City of Palo Alto has implemented one of the most aggressive green building codes in the state of California. Due to very high value of real estate and heightened awareness for sustainable construction practices among the residents, city has succeeded in justifying the enforcement of green building code that few other cities in the state of California have enforced. This has obvious positive affects like reduced construction waste, low environmental impacts of new developments, adoption of new green technology etc. Compared to other cities and counties, the buildings built in Palo Alto have lower carbon footprint and are healthier built environments for their occupants.
Palo Alto is notoriously sluggish in issuing building permits. The complexity of green building code implemented here is one of the reasons. City requires detailed CALGreen documents that demonstrates a plan to implement this code. There are various degrees of severity that is applicable depending on the scope of a project. This is discussed in detailed below:
Tiers of CALGreen Green Building code
CALGreen code is designed to be implemented in three levels of stringency. The most basic level is called ‘Mandatory Measures’. As the name suggests it has the lowest level of rigor and applies to every building built in the state. This level is easiest to comply with and applies to projects with very limited scope, like small tenant improvement or remodeling projects.
Next more stringent levels are identified as Tier-1 and Tier-2. Tier-1 is implemented for larger and more comprehensive remodeling projects. Tier-2 is the most rigorous form of CALGreen code and is applicable for new construction projects.
CALGreen Special Inspectors
Enforcement of this complex and intricate code is no easy task. This task has been assigned to specially trained and qualified 3rd parties such as “Energy Analytica LLC” by the city’s building
department. These 3rd party companies are called CALGreen Special inspectors. It is mandatory for all project owners to employ a CALGreen special inspector for their projects. It is the special inspector’s job is to make sure the green building code is implemented and documented as smoothly as possible.
City has a list of companies that are allowed to provide these services. ‘Energy Analytica LLC’ is one of the most reputed and experienced providers of the CALGreen services.
CALGreen Inspections
Each project requires to have at least 3 inspections done by CALGreen special inspector. They are as follows.
1. Inspection code #151: Pre-Construction meeting.
2. Inspection code #152: Pre-All Trade Inspection.
3. Inspection code #153: Final Inspection.
Pre-All Trade Inspection (#151): This is a meeting that occurs in the presence of project owner, the construction team and the CALGreen special inspector. This meeting is also attended by the building inspector from the city. The agenda of this meeting is to go over the green building requirements pertaining to the specific project. The CALGreen checklist is discussed in detail. The goal is to bring the construction team up to speed on the CALGreen requirements and documentation needs.
Pre-All Trade Inspection (#152): This is also called incremental inspection. As the name suggests, this inspection is done at rough framing before Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing contractors start on the job. In Tennent improvement and Remodeling projects, this inspection is done around midway of the construction. Some of the requirements that have been fulfilled till this point are documented.
Final Inspection (#153): When the project is close to completion, the green building inspector comes out for a final walk. All aspects of the CALGreen code are reviewed for compliance and documented. This documentation is compiled in a folder which is handed over to the building department for approval.
CALGreen Checklists
Palo Alto building department has produced CALGreen checklist specifically to be used for projects within city jurisdiction. There are checklists for various building types and different scopes. These can be downloaded from the links below. https://www.cityofpaloalto.org/Departments/Planning-Development-Services/Development-Services/Green-Building/Compliance
For more information about Palo Alto CALGreen services, or to find out how we can help, please contact us