In the first line of the paragraph, replace "building" with "buildings"
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Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Design and build the project to achieve all of the following:
- For 90% of new building frontage, a principal functional entry on the front façade faces a public space, such as a street, square, park, paseo, or plaza, but not a parking lot, and is connected to sidewalks or equivalent provisions for walking. If the public space is a square, park, or plaza, it must be at least 50 feet (15 meters) deep, measured at a point perpendicular to each entry.
- At least 15% of existing and new street frontage within and bordering the project has a minimum building-height-to-street-width ratio of 1:3 (i.e., a minimum of 1 foot (300 millimeters) of building height for every 3 feet (900 millimeters) of street width).
- Nonmotorized rights-of-way may be counted toward the 15% requirement, but 100% of such spaces must have a minimum building-height-to-street-width ratio of 1:1.
- Projects with bordering street frontage must meet only their proportional share of the height-to-width ratio (i.e., only on the project side of the street).
- Street frontage is measured in linear feet (meters).
- Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured façade to façade. For building frontages with multiple heights, use the weighted average height of all frontage segments based on each segment's height weighted by the segment's share of total building width.
- Alleys and driveways are excluded.
- Continuous sidewalks or equivalent all-weather provisions for walking are provided along both sides of 90% of streets or frontage within the project, including the project side of streets bordering the project. New sidewalks, whether adjacent to streets or not, must be at least 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide on retail or mixed-use blocks and at least 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide on all other blocks. Equivalent provisions for walking include woonerfs and all-weather-surface footpaths. Alleys, driveways, and reconstructed existing sidewalks are excluded from these calculations.
- No more than 20% of the street frontages within the project are faced directly by garage and service bay openings.
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Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Addenda
5/9/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/1/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
In the first sentence of the first paragraph, remove the word "new." Replace the 6th sentence of the paragraph (begins with "Existing streets are...") with the following: "Existing streets and non-motorized streets may be exempted from this credit, and projects with no internal streets are not eligible."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Replace the last sentence of requirement a with the following:If the public space is a square, park, or plaza, it must be at least 50 feet deep, measured at a point perpendicular to each entry.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the second sentence with the following:Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured fa
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/1/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
(1) In the first line of parts "n" and "o," remove the word "new" (2) At the end of each item\'s text, add the text "(existing streets may be exempted from calculations)"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the second sentence with the following:Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured fa
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/1/2014 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Global ACP
Description of change:
Replace all instances of “Vehicle Miles Traveled 'VMT'” with “Vehicle distance traveled”
Add the following metric conversions:
"(15 meters)" after all instances of "50 feet"
"(300 millimeters)" after"1 foot"
" or 900 millimeters" after"3 feet" and "(meters)" after "feet"
"(2.5 meters)" after "8 feet"
"(1.2 meters)" after "4 feet"
Section b. Forth bullet delete the following statement: "Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured façade to façade."
Add : "(or a local equivalent for projects outside the U.S.)" after the National Register of Historic Places or National Park Service
Add the following metric conversions:
"(15 meters)" after all instances of "50 feet"
"(300 millimeters)" after"1 foot"
" or 900 millimeters" after"3 feet" and "(meters)" after "feet"
"(2.5 meters)" after "8 feet"
"(1.2 meters)" after "4 feet"
Section b. Forth bullet delete the following statement: "Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured façade to façade."
Add : "(or a local equivalent for projects outside the U.S.)" after the National Register of Historic Places or National Park Service
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
11/1/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
(1) In the first line of parts "n" and "o," remove the word "new" (2) At the end of each item\'s text, add the text "(existing streets may be exempted from calculations)"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
5/9/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
In the first line of the paragraph, replace "building" with "buildings"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Replace the second sentence with the following:Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured fa
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the seventh line of the first paragraph with the following:Existing streets and non-motorized streets are exempt from this credit, and projects with no internal streets are not eligible.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Replace the second sentence with the following:Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured fa
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the last sentence of requirement a with the following:If the public space is a square, park, or plaza, it must be at least 50 feet deep, measured at a point perpendicular to each entry.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/19/2010 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the text with "Step 4. In Figure 4, for example, the two street frontages have a total length of 700 feet, with 350 feet of building width meeting the minimum building-height-to-street-centerline ratio, or 50% of total frontage length."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
4/14/2010 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the image
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
Documentation toolkit
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© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Design and build the project to achieve all of the following:
- For 90% of new building frontage, a principal functional entry on the front façade faces a public space, such as a street, square, park, paseo, or plaza, but not a parking lot, and is connected to sidewalks or equivalent provisions for walking. If the public space is a square, park, or plaza, it must be at least 50 feet (15 meters) deep, measured at a point perpendicular to each entry.
- At least 15% of existing and new street frontage within and bordering the project has a minimum building-height-to-street-width ratio of 1:3 (i.e., a minimum of 1 foot (300 millimeters) of building height for every 3 feet (900 millimeters) of street width).
- Nonmotorized rights-of-way may be counted toward the 15% requirement, but 100% of such spaces must have a minimum building-height-to-street-width ratio of 1:1.
- Projects with bordering street frontage must meet only their proportional share of the height-to-width ratio (i.e., only on the project side of the street).
- Street frontage is measured in linear feet (meters).
- Building height is measured to eaves or the top of the roof for a flat-roof structure, and street width is measured façade to façade. For building frontages with multiple heights, use the weighted average height of all frontage segments based on each segment's height weighted by the segment's share of total building width.
- Alleys and driveways are excluded.
- Continuous sidewalks or equivalent all-weather provisions for walking are provided along both sides of 90% of streets or frontage within the project, including the project side of streets bordering the project. New sidewalks, whether adjacent to streets or not, must be at least 8 feet (2.5 meters) wide on retail or mixed-use blocks and at least 4 feet (1.2 meters) wide on all other blocks. Equivalent provisions for walking include woonerfs and all-weather-surface footpaths. Alleys, driveways, and reconstructed existing sidewalks are excluded from these calculations.
- No more than 20% of the street frontages within the project are faced directly by garage and service bay openings.
