Pre-Design

Banning smoking on private balconies is necessary if they are within 25 feet of a neighbor’s operable window or another building opening, even if smoking is allowed inside the unit. Multifamily tenants may be unhappy with these rules, so owners should carefully consider their policies, the needs and habits of their tenants, and the design and location of balconies and openings.

High quality construction using air sealing can be marketed as a building feature for multi-unit construction, and has been shown to attract premium rents and sales prices.

Air sealing between units is recommended for several reasons, even if smoking is banned.  In multifamily buildings and hotels it is common for occupants to smoke inside their units despite nonsmoking policies. Without air sealing between units, other occupants may be exposed to secondhand smoke and odors. Air sealing between units also improves energy performance, particularly in high rises subject to the stack effect, in which warm, buoyant air rises upward, leading to thermal losses and ventilation problems.

Eliminating smoking in a building costs virtually nothing and is the simplest way to control environmental tobacco smoke (

Determine smoking policies with the help of building owners, and identify exterior smoking areas if applicable. Incorporate the project’s requirements into the Owner’s Project Requirements developed for building commissioning (see EAp1).

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. If your municipal codes are more stringent and come with higher fees, there may be a more direct cost benefit to the project from stormwater mitigation.

Make sure that all team members understand landscape and hardscape tradeoffs. All team members should know how these details affect stormwater generation, runoff, and possible capture, treatment, and

Use an integrated design strategy to improve the quality of stormwater runoff. True integration requires the input and collaboration of the entire site team, including the civil engineer, landscape architect and architect. Don’t leave stormwater management solely in the hands of the civil engineer.

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.

Overlapping strategies and technologies address SSc6.1: Stormwater Design—Quantity, as well as SSc6.2. 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.