-site stormwater treatment facility (built for the campus specifically) would be required to have appropriate capacity and directly serve the entire site related to buildings that will be applying for LEED certification. Consult previous Credit Rulings that apply to campus settings.