LEED for new buildings or major renovations
LEED v4 Building Design and Construction (BD+C) has options to fit every building, from hospitals to manufacturing plants, showrooms, and office buildings. For most projects, select New Construction and Major Renovations, or explore options for buildings with unique needs:
- New Construction and Major Renovation. Covers design and construction for new buildings and major renovations of existing buildings. In LEED v4, this option can be used for multifamily residential projects of four or more occupiable stories above grade.
- Core and Shell Development. Used for projects where the developer controls the design and construction of the entire mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection system but not the tenant fit-out.
- Data Centers. Specifically designed and equipped to meet the needs of high-density computing equipment used for data storage and processing.
- Healthcare. Designed for the unique needs of hospitals that operate 24/7 and provide inpatient medical treatment, including acute and long-term care.
- Hospitality. Supports hotels, motels, inns or other businesses within the service industry that provide transitional or short-term lodging.
- Retail. Addresses the unique needs of retailers of all types.
- Schools. For buildings made up of core and ancillary learning spaces on K-12 school grounds. Can also be used for higher education and non-academic buildings on school campuses.
- Warehouses and Distribution Centers. For buildings used to store goods, manufactured products, merchandise, raw materials or personal belongings, like self-storage.
LEED 4.1 BD+C
LEED® v4 introduced critical new concepts for building sustainability and remains available today. The experience of LEED v4 users is the basis for LEED v4.1.
LEED v4.1 is more achievable, providing new options and simpler metrics to help projects reach key outcomes. Project teams across the country are adopting the LEED v4.1 credit requirements, using the flexible v4.1 pathways on their LEED v4 projects.
LEED v4.1 BD+C updates include:
- Energy metrics include both cost and greenhouse gas emissions
- Upgrade to ASHRAE 90.1-2016
- Applicable and achievable credit requirements throughout the rating system, for example:
- Rainwater Management requirements with a lower minimum percentile storm events and added guidance for zero-lot-line projects;
- The Daylight and Acoustic Performance credits are more flexible;
- A Renewable Energy credit that better addresses different approaches to renewables procurement; and
- Restructured Materials and Resources credits that acknowledge varying levels of effort to bridge the gap from the market’s current ability to the goals identified in LEED.
Register your LEED project.
Getting Started
After determining which rating system you will use, register your project in LEED Online to indicate your commitment to certification. You can refer to the Marketing Support page to support your project promotion efforts.
Once registered, you can start working on your project in LEED Online – it’s your LEED project management workspace to organize your documentation and engage with your whole team.
The Credit Library is a database of all LEED v4 credits, prerequisites, and Minimum Program Requirements. It provides credit requirements, local guidance, forms, calculators, and other resources. It’s also your portal to the web-based reference guide.
Alternative compliance paths (ACPs) allow project teams the flexibility to use a locally-relevant equivalent in credit requirements. Read up on ACPs available for Canada and access other detailed information in the Technical Resources.
Questions? LEED is supported by LEED Coach Canada, a collaborative team of people with diverse building science backgrounds. With support located across Canada, we’re here to help.
Looking for LEED technical resources?