LEED Canada CS 2009

The CaGBC is happy to announce that registration for LEED Canada for New Construction and Major Renovations (NC) 2009 and LEED Canada Core and Shell Development (CS) 2009 opened June 21, 2010. These new rating systems offer many advantages, including:

• Consolidation of documentation: all the Application Guides and relevant CIRs have been incorporated.
• Updated reference standards: the new rating systems refer to more current reference standards.
• New and updated pathways: several alternative credit compliance pathways have been introduced, and thresholds have been adjusted to better reflect the state of the industry.
• Re-weighted credits: the number of points that may be earned for each credit has been re-evaluated using a more scientific approach, resulting in greater emphasis on preventing climate change.
• Familiarity: the majority of credits have not substantially changed.
• Faster certification: the audit round of the certification process has been eliminated, and streamlined compliance pathways are available for some credits.

Projects registering as of June 21 2010 will be registered under the 2009 versions, while projects registered prior to this date may switch to the new rating system.

To learn more:

A FAQ and many other useful documents may be found on the LEED Canada NC Documents page.

LEED Canada CS 1.0

LEED Canada for Core and Shell (CS) is a derivative of LEED Canada NC and applies to buildings where less than 50% of the building area will be fit-up to LEED Canada NC requirements prior to certification.

Currently, LEED Canada CS certification is made possible through the Application Guide for Core and Shell Buildings and Leased Tenant Spaces, which not only provides details for achieving LEED Canada CS certification, but also provides flexibility and guidance in applying LEED Canada NC 1.0 to leased tenant spaces. Specifically, it makes allowance for some leased tenant space that is not fit-up to NC requirements at the time of certification. Provision is also made for up to 10% of the building floor area (20% in the case of mixed-use buildings) to be generally exempted.

The application guide, published in July 2008, applies retroactively to allow everyone to benefit from its flexibility.

For an overview of the application guide, view the Fact Sheet. The application guide is free for CaGBC members and may be downloaded directly from the “Documents” section of MyCaGBC. Non-members may purchase the guide for $55.

Order the Application Guide

It should be noted that there are currently differences between the US and Canadian Core and Shell rating systems, as detailed below. A difference may be perceived in the point scale used for EAc1 (Optimized Energy Performance), however no real difference exists. The USGBC has adopted ASHRAE 90.1-2004 and the CaGBC still references ASHRAE 90.1-1999. The two systems are effectively equivalent.