LEED™ EA Prerequisite 1 Fundamental Commissioning (Required)

"Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems" is the first prerequisite in the Energy and Atmosphere category of LEED™ Version 3.0.

This prerequisite describes the commissioning tasks that must be completed on all projects that intend to earn any level of LEED™
certification.

Intent

The official intent of this prerequisite, as stated in the LEED™ Reference Guide, is to “verify and ensure that fundamental building elements and systems are designed, installed and calibrated to operate as intended.”

Requirements

There are six tasks required to meet the Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning prerequisite.

These six tasks are:

• Engage a Commissioning Authority – An individual must be selected to lead the commissioning efforts for the project. For this prerequisite, this person may be a third party or a qualified person from the designer’s firm. If a member of the design’s firm is chosen, he or she must not be directly involved in the design or construction management, and must report directly to the owner.

• Review design intent and basis of design documentation – This task requires the commissioning authority to document the owner’s requirements for each commissioned system in the building. LEED™ specifies that in new buildings, all HVAC and controls systems, duct work and piping, renewable and alternative technologies, lighting controls and daylighting, waste heat recovery, and any advanced technologies like thermal storage must be commissioned. Building envelope systems and TAB should also be verified. The owner’s requirements for these systems may include efficiency targets and other performance criteria such as temperature and lighting levels that will define the acceptance criteria for the functional performance testing that takes place at the end of construction. The commissioning authority must also document the basis of design for the commissioned systems, including any primary assumptions, applicable codes and standards, occupancy details, climatic assumptions, and the key concepts used in the design to meet the owner’s requirements stated in the design intent document. These two documents are primary tasks that are commonly accomplished on a commissioned project.

• Include commissioning requirements in the construction documents – LEED™ requires that the scope of commissioning for the project, the systems to be commissioned, and the various requirements related to schedule, submittal reviews, testing, training, O&M manuals, and warranty reviews be clearly listed in the construction documents. The delegation of the various tasks is up to the project team, so long as the responsibilities are clearly stated in the construction documents. Bidding contractors must have a clear understanding of their role in
the commissioning effort.

• Develop and utilize a commissioning plan – The LEED™ Reference Guide Version 2.0 lists eight components that must be included in the commissioning plan for the project. These are an overview of the commissioning process for the project, a list of commissioned systems and features, primary commissioning participants and their roles, a communication and management plan, an outline of the scope of commissioning tasks, a list of work products, a schedule, and a description of any commissioning testing activities. This plan should be created as early as possible in the project, and should evolve over time as additional details become available.

• Verify installation, functional performance, training and documentation – For each commissioned system or component, the commissioning authority or contractor must verify proper installation, functional performance in accordance with the design intent, training of owner’s designated operation and maintenance personnel, and completion of useful operation and maintenance manuals. Depending on the division of duties decided upon by the project team and described in the commissioning plan and construction documents, either the or the commissioning authority may complete the task with or without assistance from the contractors. The LEED™ Reference Guide Version 2.0 gives additional details on each of these tasks, including topics that should be covered during training sessions, formatting and content guidelines for the O&M manuals, guidelines for preparing and executing functional test procedures, and the use of sampling strategies.

• Complete a commissioning report – The commissioning authority must prepare a commissioning report and submit it to the owner once the commissioning plan has been fully executed. If certain functional tests are incomplete due to seasonal delays, then the report can be submitted once all but those tests are finished. To satisfy the LEED™ prerequisite, the commissioning report must contain the commissioning authority’s analysis of whether each commissioned system or component meets the design intent, meets the specifications, was properly installed, passed the functional performance tests, was properly documented in the O&M manuals, and was fully covered in the operator training. Any outstanding commissioning issues must also be included.

Documentation

Once all the requirements for satisfying the LEED™ prerequisite have been met, the team must provide documentation to the U.S. Green Building Council as evidence that the tasks were completed. The team must provide a copy of the commissioning plan, with the six tasks listed above highlighted. The commissioning authority must also provide a letter certifying that the plan was successfully executed and the design intent for the building was met.