The NRNC rating tool requires energy consumption of landlord and tenants to be calculated/simulated in order to compute the projected BEI for DA submission. Core & Shell designs are not permitted under the current GBI rating system; hence DA submission must include the design loads for all areas. The GBI tools call for CVA to be conducted when the building is either at least 50% occupied or 12 months after CCC. This requirement is intended to enable fit-outs to take place for the CVA to be conducted meaningfully. Non fit-out areas (termed as vacant areas) at CVA stage are to be excluded under the BEI formula.

There is no Core and Shell scoring available in any of the GBI tools. The GBIF and Design Team need to submit for DA the full fit-out designs to achieve the desired Gold rating.

Construction thereafter may proceed with any variant of Core & Shell and upon completion, there is 12 months after CCC for the building to be fitted out and be occupied to meet the as-designed DA intent. CVA will be conducted at the end of this 12 months period for the occupied floors with the unoccupied floors designated as vacant areas (for which the BEI formula incorporates allowance to do so).

Hence, there is no reason why a higher GBI rating cannot be strived for.

There are no mandatory criteria in the NRNC or any other GBI tool; hence there is no exemption for the Development Density criterion if this credit cannot be scored.

Physical compliance with MR4 (and related credits in other GBI rating tools) for Sustainable Timber will be assessed at CVA stage; i.e. wood used for the base building as well as the tenancy fit-outs will all need to meet the credit requirement. As for tenancy areas not fitted out at CVA stage, these will be treated as vacant areas (which will be verified in future for compliance at the GBI certification renewal stage after 3 years). Therefore, the GBIF is advised to include requirement for certified timber in the tenancy/leasing agreement for full compliance if this credit point is to be scored.

The BUILDING ENERGY INTENSITY (BEI) formula is appended hereunder and it has an allowance for floor vacancy to be excluded should any of the Leased Units not be occupied at CVA stage.

BEI = [(TBEC - CPEC - DCEC) / (GFA(excluding carpark) - DCA - GLA * FVR)] * [52/WOH]

Where;

• TBEC : Total Building Energy Consumption (kWh/year)
• CPEC : Carpark Energy Consumption (kWh/year)
• DCEC : Data Centre Energy Consumption (kWh/year)
• GFA (excluding carpark) : Gross Floor Area exclusive of car park area (m2)
• DCA : Data Centre Area (m2)
• GLA : Gross Lettable Area (m2)
• FVR : Weighted Floor Vacancy Rate of GLA (%)
• 52 : Typical weekly operating hours of office buildings in KL/Malaysia (hrs/wk)
• WOH : Weighted Weekly Operating Hours of GLA exclusive of DCA (hrs/wk)

Terminology:

• TBEC refers to total building energy utilised for all landlord and tenancy areas.
• CPEC refers to total energy utilised for the carpark area (which is not air-conditioned) and typically covers artificial lighting, lifts, mechanical ventilation fans, sump pumps and plug loads (car washing facilities). Installations serving the whole building (such as hydraulic pumps and fire pumps) shall not be included. 
• DCEC refers to total energy utilised for operation of the Data Centre equipment and for controlling its indoor environment (air-conditioning, mechanical ventilation, lighting and plug loads).
• GFA (excluding carpark) refers to total built up gross area of the building excluding the carpark.
• DCA refers to gross area of the Data Centre.
• GLA refers to the total functional use area for commercial purposes such as office, retail, cafeteria, restaurant, gymnasium and club house inside the building but excluding all common areas and service areas. The sum of GLA, common areas and service areas should equal the GFA excluding car park.
• FVR is the weighted floor vacancy rate of office, retail and other functional spaces of GLA. The floor vacancy rate of GLA is equal to the non-occupied lettable area divided by the GLA, in terms of percentage.
• WOH is the weighted weekly operating hours of GLA exclusive of the DCA.

E.g.:

• A building has GLA of 5400 m2 comprising 5000 m2 office (including 80 m2 data centre) and 400 m2 retail areas of which the corresponding operating hours are 55, 168 and 65 hrs/wk respectively.
• Then WOH = [(5000-80)*55 + 400*65] / (5400-80) = 55.75 hrs/wk.
  

EQ9 on Daylight Glare Control requires the need to reduce discomfort caused by glare from natural light. The objective is to ensure daylighting system is designed with adequate and proper glare control in order not to negate the benefits of daylighting. A manual or automatically controlled blind represents one of the accepted means for glare control. Where external shading devices can effectively eliminate glare to the workspace then the objective is met.

Please also refer to the elaborations listed in the Design Reference Guide. 

For RNC, innovation point is awarded if T5 and/or LED lighting is provided for at least 90% of common spaces and the LED lighting efficacy shall not be less than 80 Lumens per Watt.

For NRNC, use of efficient light fittings (including LED of not less than 80 Lumens per Watt) for the interior spaces will reduce the BEI value which is covered under EE5 and hence does not qualify for innovation point in this instance.
 
For NRNC façade lighting using LED, innovation point will be awarded provided the LED lighting efficacy is not less than 120 Lumens per Watt and the total lighting load (façade and interior spaces) does not exceed MS1525 requirement calculated on Watt per sq.m of the internal floor area.

Please refer to FAQ2.1 which states:
No. The current Budget 2010 tax incentives only allow for capital expenditure and this does not cover such fees.
However, GBI will pursue for their inclusion under Budget 2011 and will update if this is accepted.

Innovation points are considered for items that will exhibit or contribute significant impact to the sustainable agenda.

For the listed items 1) to 4) above, these are deemed to be standard practice and/or authority safety compliance items and hence do not qualify as innovation.

Items 5) and 7) are already credited under their respective main criteria, and they are certainly not unusual applications.

Item 6) will be subject to submission of details for evaluation of the impact including practicality and functionability for such a provision.

Due to the complexity and variant nature of petrol stations where the office areas may be very small, please attend our Consultation Sessions with layout of the petrol station for a discussion as to whether that particular station can be accepted for a GBI rating.

Gross Floor Area (GFA) is the total built up area of floor space within a building, including the thickness of external walls but excluding internal voids.

Gross Lettable Area (GLA) refers to the total functional use area for commercial purposes such as office, retail, cafeteria, restaurant, gymnasium and club house inside the building but excluding all common areas and service areas. The sum of GLA, common areas and service areas should equal the GFA (excluding car park).

Nett Lettable Area (NLA) is the total rentable or saleable area and is the exact total functional use area for commercial purposes inside the building excluding all common areas and service areas. NLA is also the actual area cited in the Sales & Purchase Agreement to property buyer. Therefore NLA < GLA and NLA is hence GFA less all common areas (stairs, corridors, plant rooms etc.).

For Data Centres, in lieu of Building Energy Intensity (BEI) values, use the PUE metrics; where PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) = Ratio of Total Facilities Power to IT Equipment Power. Use BEI or PUE if either building or IT equipment power use constitutes more than 75% of the total energy use. Otherwise, calculate both BEI and PUE with the lower point score being applicable for award of points.

Corresponding Credit Points to PUE values are:

PUE ≤ 1.9  = 2 points;
PUE ≤ 1.8  = 3 points;
PUE ≤ 1.7  = 5 points;
PUE ≤ 1.6  = 8 points;
PUE ≤ 1.5  = 10 points;
PUE ≤ 1.4  = 12 points;
PUE ≤ 1.3  = 15 points.

Where desiccant heat recovery wheels are used, these must account for at least 50% of the relevant building air exhaust system.

Preservation of existing trees will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis with regards to the impact achieved and not merely on the percentage of existing greenery. Applicant is required to submit details and justification for GBIAP’s consideration.

Innovation credit may be considered only if solar water heater is provided for all bathrooms.

The concept and depth of daylighting (which VLT relates to) and OTTV (which incorporates U-value and SC) are extensively taught at the GBIF course. The mathematical formula for OTTV itself is self-explanatory to any technically endowed individual.

GBI is a holistic performance tool which allows designers the full repertoire of creative solutions to achieve the desired OTTV and BEI (as a building may be designed with minimal glazing or be fully glazed). Therefore, prescriptive reference values for glazing properties are not applicable, except for the minimum VLT value.

Unfortunately GBI is unable to assist any individual in his business dealings. However, there are individual practitioners who are willing to and have shared their research and ‘trade secrets’ such as the recently conducted ACEM-MASHRAE seminar on “Common Problems Faced by GBIF Part 1” with the particular paper entitled “Is there a correlation between OTTV and BEI?”.

The NRNC rating tool requires energy consumption of landlord and tenants to be calculated/simulated in order to compute the projected BEI for DA submission. If the provision of a ‘lighting power budget’ load together with typical lighting layout arrangement can meet this computational requirement then it is acceptable. However, at CVA stage, the building needs to be either at least 50% occupied or will be assessed not later than 12 months after CCC. This requirement is intended to enable fit-outs to take place for the CVA to be conducted meaningfully. Non fit-out areas (termed as vacant areas) at CVA stage are to be excluded under the BEI formula.

SIRIM Ecolabel is recognised by GBI and is listed under GEN (http://globalecolabelling.net/).
Green Label Plus (Italy) is not listed under GEN and is not recognised by GBI.

SOHO projects of residential typologies shall use the RNC tool. Where commercial elements are incorporated, such SOHO projects will be evaluated on a case by case basis for classification under the NRNC tool.