Green Street Academy LEED Rescue

Baltimore Public Schools’ Green Street Academy targeted LEED Gold certification using the “LEED for Schools” system and was coming close to LEED Platinum. Energy modeling is both a prerequisite for this system, and also has the largest point total in the rating system.

The energy models in the Green Street Academy LEED submittal had been unable to meet USGBC requirements with the original design team. The USGBC reviewer had rejected the team’s comment response, and added several additional concerns to the final design review, driving the project to appeal. Hord Copland Macht, leading the design team, called in FSi as a third-party reviewer.

FSi provided the team with help and guidance to correct the energy model to meet the requirements and receive the most LEED points possible. We call this process “LEED Rescue”, helping other design teams when they’re stuck in the LEED process. The USGBC reviewer accepted the energy model with the adjustments we made to model, and the credits were awarded to the project without any additional clarification – and with an additional point. That point tipped the project from Gold to Platinum. The project achieved a higher LEED rating than targeted and was awarded LEED Platinum with exactly the minimum number of points required for a Platinum rating.

As of date of certification, Green Street Academy was the second largest project in the world to be certified Platinum under the LEED for Schools v3 rating system, and the only LEED for Schools v3 Platinum project in Maryland.

We know our way around sustainable design, and we used our skills to make Olympia City Hall a great public space.