Starbucks Reserve Roastery | LEED Platinum | Photo: MG PHOTOGRAPHY LLC
This supplement to the Guide to LEED Certification will explain the basic process of LEED volume certification.
LEED volume is a portfolio-level approach to certification that streamlines the process, recognizes your commitment to building performance, and allows you to use LEED to meet your organization's environmental, social, and governance goals.
The program is based on the concept of a LEED prototype, a framework of pre-approved strategies that can then be applied across a group of projects that have major elements in common and can therefore pursue a common set of LEED credits.
There are three main elements to the LEED volume process:
- Get started by assessing your readiness, submitting an application to GBCI, and participating in the program orientation workshops.
- Precertify a LEED prototype that can be applied across a set of buildings within your portfolio.
- Certify your projects using a streamlined review process.
If you need assistance or would like to hear more about the benefits of LEED volume certification, please听contact us.
Note: This document is a supplement to the Guide to LEED Certification: Commercial, which should be reviewed to give you a full picture of LEED certification.
Get started
The first step is to determine if LEED volume is the right tool for you by reviewing the eligibility and readiness criteria. If your organization鈥檚 portfolio aligns with the criteria, you may submit a volume program application. Following approval, you will register and pay a program fee.
Eligibility
- Your organization owns, manages, or leases real estate 鈥 please note that consultants, architects, and contractors are not eligible.
- Your projects are all under the control of the same owner or developer.
- Your projects are new construction or major renovation projects that can utilize LEED for Interior Design and Construction (LEED ID+C) including all adaptations or LEED for Building Design and Construction (LEED BD+C) including all adaptations, not including Homes and Multifamily Midrise.
Readiness
Your organization:
- Shows strong interest and engagement in LEED Certification at the corporate level.
- Is a USGBC member at the Gold or Platinum level.
- Has prototypical building plans and standardized policies and practices that can be used to demonstrate uniformity in the design and construction of your projects.
- Has extensive experience with LEED or you have engaged a consultant that has extensive experience with LEED.
- Has at least one successful LEED-certified project under the applicable rating system and version that is being pursued with LEED volume.
- Plans on certifying at least 25 projects over the next three to five years.
Registration
After your application has been accepted, a 鈥減ortfolio鈥 will be created for you in , the web-based resource for managing the LEED documentation process. The portfolio is a grouping tool that allows you to track and organize your volume projects in one place.
Once the portfolio is set up, you can review and pay your program admission fee in LEED Online (see Fees below). After the program admission fee is paid, the Portfolio Administrator may set up the portfolio team that includes members of the team who will have access to projects. Here鈥檚 a breakdown of the different roles that can be selected at the portfolio level.
- Portfolio Administrator: The program-level management contact who is responsible for signing legal documents related to LEED certification. This individual must be employed by the organization that owns, manages, or leases the real property within the portfolio.
- Portfolio Manager: The day-to-day contact person responsible for managing all the submittals. This individual may be employed by the owner organization or may be employed by a separate consulting organization. This individual must have a LEED AP within the specialty aligned with the prototype's rating system.
- Portfolio Team Members: Individuals responsible for managing submittals for the volume projects and for coordinating with the Portfolio Manager.
After the portfolio team is set up in LEED Online, you will complete a one-hour volume overview call, which will help prepare your team for the next steps in the process.
Precertify
Precertification is the process in which you develop your approach to LEED certification (your LEED prototype) and have it approved by GBCI.
The precertification phase includes participating in a volume workshop, developing your LEED prototype, and submitting documentation to GBCI for review.
Workshop
The LEED volume workshop is an interactive session that provides a unique opportunity to meet with GBCI reviewers to discuss how LEED can work best for your portfolio of projects. The day-long workshop, which can be done remotely, can be completed all at once or spread out and scheduled over several days at your convenience.
The objectives of the volume workshop are as follows:
- To share information on the goals and scope of your building program and quality control, standardization, and project delivery process
- To identify opportunities to integrate LEED requirements into your standard building program and streamline your LEED certification process
- To define the unique approaches, processes, and timelines for shared success
LEED prototype development
When you are ready to begin developing your LEED prototype, first register the prototype by entering basic information into .
The prototype will include all of those credits (and prerequisites) that you wish to precertify, utilizing the same techniques, methods, and management strategies across your volume projects. It is up to you how much variance occurs among the group of volume projects under a given prototype, but there must be enough uniformity to share a common set of prototype credits. Note that not all prototype credits need to be used by all volume projects.
Some of the projects that you own or manage may not be suitable for a given prototype. These individual projects may lack the uniformity needed to meet the prototype鈥檚 criteria.
Prototypes are designed to be applied across many buildings that are relatively similar. We encourage you to consider the frequency that you anticipate applying each credit when deciding whether to include a credit in the prototype precertification. Credits that you anticipate using less frequently should be left out.
You may choose to have more than one prototype, depending on the diversity of your building portfolio.
It is a requirement for the prototype to earn precertification before any construction on projects can begin.
LEED prototype submittal
All participants will complete a LEED volume workbook. This workbook requests general information about the prototype as well as additional information for each credit within the prototype.
General information
The LEED volume workbook includes the following components:
- General information: an overview of your quality control process, education process, and key roles that will ensure each project will earn the attempted LEED credits during volume project certification.
- LEED prototype information: information describing your portfolio and identifying variations in project delivery.
Prototype credit information
The LEED volume workbook allows some flexibility with regard to how you would like to document your LEED prototype credits, but all participants need to complete the following components:
- Credit selection 鈥 selection of which credits, and which credit options, will be included in the LEED prototype.
- Credit narrative 鈥 a description of the option/path that will be pursued for credits and prerequisites identified in the prototype and the strategies used to ensure that the LEED requirements will be met when attempted.
- Documentation 鈥 identification of whether you will demonstrate compliance using project-level documentation during volume project certification, or whether you will provide documentation to demonstrate compliance at the prototype-level during prototype precertification.
Demonstrating compliance at the project-level is analogous to submitting the standard LEED documentation requirements, as listed in the workbook when each volume project submits for certification.
Demonstrating compliance at the prototype-level is a unique opportunity available in LEED volume that allows you to take advantage of the uniformity within your buildings to reduce the documentation necessary during volume project certification. While every LEED prototype will be different, some LEED credits have more opportunity to demonstrate a uniform approach or worst-case condition that can be applied to all projects. These opportunities can be discussed with GBCI during the volume workshop.
Prototype credits that have 鈥減rototype-level鈥 selected in the workbook will require the following additional information during precertification:
- Prototype documentation: documentation demonstrating compliance for all projects. Documentation will typically consist of prototypical plans, master specifications, worst-case calculations or models, etc.
Credits that are not included in your LEED prototype can still be earned on individual volume projects during the volume project certification process (See Individual Credits).
Prototype review process
Once you have finalized your prototype documentation, you can submit for review in . The review process follows the 鈥渟tandard review鈥 process outlined in the Guide to LEED Certification: Commercial. GBCI targets the delivery of the preliminary prototype review within 30-45 business days and the final prototype review within 25-30 business days.
Applicability of credit interpretation rulings (CIRs)
Under the LEED volume program, a formal inquiry pertaining to a prototype is referred to as a prototype CIR.听A prototype CIR is applicable to the prototype for which it was submitted and can be applied to all projects under that prototype where the technical approach is similar for that prerequisite or credit.
Certify
Once the prototyped credits have been approved, you are ready to enter the certification phase. During the certification phase, you can register and begin construction on your volume projects and pursue certification using the strategies outlined in the LEED prototype.
Deadlines for prototypes and volume projects
Volume prototypes must be registered by the sunset date for the applicable LEED version. Preliminary submissions for volume prototypes must be submitted within 12 months after this registration deadline.
Volume projects have an additional three years to register after the closure of registration of any LEED rating system - a benefit unique to this type of certification. Volume projects must submit for preliminary review by the sunset date for the version of the LEED rating system under which they are certifying.
Review process
The volume project review process is similar to the process outlined in the Guide to LEED Certification: Commercial, except that not all projects and credits will receive a full review. The first few projects are automatically selected for review to ensure that the strategies outlined in the LEED prototype are effectively implemented. During this period, GBCI will provide feedback during the process to ensure the success of your volume program. Following the successful certification of at least three projects, you鈥檒l move to a phase where projects (or credits) will be randomly selected for review at a sampling rate determined by GBCI.
Preliminary review phase
To submit your volume project for preliminary review, complete the LEED volume project scorecard in LEED Online and provide all required documentation. Within five business days of receipt, GBCI will either select the project for review or return it to you as certified for certification acceptance. When the project is returned for certification, we ask that you accept the certification within 25 business days.
Projects selected for review will receive a preliminary review within 25 business days, indicating which prerequisites and credits are awarded and which are marked as pending, with a request for more information. Your team can accept the preliminary review results as final, if you are satisfied, or prepare documentation before submitting for final review. Volume projects submitted simultaneously, or subsequently, may be put on hold until the project(s) selected for review are successfully certified.
Final review phase
The final review phase allows you to submit supplementary information requested by the reviewer during the preliminary review. We suggest that you submit these clarifications within 25 business days after receiving the preliminary review results.
Once the project has been resubmitted for final review, GBCI will return the review within 25 business days. Clarification requests during the review may extend that timeline.
Your team can either accept the review as final, if you are satisfied, or choose to appeal the results of the review.
Maintaining quality across volume projects
Since not all volume projects undergo a full review by GBCI, random sampling is a key quality assurance element of the program, helping to ensure that projects achieve the same rigorous standards as projects that go through the traditional LEED certification process.
Quality of project submissions must be maintained to stay in the program. The volume program relies on your robust internal quality control and education processes that ensure each project is executed and documented using the strategies defined in the LEED prototype. The outputs from that process demonstrate the consistency needed to successfully certify volume projects with reduced review from GBCI. Under this structure, the project scorecard must reflect credit achievement and the certification level that you have verified prior to submission. When compliance cannot be determined outright for a volume project credit, it represents a programmatic or process adjustment that needs to be addressed for future projects.
If a project fails to achieve certification, or drops a certification level, the next project will be selected for review and all subsequent projects will be put on hold until that project successfully earns LEED certification at the level you have attempted.
Prototype updates
Over time, you may experience changes to your program that affect your LEED prototype (material specifications, construction methods, policy updates, etc.).
Changes that affect the credit options/paths, performance levels, or documentation requirements will require a review from GBCI. These changes can be submitted for review through the prototype appeal process for a fee, per credit (see Fees section below). Contact us听for details.
Individual credits
For select volume projects, you may wish to submit additional credits or options that were not included in the LEED prototype. These individual credits are documented using the standard LEED credit forms and supporting documentation, and are identified on the scorecard. There will be an additional fee for each individual credit (see Fees section below), payable when the project is submitted for preliminary review.
Fees
LEED volume certification fees are defined as follows:
- Program admission fee: The program admission fee is a one-time fee due once you鈥檝e been accepted into LEED volume certification. Payment is due before your team participates in the volume workshop. Once you鈥檝e submitted payment, the program admission fee unlocks access to your portfolio account in , and (optional) public recognition of your participation in LEED volume certification.
- Prototype fee: The prototype fee is issued once you register your LEED prototype in , and payment is due before you submit your prototype for precertification.
- Volume projects fee: Volume project fees are issued during project registration and are due prior to submitting the project for certification. These fees are non-refundable and are not transferable between prototypes.
- Additional fees: Other fees related to appeals, Individual Credits, prototype updates, and other aspects of the LEED certification process may apply, should you pursue these avenues.
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