What's happening to acoustics in LEED v5?

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification, now pursued on hundreds of thousands of projects across the globe, is transitioning to the new LEED v5. Although acoustic design has been recognized by LEED for several of these iterations, the proposed LEED v5 appears to bring several changes compared to previous versions. This presentation will examine the evolution of acoustic criteria in LEED and will provide a detailed discussion of the expected changes to acoustics in LEED v5. This talk will provide examples where previous versions of LEED have led to positive acoustical design outcomes and challenges in architectural projects, discuss the new acoustical requirements in context of the broader needs and goals in the development of LEED v5, and introduce proposed strategies in working with the new requirements on architectural projects. Let’s continue to learn how to use our green building standards to help projects deliver high performance for building occupants.