Part 2: How outcome-based regulation impacts new building façade design in NYC - October blog



In the September 2020 blog post, we dug into the impact of New York City’s Local Law 97 (LL97) for driving façade retrofit activity. We reported a range of renovation approaches from Façade Tectonic Institute (FTI) members, and New York City (NYC) locals, Stefanie Schober of Thornton Tomasetti, John Neary of HOK, Gabrielle Brainard of Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, and Erik Olsen of Transsolar. This month, we’re looking at the impact LL97 is having on new building design and construction.
While LL97 ostensibly governs existing buildings, new buildings become existing buildings as soon as they are occupied, and are immediately subject to its conditions. As a result, the LL97 energy caps are becoming part of the design targets for new projects alongside the 2020 NYC Energy Conservation Code. This is due to the proof of performance required by LL97 starting in 2024.
Designers must also look out yet further and “future-proof” their buildings to meet the 2030 requirements and beyond. If not, the building owners will risk financial penalties. An interesting corollary of this is that design teams that are able to plan for enhanced serviceability and easy upgradeability of façades also will create more value and reduce financial risk for the building owner as energy caps continue to become more stringent post 2030. There are some interesting opportunities here for curtainwall manufacturers to design their systems for better serviceability and upgradeability to support extended lifetimes.
While there is still some debate within the developer community as to whether LL97 will undergo significant change between now and 2024, the architectural community appears to be preparing for the introduction of energy caps in 2024. The Building Energy Exchange released a beta version of a LL97 calculator, which helps owners understand where their buildings’ performance stand relative to the energy caps. At the 2020 Zak World of Facades, Tali Mejicovsky of Arup New York’s office presented a new software tool called the “decarbonization playbook,” they have developed to support NYC building design...to continue reading click here.
(the full blog, as well as previous posts, are hosted on usglassmag.com)