Identify the building owner’s goals for occupant safety and comfort as well as for architectural lighting, including façade lighting. Include these goals in the Owners Project Requirements for EAp1: Fundamental Commissioning.
Designate one responsible party to oversee exterior lighting-related LEED credit requirements. For large projects, this person may be the civil engineer or landscape architect. For small projects it may be the architect, lighting designer, or other relevant team member.
Most municipalities require stormwater documentation. In these cases, the documentation for LEED requirements should not represent a significant soft-cost premium.
Indirect benefits of stormwater systems are just as real as direct costs to the project, but can be harder to quantify. These include issues like reducing the burden on the municipal system; reducing contaminants in waterways; reducing peak runoff, making stream habitats more consistent; reducing the temperature of runoff, which improves the conditions for aquatic life; and reducing erosion.
Creative stormwater management techniques such as open channels, eliminating curbs and gutters, and depressed parking islands may reduce construction costs by reducing runoff and the need for more costly infrastructure.
Most credit compliance problems are due to stormwater volume reduction, in part because many municipalities are more interested in runoff rate and do not require volume calculations. A civil engineer must run calculations for pre- and post-development runoff rate and quantity, for the one- and two-year, 24-hour design storm. Most jurisdictions don’t require calculations for these specific storm designs.
Using site space for stormwater management is often a must. Architects and owners may see stormwater best management practices (BMPs) as wasting valuable land—a mentality that can make this credit difficult. It may help to stress that stormwater BMPs can act as aesthetic features that enhance the quality of the site and add value to the project. Creative, integrated approaches can even reduce space-hogging, unattractive strategies like detention ponds while adding amenities with multiple benefits, like green roofs.
The easiest way to achieve credit compliance is by decreasing impervious area. You can do this by reducing the building footprint and hardscape area, and establishing rain gardens or other bioretention areas.
Approach this credit with an integrated design strategy that incorporates the input of the entire site team, including the civil engineer, landscape architect, and architect.
Overlapping strategies and technologies address both stormwater credits, SSc6.1 (stormwater rate and quantity), and SSc6.2 (stormwater quality). Vegetative swales, for example, can contribute to both credits—integrate the requirements of both for best results. Keep in mind, however, that each credit requires different calculations and methodologies. Reducing the quantity of stormwater runoff for SSc6.1 does not always equate to a quality improvement for SSc6.2.
