Project: Moffett Towers; Photo credit: DES Architects and Engineers Learn more about this project
Core & Shell
Prepare your buildings for environmentally conscious tenants with LEED for Core & Shell.
We recognize the unique nature of the speculative development market, where project teams don’t control all aspects of the entire building’s design and construction. Depending on how a project is structured, a developer's influence can vary significantly from project to project. LEED for Core & Shell acknowledges this and can be adapted to a variety of project types.
LEED for Core & Shell can be used for projects where the developer controls the design and construction of the entire core and shell base building (e.g., mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection systems) but has no control over the design and construction of the tenant fit-out. Projects could include a commercial or medical office building, retail center, warehouse, or lab facility.
Because of the nature of the core and shell project type and scope, the LEED for Core & Shell rating system has some unique aspects.
- Default occupancy counts: Guidance is provided for Core & Shell projects, which typically do not know what the actual building occupancy, for how for determining FTE and transient occupants.
- Energy modeling guidelines: Guidance on how to model building systems that are beyond the developer’s scope of work is provided.
It is designed to be complementary to LEED for Commercial Interiors and LEED for Retail: Commercial Interiors.
Global Alternative Compliance Paths are available for this rating system.
Precertification
After registering a project under LEED for Core & Shell, the project team can apply for precertification. Precertification is a formal recognition given to a candidate project that has established a goal to develop a LEED for Core & Shell building. Developers or owners of these projects can then market the building's proposed green features to potential tenants and financiers.
- LEED 2009: projects can use LEED Online to apply
- LEED v2.0: need to use the off-line process and hardcopy submittal templates for precertification
