“Residenze ERP Magrè” project, a new social housing construction designed and financed by the public institution ATER Vicenza, has achieved the LEED v4 BD+C: Homes Multifamily Lowrise certification Silver level.
The two buildings, A and B, rise four stories above ground: the ground floor is used for garages and service rooms (cellars, storages, and thermal power plants) while the apartments, in various sizes to better respond to the needs of the users, are located on the upper floors.
LEED for Homes: on-site audit and testing
The LEED for Homes protocol, unlike other LEED protocols, requires on-site inspections during the construction phase, and the execution of field testing upon completion of all works, including external activities.
At the end of the construction phase, in “Residenze ERP Magrè” project the following tests were performed: Blower Door Tests to check the air tightness of the apartments, bathrooms and kitchens extraction flow rates measurements, and finally, the verification of the flows of water-sanitary fixtures such as bathroom faucets, showers, and toilet flush.
Paola Moschini and Luisa Tonelli, both LEED Green Raters, contributed to the achievement of this important goal. The LEED for Homes Green Rater is the trained and accredited professional who dialogues with the design and construction team and is responsible for interfacing with the third-party verification body GBCI (Green Business Certification Inc.) by providing the necessary documentation, while the Qualified Energy Rater is the professional who performs on-site testing.
“The testing phase is interesting, because on-site testing become a useful tool to give evidence to the Property about the real performance of the building. For this specific project, the Blower Door tests carried out on different apartment types gave very good results, allowing the project to achieve not only the mandatory prerequisite but also the related credit score.” said Luisa Tonelli.
There is an ongoing demand to measure and monitor the performance of in-use buildings: energy and water consumption, envelope performance, thermohygrometric comfort, air and water quality. People’s well-being is at the center of the new certification trend, which is why Macro Design Studio has specialized in offering on-site testing and has recently been accredited as a WELL Performance Organization with three WELL Performance Agent accredited professionals within the company.
