Were this to occur, the certified project would be deemed to have met the requirements of the IgCC even without having met the minimum IgCC material requirements. One could achieve a LEED Silver certification without achieving any material credits such as recycled content, regionally sourced materials or materials meeting VOC limits or the new LEED v4 credits. An example of where this might occur is in the selection of materials. In Baltimore, if you chose to achieve LEED certification at the silver level, you have met the requirements of the IgCC even if your building is shy of IgCC performance requirements in certain areas. The IgCC allows LEED compliance as an alternate compliance path.
If you are doing a renovation or an addition, you must comply with the articles of the code related to your work.
Now, all non-residential building projects requiring a permit must comply. One of the reasons the City adopted the IgCC is that it closed the loophole over covered and non-covered buildings under the green building law. If it is a code requirement, you must comply. But, a key consideration of the IgCC is that it is a code and as such it is non-negotiable. The goals of the IgCC and LEED are the same. Examples of this are performance requirements for energy and water efficiency or material selections. It outlines requirements in addition to the basic building code that make the building more efficient and, presumably, with a smaller environmental footprint. The IgCC is an overlay to the building code. In assessing whether to pursue the IgCC vs LEED v4, consider the following. Currently, LEED energy prerequisites are met or exceeded simply by building to code. The IECC 2015 references ASHRAE 90.1 2013 for energy performance while LEED 2009 and LEED v4 reference ASHRAE 90.1 20 respectively. The City has adopted the 2015 versions of these documents. You must meet these baseline code requirements before you consider any of the additional green building requirements. LEED v4, consider what is required of your project in meeting the baseline building codes, including the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Before getting caught up in the question of IgCC vs. With these changes, complying with the International Green Construction Code (IgCC) may seem like a simpler path to follow than pursuing a LEED v4 certification. Octo– At the end of October, the US Green Building Council retires LEED v2009 and the City of Baltimore does the same with the “Baltimore City Green Building Standards” (BCGBS).