Green Building Certification Support (LEED & IGBC) in India

Certifications under green building programs have various trade-offs across multiple categories, associated cost impacts, performance standards and documentation needs, and an ideal certification program for a particular project varies based on project stages, building typology, location, occupancy characteristics, budget limits, and environmental, social and governance, or investment criteria that will ensure commercial benefits of certifications. A common trend amongst projects seeking certification but without certification strategies is the realization in the middle of construction that the design will be unable to reach certain targets or some of the expected credits need adjustments that have no room for inclusion into the budget. IMARC Engineering creates certifications programs from the early possible stage in projects by determining the target level of ratings, credits that are most achievable with respect to design considerations of the project, additional cost impacts of credits pursued, and necessary documentation and commissioning programs.

Energy Performance Credits in LEED and IGBC are amongst the highest weighted credits that are also very technically difficult to earn, requiring Whole Building Energy Simulation based on a particular Building Baseline Model, with energy savings proven beyond the required percentage of energy savings against a baseline. The energy models generated without adequate expertise on Building Energy Simulation face challenges from the technical reviewers from the certification authority, which delays the process of certification and necessitates expensive modifications. IMARC Engineering generates whole building energy models using ECBC compliant simulation software, maximising the energy performance of building envelope, HVAC systems, lighting systems, and renewable energy systems to maximise energy credits in LEED and IGBC. Simultaneously, water conservation models are generated, analysing indoor and outdoor water consumption reduction against baseline usage to optimise irrigation schemes, water fixtures, and reuse schemes for earning maximum water credits.

The Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) prescribes mandatory energy performance standards applicable to commercial buildings in India that exceed certain thresholds of connected load and conditioned floor area; and ECBC compliance is a pre-requisite or forms a part of IGBC certification criteria, while also being mentioned in LEED India credit requirement. Some states have adopted ECBC compliance in their states on compulsory basis, while other states follow voluntary compliance; and it is important for the project developers to comply with the ECBC guidelines properly so as to ensure that there are no changes in their design while making submissions. Compliance with ECBC guidelines is an essential component of our services to clients applying for green building certification from LEED and IGBC organizations, where we check ECBC compliance of building envelopes, HVAC systems, lighting systems and service water heating systems.

Credits for Materials & Resources under LEED and IGBC, including locally-sourced materials, recycled content, rapidly renewable materials, certified wood, and construction waste management, involve systematic procurement documentation that the typical Indian construction procurement process is ill-equipped to handle unless a procurement plan is prepared prior to procurement. In the absence of a procurement plan, easily obtainable materials credits in the design phase become inaccessible, since the documentation needed to claim those credits was not collected in procurement and construction phases. IMARC Engineering prepares material procurement plans in the design phase, by sourcing credit-worthy local vendors, determining recycled content documentation needs for designated materials, creating a construction waste diversion documentation plan, and incorporating material credit criteria into procurement documents and subcontracts prior to materials procurement.

Submissions for green building certifications need to have highly comprehensive documentation prepared in a technically robust manner in collaboration with different departments including architecture, structure, MEP, landscape, and project management. The most frequent reason for queries on certifications is either the incompleteness, non-compliance in documentation format, or lack of technical support behind the documents. At IMARC Engineering, we handle all documentation processes related to the certification including documentation requirements definition at the start of each project, coordination of documentation preparation and collection among team members, evaluation of documentation completeness and technical accuracy prior to submission, and communication with the certification body’s technical reviewers until the successful certification award. This way, we ensure that we avoid the problem of last-minute documentation compilation which typically occurs with poorly managed certification programs.

Certifications that are obtained only after project completion but do not have any follow-ups through operational management result in achieving a small portion of energy and water savings anticipated. IMARC Engineering takes care of post-certification operations by putting into place the performance monitoring system, operational procedures, and occupant programs that are required for maintaining the certification process over a period of time. Where there is a need for obtaining LEED O&M Recertification, as well as IGBC Operational Performance Rating, IMARC Engineering does a gap analysis to obtain the LEED O&M or IGBC Operational Certification. For manufacturers/developers having ESG reporting requirements, IMARC Engineering helps them achieve reporting under BRSR, GRI and Investor ESG Frameworks.