PROFESSIONAL LEED® CONSULTANCY SERVICES
1. LEED® TRAINING SEMINARS
2. LEED® PRE ASSESSMENT
3. LEED® CONSULTING FOR CERTIFICATION PROCESS
4. SHELL AND HVAC SYSTEMS COMMISSIONING
5. LEED® PRODUCT MAPPING
6. PRODUCT CERTIFICATIONS
1. LEED® TRAINING SEMINARS
Preliminary and analytical workshops for both companies and clients, for basic and in-depth knowledge of the criteria and principles of environmental sustainability and the procedures for the application of LEED® certification systems for buildings.
2. LEED® PRE ASSESSMENT
2.1 - IDENTIFICATION OF THE CORRECT RATING SYSTEM TO BE APPLIED LEED® family of protocols provides for various rating systems applicable depending on the complexity of the building and the intended use.
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A correct certification strategy provides for the identification of the applicable rating model for an efficient and effective certification process. This strategy must derive from an assessment of compliance with all the Minimum Requirements (the mandatory basic prerequisites), the respect of which ensures the possibility of undertaking the certification process. Among the various protocols for a production / commercial destination, for example, is recommended the use of:
A) Protocol LEED ITALIA New Buildings and Great Renovations 2009, with certification issued by the US Green Building Certification Institute. In summary: applicable to buildings over 4 floors above ground (commercial and residential) and also including interior finishes;
B) LEED for Core & Shell 2009, with certification issued by the US Green Building Certification Institute. In summary: applicable to multi-tenant buildings (typically commercial) and including only the housing and main plant (does not include interior finishes);
C) O&M (Operation and Maintenance), applicable to existing buildings, which allows to certify the building keeping it in operation and in function. This protocol also involves the entire Green Cleaning supply chain and many other typical features of Facility Management;
D) CI (Commercial Interiors), mainly dedicated to commercial spaces that meet environmental sustainability requirements in the use of materials and systems, optimizing the costs of management and maintenance of the same;
E) ND (Neighbourhood Develovpment), aimed at the sustainable development of urban parts of the territory, both as neighborhoods and as productive and commercial settlements;
F) Health, Retail, Schools, Homes, specialized and aimed at buildings with functional specialties, such as health facilities, large-scale retail buildings, schools and residential buildings. In small residential buildings it is possible to apply the Italian version of the Homes protocol elaborated by the Green Building Council Italia in the version GBC Home.
Special aspects to report:
• The LEED® 2009 v3 version is currently in force and still applicable to the registration of the projects. This version can be registered at the latest by 30 May 2015, after which it will be replaced by the LEED® v4 version. From January 2014 the new LEED® 2014 v4 version can also be used.
• The Italian GBC Home certification is not proposed in this document as it refers to property units intended exclusively for residential use.
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2.2 - INITIAL ESTIMATION OF THE ACHIEVABLE LEED SCORE Following the selection of the protocol to be applied, it is necessary to perform a specific LEED® Preliminary Assessment activity with the Client, the Project Team and the Commissioning Authorities in charge.
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This activity is necessary to carry out an evaluation that allows the analysis of the respect of the prerequisites (necessary for the certification) and the initial estimate of the achievable LEED® score and of the target level. The activity aims to verify compliance with the prerequisites and to identify in a precise way the list of credits that can be prosecuted and, therefore, the level of certification obtainable, analyzing the context in which the project is inserted, the sustainability strategies that the customer would like to pursue and technical-economic feasibility. This is a preliminary project verification activity in relation to the applicable LEED® prerequisites and credits, identification of the potential level of certification that can be pursued and the strategies to be implemented in order to pursue certification. The activity can be carried out in about 10 total days, with the drafting of a final report of LEED® Preliminary Assessment that will be delivered to the Customer.
Following the choice of the protocol to be applied and the execution of the LEED® Preliminary Assessment, the LEED consultancy activity is carried out for the chosen protocol.
In general this activity includes:
• LEED® / GBC assistance to designers for LEED® integration of the Project;
• Elaboration of LEED® / GBC documentation for the Design Submission;
• Support for the drafting of technical specifications;
• Energy Modeling, where necessary;
• Air tightness test where necessary (Blower Door Test);
• Execution of the Design Submission to GBCI / GBC Italy for the request for approval of the Project LEED® / GBC Prerequisites and Credits;
• LEED® / GBC Works Management for the duration of the construction site, including inspections and periodic meetings and participation in the material approval process in relation to LEED® requirements;
• Execution of the Construction Submission to GBCI / GBC ITALY for the project LEED® / GBC certification request;
• LEED® Administration of the Project.
Commissioning is a procedure, often necessary, for the certification, verification and documentation process that certifies that the building and all its facilities and subsystems are planned, designed, installed, tested, put into operation and managed in compliance with to the objectives proposed at the preliminary stage.
The LEED® Fundamental Commissioning on the plants (necessary prerequisite for certification) and possibly the Enhanced Commissioning (necessary to obtain further credits) must be performed by a third party, called Commissioning Authority, which must be directly commissioned by the Customer. For these services we use a recognized third party, specifically in Italy and in Europe by Bureau Veritas, world leader group in third party certification.
5. LEED® product mapping
Support to companies manufacturing materials and systems throughout the supply chain for the verification of their products, in order to obtain LEED® credits according to criteria of technical specifications and characteristics of environmental and energy sustainability present in the protocol.
This analysis is of particular importance, especially for companies wishing to export their products abroad where the LEED® certification practices are very widespread and increasing development. Following the mapping of the environmental characteristics of the products, it is possible to define together with the production company a specific specification (also called quality plan) to subject these product characteristics to a specific third party certification, for example on the basis of ISO14021.
6. PRODUCT CERTIFICATIONS
For the purposes of greater and necessary product qualification in international markets, the possession of specific and specific environmental compliance, such as GreenGuard®, FSC, LEED®, EPD, ECOLABEL, PEFC and Carbonfootprint, is of particular importance.
These are product certifications increasingly requested by international markets, especially in the contract sector. The access rule is the same for everyone: to manufacture in Italy furnishing and interior design items that comply with specific and internationally recognized environmental requirements. The opposite of greenwashing, that is self-declared sustainability, with the consequent abuse of unverified and / or unverifiable terminologies such as: bio, eco, green, sustainable, compatible and so on.
GREENGUARD® certification
GreenGuard is a US product certification that sets certain standards for measuring emissions of materials and products that are used within buildings (building materials, furniture, office machines, cleaning items, etc.). This type of certification shows that its product guarantees a low emission of VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and chemical pollutants for a better quality and wholesomeness of indoor air (Indoor Air Quality - IAQ). It includes three certification programs: the GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality Certified®; the GREENGUARD Children & Schools and the GREENGUARD Building Construction. This type of certification also allows to obtain some LEED® credits for the building certification.
EPD/LCA certification
The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is a voluntary certification scheme of international significance, and is one of the Community environmental policies. The EPD Certification is a tool to communicate objective, comparable and credible information related to the environmental performance of products and services. These performances, reported in the EPD certification, must be based on the life cycle analysis, using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), in accordance with the standards of the ISO 14040 series.
CARBONFOOTPRINT certification
The CO2 content is the "measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide". In other words, to calculate the impact of energy consumption, this is converted into equivalent tons of carbon dioxide, and the calculation is made considering the amount of forest land needed to absorb the aforementioned tons of CO2.
ECOLABEL certification
The Ecolabel is a European brand used to certify the reduced environmental impact of the products or services offered by the companies that have obtained their use. The Ecolabel is a voluntary Community instrument that certifies (according to the EC regulation n° 66/2010) products compatible from an environmental point of view. In this way it allows the final consumer to recognize through a trademark the respect of the environment by the product (or service) throughout its life cycle, which can thus diversify from other competing products on the market, maintaining high environmental performance standards.