Unity Environmental University
OP-4: Building Design and Construction

Institution-owned buildings that were constructed or underwent major renovations in the previous five years are: 

1) Certified under a green building rating system for new construction and major renovations (e.g. the LEED® for New Construction and Major Renovations, LEED for Commercial Interiors, LEED for Healthcare, and/or LEED for Core and Shell Green Building Rating Systems) 

2) Certified Living under the Living Building Challenge (LBC) 

And/or 

3) Designed and built in accordance with formally adopted green building guidelines and policies that cover all of the following topics: 

• Impacts on the surrounding site 
• Energy consumption 
• Building-level energy metering 
• Usage of environmentally preferable materials 
• Indoor environmental quality 
• Water consumption 
• Building-level water metering 

Building space that meets multiple criteria listed above should not be double-counted. 

This credit applies to institutions that have any building space that is eligible for certification under a green building rating system for new construction and for which construction or major renovation was completed during the previous 5 years. See “Eligible Building Space (Design and Construction”) in Standards and Terms. 

Institutions earn the maximum of 3 points for this credit by having all eligible building space completed during the previous five years certified at the highest achievable level under a green building rating system for new construction and major renovations used by an Established Green Building Council (GBC) (e.g. LEED for Existing Buildings: O&M, certification level Platinum) and/or certified Living under the Living Building Challenge. Incremental points are awarded based on the percentage of eligible building space that is certified at various levels and/or designed and constructed in accordance with green building policies or guidelines. For example, an institution that had 100 percent of its eligible building space certified at the minimum level would earn 1.5 points for this credit, while an institution that had 50 percent of its eligible building space certified at the minimum level would earn 0.75 points. 

See scoring table and example in the STARS Technical Manual. 

Timeframe

Report on the current certification status of buildings at the time of STARS submission. Buildings for which certification is pending should not be counted as certified space, and these buildings may be excluded from the institution’s profile for up to 2 years following registration with a rating system. 

This credit focuses on buildings for which construction was completed within the five years prior to the anticipated date of submission. 

Sampling and Data Standards

Include all buildings that meet the criteria for eligible building space (design and construction) as defined in Standards and Terms; reporting on a sample or subset of buildings is not allowed. 

An institution may use any standard definition of floor area (e.g. ASHRAE, ANSI/BOMA, IECC), as long as it uses the same definition for both the total floor area of eligible building space and the floor area of building space that is certified and/or sustainably designed and constructed.