Our project is a 360,000 sq.ft. hospital located in an urban setting on a University campus. This 9 storey building was constructed overtop of an existing hospital Emergency ward. During construction 56 parking spaces that serve the Emergency were taken over for site enabling and will be reconstructed on site using 13 less spaces than what originally existed. This parking is for the purpose of serving the Emergency not our project, however the construction of this parking is part of the scope of work for our project. Since the project is located on a University campus there are 4 existing campus parkades located adjacent the site that can be used to serve the project\'s parking needs, so our project has not added any additional parking for this building. Also an existing bicycle storage area located in one of the parkades will also serve the project. Based on previous CIR Rulings, LEED allows some flexibility in determining the extent of the site area for purposes of LEED. However, a specific site area must be defined and used consistently for achievement of all credits. Typically, campus projects define an area associated with the specific construction site as the site area, rather than addressing the campus as a whole. Our project has planned to exclude all existing campus parkades from our LEED site boundary and therefore from our calculations as they are not part of our scope of work for construction. Can we do this considering building occupants will use these parkades to park vehicles and store bicycles? Can we also exclude the parking spaces that are for the existing Emergency not our project? Please note we are submitting for certification under LEED-NC v2.1.
The approach of excluding the existing campus parking areas from the LEED project boundary is permissible for the project. In campus situations, designated carpool parking spaces may also be located in campus lots elsewhere on the same campus. Please note that the credit requirements for parking capacity (whether inside or outside of the project boundary) must still be followed. Refer to the LEED-NC Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects (AGMBC) for more information. It is also permissible to exclude the parking areas dedicated to the Emergency ward.Update April 15, 2011: Please note that all 2009 projects in multiple building situations must follow the 2010 Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects, located here: https://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=7987. 2009 project teams should check this document for up to date guidance on all multiple building issues.