Design Strategies That Work for Forest Service LEED Buildings (continued)
Communicating With the Design Team
Forest Service employees who will make decisions about the design, such as the contracting officer and ranger, should become familiar with LEED requirements and objectives so they will be able to communicate effectively with the design professionals. Design team members who are not design professionals should also understand LEED requirements. If these people are unable to attend training courses such as those included in LEED Level 100: Awareness (http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1759), they should at least become familiar with reference materials that explain what LEED is and how it works.
LEED brochures that provide basic information are available from the USGBC. Up to 20 free brochures can be ordered. The LEED reference guides that provide comprehensive advice and information on using the LEED rating system for building projects cost more than $100. The guides contain case studies as well as documentation requirements, recommended design strategies and technologies, potential design synergies and tradeoffs, calculation methods and formulas, and resources for each potential point and requirement. Brochures, reference guides, and other LEED publications can be ordered at http://www.usgbc.org/Store/PublicationsList.aspx?CMSPageID=1518.
Because LEED is a fairly new system, there are big differences in design firm competencies. Here are a few tips from colleagues in the Forest Service who have worked with design contractors on LEED projects.
- Thoroughly cover LEED at the start
of the design process and at every design team meeting and design review.
- Make sure design team members continually discuss integrating LEED strategies
across disciplines.
- If the design team or Forest Service personnel
are unfamiliar with LEED, the entire design team, including Forest Service
personnel, should meet and receive some basic training about LEED and how
LEED projects differ from standard design, contracting, documentation, and
construction practices.
- Determine
the LEED credits that make sense for the project and assign responsibility
to specific design team members for accomplishing specific credits.
- Set
up checklists or spreadsheets to track responsibilities, show which LEED
credits will be satisfied by which specific design strategies, and confirm
when the design and specifications that satisfy each credit are completed.
- Set up a LEED-Online account (https://leedonline.usgbc.org/) and make sure that the design templates and required additional documentation are completed during design or before final payment for the design work.
What Line Officers Need To Know
It is critical that the design team understands from the beginning of the project that it must focus on selecting cost-effective methods of achieving LEED certification. For instance, materials such as ceiling tiles with recycled content are available at no cost premium. The same recycled material points could be achieved with materials such as recycled glass tiles, but these tiles cost significantly more than ordinary ceramic tiles. Sometimes, premium materials are desirable. However, don't assume there is no other choice if a member of the design team says an expensive material, construction method, or system is needed to achieve LEED points.
LEED Documentation During Design
Most LEED documentation is accomplished or begun during the design phase, including:
- All the sustainable sites credits (although documentation will also be required after construction for some of the credits)
- All the water efficiency credits
- Energy performance and daylighting modeling
- Onsite renewable energy generation
- Building and materials reuse
- Ventilation and indoor air quality
- Lighting and thermal systems controllability
- Innovation in design
Although LEED documentation used to be submitted on paper, the version of LEED that debuts mid 2009 only allows electronic documentation using LEED-Online. LEED-Online is already the most effective method for documentation.
LEED credits are documented using templates supplied by the USGBC (figure 9) and additional documentation, in some cases. The templates were developed to help project personnel assemble the information they need to demonstrate compliance with requirements for each credit. Sample credit templates are at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1447.
Figure 9—LEED credit and prerequisite documentation templates
are
available
on the Web. This sample template is for Energy & Atmosphere
Prerequisite
1, Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems.
To help others understand how the templates should be completed, Harvard University has posted all the LEED credit documentation for 10 LEED for New Construction projects at http://www.greencampus.harvard.edu/theresource/leed-submit/nc/. Although most Forest Service LEED projects will be quite different from these projects, these documents can provide valuable guidance and examples of the sort of documentation that is needed.
Several persons can be granted access to the LEEDOnline account that is used to complete the LEED credit templates for a project. Most project teams find that the process goes more smoothly if one person who is primarily responsible for recording the data coordinates with other team members and works with the USGBC. For simplicity's sake, this person should serve throughout design and construction. LEED documentation duties can be handed off from the design firm to the Forest Service or contractor for completion during the construction phase, if necessary.
