Pre-Assessment LEED applied to Students Residences and an Industrial Warehouse

This thesis faces the application of LEED protocol into two different case studios: one is made up of two buildings used as Students Residences located in Torino, while the second is an Industrial Warehouse located in Mantova. The thesis represents one of the most actual themes, for relevance, since the LEED protocol is an instrument to design and actuate measures to improve sustainability in buildings. Sustainability that has becoming relevant in construction sector, due to its negative impact on climate changes (that can led to dangerous consequences for human’s life on earth). The work follows, also, the principles of Sustainable Development Goals, where some of the target to be reached by 2030 are considered in credits of the protocol. The choice of the two case studios is to apply the same general rating system but a different sub-case due to a building function difference. Indeed, for the Students Residences the rating system is Building Design + Construction for New Construction while the Industrial Warehouse follow the Building Design + Construction for Warehouse and Distribution. The version applied in this thesis is LEED v4 even if the new version, LEED v4.1, is already available. By now there is the possibility to change the requirements of the old version with the new one even just for few credits; that’s why for the Open Space credit all the alternatives (v4 and v4.1) are considered due to limited space in the Students Residences. The work has been developed by analysing, for each case studio, some credits of the first three categories of the LEED protocol: Location and Transportation (LT), Sustainable Site (SS) and Water Efficiency (WE). The different location, function, dimension and the different choices conducted by the owners of the two projects, make it interesting to understand how the certification process can change due to different targets that the property wants to reach. In the end, it is possible to compare the different intermediate results, based on technical choices applied in the two projects, necessary to obtain a certain number of points that will be fundamental for the overall process of certification. The importance of a coordination figure such as the LEED AP is also considered based on different way and methods to develop the two projects. Another highlighted aspect is that, different rating systems conduct to different requirements for the same credit. The next passages will require more design information concerning the buildings to analyse the energy efficiency, material characteristics and indoor wellbeing of the occupants that are considered in the other categories of the protocol.