Built Certification Streamlining

NZGBC has developed a new approach to streamline Built certification of buildings that are already Green Star NZ Design certified. Currently, a lot of the documentation submitted at the Built stage is very similar to that submitted at the Design stage. Under Built Streamlining, if the design of the building (as reviewed and certified in the Design assessment) has been constructed with no significant changes that would affect compliance with the credit criteria, then project teams can submit a signed statement that confirms this fact, in the place of full documentation. The purpose of the signed statements is NOT to remove the requirement for project teams to produce documentation, but rather to stop project teams having to spend time and resource on the collation of the as-built documentation into a Green Star submission.

A building which has been certified at Design stage may choose to go through the Built Streamlining approach for some or all of the eligible credits. The process is:

1. Identify which credits are eligible for Built Streamlining approach. A list of eligible credits for each tool is available to download from the website.
2. If any credits have had CIRs granted for the Design certification of the project, then the credit is not eligible for Built Streamlining, and full Built documentation should be submitted.
3. Review awarded points: if the project team wishes to apply for any points or credits which were not awarded at the Design stage, full Built documentation should be submitted for the relevant credits.
4. Design changes: consider each credit, and whether there have been any changes since the Design certification that would affect the awarding of points. If there have been significant changes then it is necessary to submit full Built documentation.
5. Fill in the Built Streamline template detailing the credits that are following the Built Streamlining approach. If there have been design changes that affect the credits, which are deemed to be insignificant by the project team, list these in the template explaining the reasoning. For some credits, an extract from the commissioning report is required. This is detailed on the list of eligible credits that is available on the NZGBC website. Please remember to include this.
6. The relevant parties must sign the credit templates to confirm that any relevant changes have been disclosed, this is a matter of professional integrity and ethics and should be taken seriously.

If you believe that credits other than those included in the lists should be eligible for Built Streamlining for your project, please contact NZGBC as we are happy to discuss this on a project specific basis. For example, if Not Applicable has been awarded at Design stage, it may be eligible for Built Streamlining.

If you are going to follow this approach it is strongly recommended that you meet with NZGBC staff at an early stage to discuss the process and the list of eligible credits. Please contact greenstarnz@nzgbc.org.nz to arrange a meeting.