Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.1

Inquiry

For the MRc4.1 Materials calculations for a fume hood intensive laboratory building, under LEED-NC v2.1, we would need to use 45% x Total Project Cost, TPC, as the default value for the denominator in calculations. The LEED For Labs application guide, brings that multiplier down to 32% to account for expensive lab mechanical systems and equipment. However, we understand that 32% was based on less than a dozen actual lab building project costs from around the US, which vary greatly. The LEED-NC v2.1 default value of 45% as this was developed for a typical office building and not a laboratory building. The USGBC\'s default value of 45% is assumed to be the cost of all Div 2-10 materials (without installation costs) in the project. Since the majority of a new lab building\'s costs are MEP and lab equipment, we feel using this value of 45% x the total cost of the project is incorrect. We feel a correct amount for the denominator of the calculation should be the total project costs minus all MEP costs multiplied by 45%. Please let us know for this credit and other MR credits 3-6, if we can exclude MEP costs from the total project cost, TPC, to get an adjusted TPC and then multiplying this adjusted TPC by 45% to use as the denominator.