Project Advisory 30, April 2015

Update to the MSBA’s Sustainable Building Design Policy

The MSBA Board of Directors approved an updated Sustainable Building Design Policy on March 25, 2015 that was the result of recent revisions to the Massachusetts Energy Conservation Code, the US Green Building Council’s “LEED for Schools” Version 4, Northeast Collaborative for High Performance Schools (“NE-CHPS”) Version 3 Criteria, and MSBA’s review and comparison of the updated sustainable standards. 
 
Projects may be impacted as follows:

  1. The requirement to comply with the policy previous to this update remains in effect for all core projects that receive a Preferred Schematic approval before July 29, 2015.
  2. The requirement to comply with the updated policy is in effect for all projects that receive Preferred Schematic approval on or after July 29, 2015.

The update to the Sustainable Building Design Policy is as follows:

MSBA core program projects that receive a Preferred Schematic Approval on or after July 29, 2015 must register with either USGBC LEED-S Version 4 or NE-CHPS Version 3, and comply with one of the four following options:

1. Using LEED-S V4, for no additional reimbursement, achieve a minimum of “Certified” (40 points), including a minimum of 3 points in Energy & Atmosphere (“EA”) Credit “Optimize Energy Performance”
OR;
2. Using NE-CHPS 3.0, for no additional reimbursement, achieve a minimum of “Verified” (110 points for new construction or 85 points for addition/renovation), including 6 points in Energy Efficiency (“EE”) Prerequisite #1.0.
OR;
3. Using LEED-S V4, for 2% additional reimbursement points, achieve a minimum of “Silver” (50 points), including a minimum of 6 points in EA Credit “Optimize Energy Performance”.
OR;
4. Using NE-CHPS 3.0, for 2% additional reimbursement, achieve a minimum of “Verified” (110 points for new construction or 85 points for addition / renovation), including a minimum of 9 points in EE Credit #1.1. 

In anticipation of this change, Districts, OPMs and Design teams should be aware that it is incumbent upon the Districts and their Designers to design to the appropriate sustainable criteria and establish project costs accordingly. MSBA will not revise the agreed upon Total Maximum Facilities Grant in the Project Scope and Budget Agreement to accommodate any potential change in the scope of work or any unanticipated cost increases associated with this new policy.

These changes were noted in the Update on Sustainable Building Design Guidelines and Policy Recommendations that was presented at the MSBA’s Board of Directors Meeting on March 25, 2015. 

Any questions should be directed to MSBA Senior Achitect, Karl Brown, AIA.