Reuse/ Salvage Materials for Option 2 - Path 4

On a past project GBCI confirmed that there is not a minimum threshold for reuse/salvaged materials. So technically, one structural beam being reused would satisify the requirement. 

Thanks for your post. We modeled an existing to remain portion of our project as existing in the Proposed model while modeling the same portion as new in the Baseline. I still think this is the right approach from a modeling perspective, but believe GBCI also wants us to complete the Building Reuse calculations as well in order to achieve the 4th point under Whole-Building Life-Cycle Assessment. The comment we received from GBCI was:

"The project team has applied for four points for impatc reduction of 20% in Global Warming Potential and at least 10% in at least two other impact categories. However, to earn four points, the project must also incorporate building reused and/or salvaged materials as part of the proposed structure or enclosure design. The report indicates that the existing to remain portion of the school was modeled as reused or existing and compared to a baseline of new construction using the same materials, which does not meet the requirements. Reused elements may be from on-site or off-site and should be modeled following guidelines for small scale reuse (see Further Explanation, Small Scale Reuse in LEED v4), these guidelines should also be used for large scale reuse incorporation in Path 4 for LEED v4.1."

Did you have to complete calculations on your projects of building reuse and/or salvaged materials when trying to get the 4th point for a Life-Cycle Assessment? If there is no threshold, i'm a little surprised that the calculations need to be completed at all and this can't just be incorporated in the Tally model itself.

We recently received further clarification from a LEED coach for this credit, and GBCI has directed us to only claim savings on phases A1-A3. Here's the full response below:

  Thank you for your inquiry. Projects that include reuse elements must follow the modeling guidelines for small scale reuse (see Further Explanation, Small Scale Reuse in LEED v4) and included in the following addenda: (https://www.usgbc.org/leedaddenda/100002021). Per the Small Scale Reuse requirements, all materials, including those anticipated to be reused, must be modeled as new in both the baseline and proposed scenarios; then, the reused materials must be modeled separately for the proposed building, and the environmental impact results of the reused materials only must be subtracted from the stages of raw material extraction, transportation, and manufacturing (A1-A3) impacts only. Please provide a copy of this correspondence when submitting for the Final Review.     If you have any other questions or concerns about this inquiry, please respond directly to this email, and I would be happy to help further. For future inquiries, you may find it helpful to explore our Help Center, or feel free to contact us at https://gbci.org/contact.