Design Tools & Strategies
Sustainable building design, construction and operation entails a departure from traditional processes, an integrated approach involving all affected parties at the earliest possible stage. To facilitate the use of LEED™ by City of Seattle project managers and their design teams, the City and consultants have developed a series of tools.
LEED Tools for Public Projects:
- Project Manager Task List: Achieving LEED certification on a project requires a new approach to project development. This task list identifies critical action items to facilitate certification.
- Sample Language for LEED Projects: Clear communication of client expectations through specific language is central to a successful LEED (or any) green building project. This resource contains project services procurement language from a series of City LEED projects to serve as examples for other projects.
- Energy Baseline for Seattle Projects: Designed to assist City project managers with LEED Rating System energy prerequisites and credits that reference ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1. This side-by-side comparison of 90.1 standards with the 2002 Seattle Energy Code is invaluable in establishing equivalency determinations for Seattle LEED™ projects, whether City-owned or private sector developments.
- Sustainable Sites Prerequisite: Comparison of Seattle Code and Referenced Standard: The LEED Sustainable Sites Prerequisite 1: "Erosion and Sedimentation Control" calls for projects to design to an erosion and sedimentation control plan that meets a referenced EPA standard or local standards, whichever is more stringent. To help Seattle projects document compliance with this credit, representatives of SPU and DPD conducted a comparison of the EPA referenced standard and Seattle Code, including an analysis of stringency.
- International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) Resources: LEED references this protocol as the standard for measurement and verification in Energy and Atmosphere Credit 5. In order to introduce project managers and teams to the IPMVP, DPD created two summary sheets:
- General introduction
- Summary of Option B - the measurement protocol specified for attainment of Credit 5
Life Cycle Cost Analysis Tool LCCA
King County has developed a valuable, user friendly Life Cycle Cost Analysis tool for project managers to use during the planning, design, and budgeting process. The site includes a guide to using the LCCA calculator as well as a link to downloading the excel calculator template.
Seattle Fire Facilities & Emergency Response Program
Seattle neighborhood fire stations serve a critical role in localized emergency response, binding neighborhoods together and reflecting the local culture. With Seattle's environmental priorities and the city’s policy requiring LEED certification, green building is also an important criterion for the fire station projects. In 2006, City Green Building and Seattle’s Fleets and Facilities Department worked together to support a series of group workshops and trainings focused on sustainable design for the neighborhood fire station program.
A set of guiding principles, design integration strategies, and implementation ideas were created through this effort. Key concepts emerged that support the operational goals of the fire stations, improve building performance, and reduce operational costs benefiting the City and our citizens. The resulting EcoCharrette Report summarizes the workshop results and serves as a guide for Fleets and Facilities and design teams.
Green Building for Neighborhood Fire Station Projects:
- Fire Facilities Advanced Training and EcoCharrette Results
- Rainwater and Greywater Harvesting for Beneficial Reuse
- Create Safe and Healthy Environments
- Optimizing Energy Performance
- Utilize Hybrid HVAC | Natural Conditioning Scheme
- Illuminate with Natural Daylight and Integrate with Electric Lighting
