Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 76.34
Liaison Elida Erickson
Submission Date March 1, 2019
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of California, Santa Cruz
OP-4: Building Design and Construction

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.12 / 3.00 Ellen Vaughan
Water & Climate Action Manager
Sustainability Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total floor area of newly constructed or renovated building space (include projects completed within the previous five years) :
18,324.19 Square meters

Certified Projects 

Floor area of newly constructed or renovated building space certified Living under the Living Building Challenge:
0 Square meters

Floor area of newly constructed or renovated building space certified at each level under a rating system for design and construction used by an Established Green Building Council (GBC) :
Certified Floor Area
LEED BD+C Platinum or at the highest achievable level under another rating system 0 Square meters
LEED BD+C Gold or at the 2nd highest level under another 4- or 5-tier GBC rating system 9,852.64 Square meters
Certified at mid-level under a 3- or 5-tier GBC rating system for design and construction (e.g. BREEAM, CASBEE, DGNB, Green Star) 0 Square meters
LEED BD+C Silver or at a step above minimum level under another 4- or 5-tier GBC rating system 5,707.50 Square meters
LEED BD+C Certified or certified at minimum level under another GBC rating system 0 Square meters

Floor area of newly constructed or renovated building space certified under a non-GBC rating system for design and construction (e.g. Green Globes NC, Certified Passive House):
0 Square meters

Percentage of newly constructed or renovated building space certified under a green building rating system for design and construction:
84.92

If reporting certified projects, provide:

A brief description of the green building rating system(s) used and/or a list of certified buildings and ratings:
Last five years: 2014-2018: CSC Cogen Plant, Gold UCSC Cowell Haybarn, Gold UCSC Merrill College Residence Halls A & B, Silver UCSC Merrill College Residence Halls C & D, Silver UCSC Merrill College Plaza, Silver Coastal Biology Building, Gold Previous LEED Certifications: UCSC Porter College House B (2010) 94,691 sqft, New Construction, v2.2, Silver UCSC Cowell Student Health Center (2011) 23,724 sqft, New Construction, v2.2, Gold UCSC Porter College House A (2011) 85,494 sqft, New Construction, v2.2, Gold UCSC Porter College Dining Common (2011) 33,048 sqft, Commercial Interiors, v2.0, Silver UCSC Cowell College Commons Seismic Renewal (2010) 44,564 sqft, Commercial Interiors, v2.0, Certified

If reporting uncertified projects, provide:

Uncertified Projects 

Floor area of newly constructed or renovated building space that is NOT certified, but that was designed and constructed in accordance with published green building guidelines and policies:
2,764.05 Square meters

If reporting published green building guidelines or policies, provide the following:

A copy of the green building guidelines or policies :
The green building guidelines or policies:
See attached.

Do the green building guidelines or policies cover the following?:
Yes or No
Impacts on the surrounding site (e.g. guidelines to reuse previously developed land, protect environmentally sensitive areas, and otherwise minimize site impacts) Yes
Energy consumption (e.g. policies requiring a minimum level of energy efficiency for buildings and their systems) Yes
Building-level energy metering Yes
Use of environmentally preferable materials (e.g. guidelines to minimize the life cycle impacts associated with building materials) Yes
Indoor environmental quality (i.e. guidelines to protect the health and comfort of building occupants) Yes
Water consumption (e.g. requiring minimum standards of efficiency for indoor and outdoor water use) Yes
Building-level water metering Yes

A brief description of the green building guidelines or policies and/or a list or sample of buildings covered:
There are three main policies that define different components of UCSC's green building guidelines: 1) University of California – Policy on Sustainable Practices (2004): https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/3100155/SustainablePractices 2) UCSC's Long Range Development Plan (2005): https://lrdp.ucsc.edu/final-lrdp.shtml 3) UCSC's Campus Standards (updated regularly): https://ppc.ucsc.edu/consultants/standards.html Additional building and other resource plans are: UCSC's Campus Sustainability Plan: https://sustainabilityplan.ucsc.edu/ UCSC's Water Action Plan: https://sustainability.ucsc.edu/initiatives/files/drought/UC%20Santa%20Cruz%20Water%20Action%20Plan%20Final.pdf California's Building Code/Title 24

None
A brief description of how the institution ensures compliance with green building design and construction guidelines and policies:
Campus planners, designers, and project managers are all informed about California, UC, and UCSC green building policies and work with all contractors to meet these requirements. Additionally, representatives from the Sustainability Office are key stakeholders who are engaged in project development from pre-design through occupation and operation. The sustainability office representatives focus heavily on reviewing LEED scorecards and ensuring compliance of the larger UC requirements listed below: New Buildings 1. All new building projects, other than acute care facilities, shall be designed, constructed, and commissioned to outperform the CA Building Code (CBC) energy-efficiency standards by at least 20%. The University will strive to design, construct, and commission buildings that outperform CBC energy efficiency standards by 30% or more, whenever possible within the constraints of program needs and standard budget parameters. 2. Standards for energy efficiency for acute care facilities will be developed in consultation with campuses and medical centers. 3. All new buildings (except acute care facilities) will achieve a USGBC LEED “Silver” certification at a minimum. All new buildings (except acute care facilities) will strive to achieve certification at a USGBC LEED “Gold” rating or higher, whenever possible within the constraints of program needs and standard budget parameters. 4. The University of California will design, construct, and commission new laboratory buildings to achieve a minimum of LEED-“Silver” certification as well as meeting at least the prerequisites of the Laboratories for the 21st Century (Labs21) Environmental Performance Criteria (EPC). Laboratory spaces in new buildings also shall meet at least the prerequisites of Labs21 EPC. Design, construction, and commissioning processes shall strive to optimize the energy efficiency of systems not addressed by the CBC energy efficiency standards. 5. All new building projects will achieve at least two points within the available credits in LEED NC’s Water Efficiency category. Building Renovations 6. Renovation of buildings that require 100% replacement of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems and replacement of over 50% of all non-shell areas (interior walls, doors, floor coverings and ceiling systems) shall at a minimum comply with III.A.3 or III.A.4, above. Such projects shall outperform CBC Title 24, Part 6, currently in effect, by 20%. 7. Renovation projects with a project cost of $5 million or greater (CCCI 5000) that do not fall under item III.A.6. shall at a minimum achieve a LEED CI Certified rating and register with the utilities’ Savings by Design program, if eligible.

Optional Fields 

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The building square footages are based on the University of California's "Outside Gross Square Feet" (OGSF) definition and includes buildings at the Main Campus (including Laureate Court), 2300 Delaware, and the Coastal Science Campus. Unoccupied support structures under 100 sf were not included.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.