LEED for less

Optimising building systems is the basis of value engineering, according to Siterman.

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By Eugene Siterman and Arkady Siterman, LEED AP.

LEED has been a ready partner in achieving goals that are both good for the environment and for the bottom line: decreased energy and water use, reduced emissions, and improved indoor environment.

Some jurisdictions – such as the City of Los Angeles in the US — already require Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the US Green Building Council on projects that are 4600m2 or larger.

Moreover, ever-increasing energy prices may cause developers to consider conservation and energy-efficiency strategies, regardless if LEED certification is required. Nonetheless, LEED certification has become a desirable attribute for many prospective tenants, and developers have caught on that this is just one more way to make their projects stand out from the rest. Increasingly, LEED denotes a premium product. Thus, many developers are seeking more-efficient design that still produces profitable projects.

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For a lot of builders and investors, the new reality provokes questions of costs and benefits. After all, green is a nice colour — but only when married to black, especially when it hits the bottom line. As a budget item, LEED certification compliance costs can be reduced, especially if value engineers are retained to review strategies.

The original ‘greenies’
Value engineers, especially if brought into the process early, can identify less-expensive ways to obtain LEED points while optimising energy and water consumption. Worth noting is that value engineers were effectively green before it was called green.

Value engineers have long been concerned with optimising MEP and streamlining construction methods. Value engineers have always optimised system designs to reduce energy consumption and waste. Thus value engineers have deep skill sets that can help developers reduce costs and resources, resulting in getting more ‘green’ for less ‘green’.

Optimising building systems is the basis of value engineering. The first step in doing that is clearly understanding the building needs, and using the latest codes, rules, standards and regulations to achieve them.

Value engineers keep abreast of the latest methodologies and use them to fine-tune MEP building systems. ‘Right-sized’ equipment and systems reduce waste and result in buildings that are more efficient in cost and resource consumption, leading to additional LEED points.

Point by point
Developing a strategy for obtaining points in the LEED certification process is a necessary step. Each project may have a different strategy, including whether the goal is for a building that is LEED certified, or achieves Silver, Gold, or Platinum levels.

A keen review of the LEED strategy should result in either gaining additional points (that is, a higher level) for the same budget, or meeting the point goal in the least expensive way.

One example of how to get more out of your LEED budget involves the ‘increased ventilation’ point. To attain this point, breathing-zone outdoor air ventilation rates for all occupied spaces must increase by at least 30% above the minimum rates required by ASHRAE Standard 62.1.