LEED REQUIREMENTS IN VERSION 3

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Author Message Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 735 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 12:06 pm:    We are working on a project where the LEED Consultant has provided basic LEED specs, using MF95 and Section 01352 for LEED Requirements; all our new projects based on LEED V3 refer to Sustainable Design Requirements; is this just a matter of semantics or is there a requirement under LEED V3 to use the updated terminology. Bruce Maine Junior Member Username: btmaine Post Number: 2 Registered: 03-2011 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 12:33 pm:    Language is arbitrary except in specifying I suppose. Even though the 2004 MasterFormat recognizes Sustainable Design Requirements, as does the VA, I think if one is contractually obligated to deliver LEED certification your section should be LEED REQUIREMENTS. LEED REQUIREMENTS is also a recognized section on the UFGS website. J. Peter Jordan (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 12:19 pm:    IMHO "sustainable Design Requirements" and "high perfromance buildings" are buzz words, not even rising to the leveal of "terms of art" at this point. As long as it is a LEED project and the requirements are correct, it should be OK. BTW, do you have the "juice" to require that the LEED consultant comply with MasterFormat 2010? I am going through a similar situation right now although the LEED consultant is not the problem. Julie Root Senior Member Username: julie_root Post Number: 94 Registered: 02-2004 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 02:21 pm:    Given the changes in LEED since '95, I would be highly suspect of a LEED consultant who is using MF95. I would say with all the resources out there it is easier and good practice for the LEED consultant to comply with MF2010 than it is to make do with MF95. Jim Sliff Senior Member Username: jim_sliff Post Number: 37 Registered: 08-2010 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 02:58 pm:    Dittos on being suspicious - a LEED consultant should be up-to-date - with the envelope-stretching of some LEED requirements it's plain weird that the LEED specs are out of date. I'd check out the consultant's qualifications quietly first and if anything seems out-of-whack I'd memo the consultant that MF2010 compliance is required. "Sustainable Design" is bantered around so much my eyelids get heavy every time those words are uttered...I think Peter pretty well summed it up. Tom Good, architect, CDT, SCIP, LEED AP Senior Member Username: tom_good Post Number: 29 Registered: 11-2006 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 03:21 pm:    “Sustainable Design Requirements” is a general terms which may refer to components of any (or no) rating systems including Green Globes, NAHBGreen, Energy Star, Collaborative for High Performance Schools, BREEAM, and numerous others (esp. state and local) of which LEED is just one flavor (and the most used for commercial construction in the US). A Sustainable Design Requirement may overlap with other requirements (for instance OSHA VOC requirements). A Sustainable Design Requirement may be part of a rating system (such as LEED) or may be a stand alone requirement where no rating system is used. IMO, Sustainable Design Requirements should not have a separate section as the requirements should be fully integrated into the construction documents. [A checklist may be helpful as information available to bidders but no a CD.] That is, construction waste should either be in 017000 Execution or have its own section. I am in the minority as these requirements are usually slapped on at the last minute and rarely integrated. For instance, it is rare to find the VOC requirements for carpet adhesive in the carpet section as it is usually just left in the Division 01 Section. A good LEED consultant will review the entire construction documents as a whole and make recommendations to specific sections. However, most just slap it in Div 01. Lisa Goodwin Robbins, RA, CCS, LEED ap Senior Member Username: lgoodrob Post Number: 128 Registered: 08-2004 Posted on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 03:25 pm:    I prefer to use my own sections for LEED requirements. We have edited our own sections based on what works for compiling the LEED submittal package, with different language for each type of LEED rating system. Most green consultants don't know anything about specifications. Scott Mize Senior Member Username: scott_mize_ccs_csi Post Number: 46 Registered: 02-2009 Posted on Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 11:16 am:    Jerome: I don't mean to be nosy, but would you mind telling me the name of your LEED consultant? Not only is SpecLink up-to-date on LEED 3.0, but it has a global MasterFormat switch that changes everthing in the project manual (section numbers, references, etc.) from MF'95 to MF'10 in a couple of mouse clicks. If your LEED consultant hasn't made the transition to MF '04/'10 and/or isn't using SpecLink, he might benefit from our product. Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wayne_yancey Post Number: 439 Registered: 01-2008 Posted on Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 12:30 pm:    LEED 3.0. Please cease and decist using this term. It is LEED 2009. The next version will most lilely be LEED 2012. There is not an IBC version 1, 2, 3 and 4 but there is an IBC 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009. LEED Pilot Project Program was referred to as LEED Version 1.0 when launched in 1998. LEED Green Building Rating System Version 2.0 was released in March 2000, LEED Version 2.1 followed in 2002 and LEED version 2.2 following in 2005. There is not a LEED Version 3. There is however LEED 2009 for NC, LEED 2009 for C&S, LEED 2009 for Schools, etc. Jerome J. Lazar, RA, CCS, CSI, SCIP Senior Member Username: lazarcitec Post Number: 736 Registered: 05-2003 Posted on Thursday, March 24, 2011 - 02:31 pm:    WAYNE, SCOT ACCORDING TO USGBC website: LEED v3 , LEED for New Construction 2009 falls under LEED v3 - the Architect and the LEED Consultant for the project both call out compliance with "LEED NCA V3". On this project our firm is a consulatant to the Architect and the LEED Consultant works for the Owner. Our responsibility on this project is to coordinate the consultants specs with the specs prepared by our office. In that effort we try and avoid confusion, we seldom tell a Consultant he/she is wrong esp about their business, typ. most consultants will only respond to our 'concerns' if it prevents embarrassment to them. We never ask a consultant where they obtained the specs, the answer is usually "none of your business, or the ever popular, we created the spec section for the specific job'. Scot, your response seems like a commercial for BSD, sorry, you are going to have to find business the old fashioned way, we seldom recommend spec writing programs to consultants. We have on ocassion referenced these programs, but typically we find in S. FL and esp in a recession, Consultants transition specs from a previous version in their office, very few consultants are interested in re-creating the wheel - typically 98% of our projects is private sector, so public sector rules do not apply. Scot perhaps you are not aware of the state of the industry here in S. FL there is so little work that many firms have either closed their doors or relocated to their personal residences. The luxury of using a specwriting program is jus that these days, a luxury, perhaps the environment will improve next year, that is if any of us independent specwriters are still around. John Bunzick, CCS, CCCA, LEED AP Senior Member Username: bunzick Post Number: 1308 Registered: 03-2002 Posted on Tuesday, April 05, 2011 - 09:32 pm:    There's absolutely no need that the section be titled "LEED" anything. I've always used "Sustainable Design Requirements" in part because it simplifies the maintenance of cross-references. If the LEED requirements are properly specified, call the section anything you want. The issue of whether MasterFormat '95 versus '04 (and really, it is now '10 since an interim update has been issued) doesn't reflect negatively on the LEED requirement per se. LEED consultants are not more sensitive to being current than any other member of the profession. And, yes, many or most provisions of LEED requirements--probably the most important aspects--should be integrated in the rest of the specifications. But, there's a host of administrative requirements that I think are still best specified in a separate section. This includes key elemens such as what rating is being pursued, along with things like the format for the submittals. Anne Whitacre, FCSI CCS Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 1143 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 01:55 pm:    I think we also have to prepare for the idea that more and more projects are going to be using something other than LEED as part of their "Sustainable Design Requirments" (I also use this title). CalGreen has been adopted, and I've got a project that will be a Living Building Challenge building; also have projects that are Zero Net Energy -- and these are NOT going after LEED ratings. Lynn Javoroski CSI CCS LEED® AP SCIP Affiliate Senior Member Username: lynn_javoroski Post Number: 1232 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 02:42 pm:    I'm doing a Green Globes project; we're using the same title as Anne and John. No LEED requirements, but the same principals plus Green Globes requirements. It's a different system under the sustainable umbrella. Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP Senior Member Username: specman Post Number: 941 Registered: 03-2003 Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 03:01 pm:    I agree with others regarding the Section title. LEED is similar to a product being specified. We don't use "Kawneer Curtain Walls" for a section title--we use "Glazed Aluminum Curtain Walls" and specify the requirements for Kawneer or other manufacturers' systems. I've been increasingly asked to write specifications for sustainable requirements that have no relation to any system, but it is still a sustainable requirement, nonetheless. Ron Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP www.specsandcodes.com (Unregistered Guest) Unregistered guest Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 02:59 pm:    I use "Sustainable Design" precisely because it can mean LEED or it can mean something else, so a reference to "Sustainable Design Requirements" remains correct even if your project goals and standards platform change. As other have mentioned there are other standards than just LEED. Some of our clients want all of the product requirements of LEED without the LEED paper work. They would rather have a green building with some money saved and can live without the plaque on the lobby wall.