This Program Manual contains all of the requirements and rule sets detailing the approved means of achieving all Imperatives within the Living Building Challenge 4.1.
COMPLIANCE DETAILS
The Compliance Details apply at two levels: Cross-Petal, which addresses elements that are applicable to multiple Petals or Imperatives, and Imperative-specific, which applies to an individual Imperative. The Compliance Details identify the complete rule set for compliance and may be updated by ILFI periodically to reflect additional clarifications, exceptions, and definitions. These updates include updates applicable to all teams generated by the Request for Ruling process (see Additional Tools and Support later in this Manual). Project teams are held to the Compliance Details included in the Program Manual version that is current on the date of their project registration. Project teams may comply with changes to Compliance Details in subsequent Program Manual updates at their discretion.
PETALS
The Petals provide the organizing framework for the Imperatives, with each Petal containing two or more Imperatives. The Petal sections begin with the Petal Intent + Context, which contains an overview explaining the Petal Intent as well as the ideal conditions and current limitations. Following this overview, the sections are focused at the Imperative level.
IMPERATIVES
Intent + Requirements
The Intent + Requirements section for each Imperative sets the defining requirements for that version of the program and will not change in quarterly updates to the Program Manual.
Imperative-Specific Compliance Details
Following the Imperative Intent + Requirements are the Clarifications, Exceptions, Calculations, Scale Jumping, and Documentation Requirements sections. Collectively, these are the Imperative-Specific Compliance Details, which constitute the rule set governing how compliance is achieved at the Imperative level.
Clarifications
Clarifications elaborate on the Intent + Requirements, providing more specific guidance on terminology, application, and implementation methodologies for each Imperative. Clarifications are generally listed in alphabetical order.
Exceptions
Exceptions to program requirements may be established at the discretion of the Institute to recognize current limitations in available tools or data or other circumstances that pose an unreasonable barrier to achievement of particular performance levels in particular situations. The expectation is that Exceptions will be temporary until conditions evolve to render them unnecessary. Some Exceptions have eligibility criteria and/or require preapproval from ILFI. Any prerequisites, preapprovals, additional performance requirements, or documentation will be specified in the Exception.
Each Exception is identified with a two-letter abbreviation connected to the relevant Petal and a unique number; for example, PL-004 is the fourth exception of the Place Petal. Project teams must reference the appropriate Exception numbers when submitting Requests for Ruling where preapproval is required and in documentation for audit.
Scale Jumping
Scale Jumping sections provide additional detail on appropriate Scale Jumping strategies specific to applicable Imperatives.
Calculations and Documentation Requirements
The Calculations sections provide instruction and examples for calculations. The Documentation Requirements list the documentation that must be submitted at each audit to demonstrate compliance.
Core Imperatives
As indicated under Structure + Applicability, Core Imperatives are shared among all of the Living Building Challenge certification pathways. They are denoted in the Program Manual Imperative headings with a “Core Imperative” annotation (I04 – Human-Scaled Living (Core Imperative)). They can be viewed at a glance in Table 1.
Case Studies and Resources
Each Imperative section closes with case studies highlighting successful approaches to requirement achievement and a list of technical resources to support design and implementation strategies.
REGIONAL EQUIVALENCIES
The Institute has approved equivalent tools or reference standards for use by all applicable projects within a specific region. Where approved equivalencies exist, they are listed in Approved Regional Equivalencies, a separate section of the Program Manual coming after the Imperatives.
GLOSSARY
The ILFI Program Glossary in the Program Manual defines terminology used throughout the Manual and provides an easily accessible reference for both general and program-specific language. This glossary is used for all of ILFI’s programs, including Living Product Challenge, Declare, and Just, to provide consistency across programs.
PERIODIC UPDATES
The Compliance Details will be updated periodically to reflect broadly applicable rulings from the Request for Ruling process, which might result in new clarifications, refined or innovative pathways, equivalencies, and, when needed, new exceptions, as well as any other amendments or additions necessary for improving the clarity and content of the guidance. When needed, updates will be published at the beginning of the quarter (January, April, July, and October), at which time the cover sheet of the Program Manual will be time stamped with the latest revision date. With each quarterly update, a list of revisions is published summarizing all changes implemented in that update. The list of revisions is organized by Petal and Imperative, and indicates the location of the change within the Compliance Details, as well as a brief description of the change. Should project teams wish to reference previous versions of the Program Manual, they may download PDFs of early versions by using the link at the bottom of the Program Manual table of contents.
