• Welcome to the new and improved Building Code Forum. We appreciate you being here and hope that you are getting the information that you need concerning all codes of the building trades. This is a free forum to the public due to the generosity of the Sawhorses, Corporate Supporters and Supporters who have upgraded their accounts. If you would like to have improved access to the forum please upgrade to Sawhorse by first logging in then clicking here: Upgrades

LEED Questions

A

Alias

Registered User
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
1,649
Location
State of Disbelief
New commercial building coming in, 24,000 sq. ft. office building for USFS. It is required to be Silver LEED Certified.

Help! I need a crash course on what this type of building even is. Will I need special inspectors (other than the usual)? Can it be done in phases - shell now, TI later? One or multiple permits?

Also posted some questions on permits in Code Administration.

Thanks in advance,
 
From my experience, the architects are the ones who provide the proof that it meets LEED. Essentially a checklist that provides credit for things like re-using old materials, etc.

Should be no different inspection or review wise, unless your higher ups are the ones insisting on LEED compliance.

mj
 
This is not a code issue, it is an owner requirement. If you do not have LEED project experience, I suggest to hire someone who has; either as an employee or as a consultant (there are plenty of them out there). Otherwise, you could find yourself in over your head.

Suggest you look at the USGBC website on the LEED program for commercial buildings. It will ahve some information that will at least get you familiarized with what LEED is.
 
Sue,

Ron is correct as far as he went,but: if this LEED is a requirement of the building owner and not the municipality, then the owner should hire or at least pay for 3rd party verification of the LEED compliance.

Good luck,

Joe
 
Sue

You need to do nothing regarding LEED

What is LEED?

LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 2000 through a consensus based process, LEED serves as a tool for buildings of all types and sizes. LEED certification offers third party validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building is operating exactly the way it was designed to.

There are 100 base points; 6 possible Innovation in Design and 4 Regional Priority points

Certified 40–49 points

Silver 50–59 points

Gold 60–79 points

Platinum 80 points and above

You do need to deal with the CA Green Code

http://hcd.ca.gov/CALGreen.html
 
An inspector is not required, because inspection is not part of the certification process...it is pretty much a paperwork process.

If the owner wants LEED certification, they should compensate the design team for that effort. This not a requirement that the local AHJ should be involved with--it is strictly between owner, architect, and contractor (or design-build team, as it seems to be, per your post on the other thread).
 
sue,

don't want to leed you on, but i have one going on as we speak. contractor had a framing package arrive two weeks late because the wood had to be locally grown(within 500 miles) and dried. he neede the points so had to wait for the wood. the project was started prior to the green code but they wanted to be green so i have no inspections to deal with as far as leed is concerned. i let the owner and architect worry about that nonsense:mrgreen:.
 
pwood said:
sue,don't want to leed you on, but i have one going on as we speak. contractor had a framing package arrive two weeks late because the wood had to be locally grown(within 500 miles) and dried. he neede the points so had to wait for the wood. the project was started prior to the green code but they wanted to be green so i have no inspections to deal with as far as leed is concerned. i let the owner and architect worry about that nonsense:mrgreen:.
Click to expand...
Oh boy, I wonder if these guys have a clue what they have signed on for? They are building (assembling) a metal building. Ought to get interesting.......

Comments on the metal building are welcome. ; )
 
Sue

I agree with the advice that you have no official responsibilities regarding LEED requirements and thus should not require that the Owner perform any inspections needed for LEED complaince. You do have an involvement in enforcing CALGreen which in a number of areas is similar to LEED requirements.

In the future when faced with situations such as this ask yourself what is the applicable regulation that you need to enforce? The answer to this question will determine whether you need to do anything and if so what.

Having said that, LEED projects offen involve the inovative use of materials and products, and the reuse of existing materials. Thus during plan check you may identify some issues where you may need to approve an alternate material or product that does not comply with the letter of the code. In these cases your actions are governed by existing code provisions.
 
Getting back on track. It was Alias that posted the question, and I don't believe the project is in California; thus CALGreen would not be applicable.

Alias (and, Alias, correct me if I'm wrong) is the AHJ where the project is located. In his position, the LEED requirement is of no concern of the building department. Therefore, his involvement in the LEED aspect of the project, or need to regulate it, is inappropriate.
 
Sue the two buildings at the city were LEED buildings. I never had to do anything for the LEED part in either the review or during the inspections.

LEED basically is a paper trail on what they did in doing the project. Example if they brought in fill how much and from what distance. If they used this flooring or that where was it from. Example the rock climbing wall has a rubber/foam mat on the floor and during one meeting I was in they were trying to determine what chemicals were in the product to see if they could get credit for using this product or that. You shouldn't have to worry about any of the process.
 
We've had several LEED buildings in our jurisdiction. There are no code-related issues, other than it takes the designer's "eye off of the ball" as it relates to code issues. They're so lathered up over the trucking distance of materials that they could care less about fire resistance, structural strength, etc. And watch out for the site. They encourage weedy overgrown areas that they call "rain gardens". The snakes and rodents sure do love the rain gardens. In other parts of town, we would send Property Maintenance notices to mow these rain gardens, but if its LEED, we laud them for their environmental sensibilities.
 
Code Neophyte said:
We've had several LEED buildings in our jurisdiction. There are no code-related issues, other than it takes the designer's "eye off of the ball" as it relates to code issues. They're so lathered up over the trucking distance of materials that they could care less about fire resistance, structural strength, etc. And watch out for the site. They encourage weedy overgrown areas that they call "rain gardens". The snakes and rodents sure do love the rain gardens. In other parts of town, we would send Property Maintenance notices to mow these rain gardens, but if its LEED, we laud them for their environmental sensibilities.
Click to expand...
code neophyte -

I'll just sick their mascot, Smokey Bear on them for their 'gardens'. :D And as they are dealing with CalGreen and water reduction measures, especially for landscaping, maybe it will be a lava rock garden. :lol:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
LEED is a propreitary designation by USGBC ... and they charge for every question they answer. Nothing LEED is a code question.. you just need a copy of the certificate by the agency certifying it.

LEED buildings are NOT necessarily energy efficient (in fact, most LEED points have little to do with energy).. it implies sustainable (did you recycle construction materials, do you have a plan to continue recycling, is the building automated to the point that the bathroom lights go out after x minutes, is there a green/white roof).. that's where the big points come from.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top