Page 51 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

28 GREEN BUILDINGS TODAY

used for projects on college and corporate campuses and for schools, in which common
systems (e.g., parking, transportation, and utilities) often supply a number of buildings.
A LEED-NC rating is typically awarded after a building is completed and occupied,
since it requires a final checkout process known as “building commissioning” before
the award can be made. Under the current LEED version 2.2, certain credits known as
“design phase” credits can be assessed at the end of design and prior to construction,
but no final certification is made until all credits are reviewed after substantial comple-
tion of the project.

LEED FOR CORE AND SHELL BUILDINGS

LEED for Core and Shell is a system employed typically by speculative developers who
control less than 50 percent of a building’s tenant improvements at the time on con-
struction. They may build out 40 percent of the space for a lead tenant, for example, and
then rent the rest of the building to several tenants who will take much smaller spaces.
LEED-CS allows a developer to “pre-certify” a design at a certain level of attainment,
then use the LEED rating to attract tenants and, in some cases, financing. Once the build-
ing is finished, the developer submits documentation to secure a final LEED rating.
Figure 2.5 shows how the LEED credits in the five main categories are distributed in the
LEED-CS system. Except for having eight fewer total points (including two fewer points
for energy efficiency), the distribution of credits is quite similar to LEED-NC.

Figure 2.5 LEED-CS credit distribution.