Movable Walls - where are they in LEED?

Movable walls, relocatable walls, demountable walls and modular walls are all products that allow tenants, building owners, developers and builders to reduce construction waste while providing for future change. In a nutshell, they are manufactured in a controlled factory setting and shipped to job sites completely finished and ready for a "tilt up" interior construction. After they are installed, they allow changes to happen very easily with minimum waste. At Contract Interiors San Diego, we are often asked about how many points our movable wall products will provide the LEED project. First and foremost, I talk about the fact that LEED points are not obtainable by buying a specific product. There is a whole conversation to be had about what LEED is and and how it works but suffice it to say, there is no point available for specifying or buying movable walls.

The strategy of change and how an interior build out functions in the future, morphing to the changing needs of the owner, are not captured in the LEED rating system. For instance, you are a tenant and you decide to purchase relocatable walls because you want to be able to add and subtract offices and conference rooms in the future without tearing out drywall and having lots of downtime. Using movable walls allows for these changes to happen quickly and without any landfill waste. Seems green and sustainable. However, even though the product inherently is a "green" product, this strategy of being smarter and thinking long term vs. short term is not awarded by the LEED system with a credit. I hear rumblings that the USGBC is considering this point but I have not seen anything formal.