Today is a big day for the project as we are having our LEED Design Charrette. The very first category in the LEED for Homes rating system is “Integrated Project Planning.” We are required to conduct a preliminary rating with our LEED Provider in order to target the level we want to reach (Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum), identify the credits we are seeking to reach our target and assign accountable parties for each credit.
Additionally, we will gain one point each for assembling an “Integrated Project Team” and holding a “Design Charrette” for one full day early in the development phase, preferably during schematic design which we have not yet begun. Our project team consists of the following members:
- Robert Wisniewski from MaGrann Associates - LEED Provider
- Brian Phillips from Interface Studio Architects - Architect
- May Narisaranukul from Interface Studio Architects - Architect
- Scott Yohe from Level 5 Construction - Builder & Construction Management
- Ross Goldstein from Ross Mechanical Group - HVAC & Mechanical Expert
- Chad Ludeman from Postgreen - Developer & Sustainable Design Guy
Not a bad little team. If I’m correct, we also have three LEED accredited professionals on the team in Robert, Brian and Scott. This makes the team even stronger as we are not required to have any and get an additional point if we only have one on the team.
In preparation for the meeting yesterday I went ahead and ran through the new checklist on my own that was just released in January. The result can be found at the top of our documents page and is in the form of an excel spreadsheet. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my latest calculations put us in the running for a LEED Platinum rating which I never thought would be possible on our budget. I am not getting my hopes too much as I’m sure I made some inaccurate assumptions or just blatant errors that will be pointed out in today’s meeting. We would also need to achieve a HERS rating of 50 on the home which is no easy task and basically says that our home would be half way to a zero energy home and 50% more efficient than code. Some type of solar thermal array would almost certainly be necessary to reach this rating and we are still not sure our budget will allow this.
Tune in later to see the results of the meeting. I’m heading out the door now to get there a bit early and bug ISA about more of my crazy ideas for our next project.
6 comments ↓
Chad, it’s going to be rad if you get Platinum on a low cost budget. Goes to show you that effort and brainstorming can go a long way to making good design decisions. Just don’t botch a prerequisite.
Thanks Preston. Just got back from the meeting and it looks like it is possible but there are some hurdles we need to get over. I will post details shortly. I hear you on the prereqs. We have a great provider in MaGrann that will ensure we don’t screw those up…
Umm, how do you say you have not begun schematic design? Are you sure you don’t mean design development? I think most of the work we’ve seen up till now would be considered schematic design.
I think I was thinking of construction drawings rather than schematic design… You are correct.
[…] we had our LEED design charrette and preliminary LEED rating filled out I have been thinking more about the entire LEED process and […]
[…] for the integrated project team and the design charrette. For more details see our posts on the LEED Design Charrette and the Results of the LEED Design Charrette. We were unable to meet the criteria for building […]
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