The B3 Guidelines can be applied to the design of new buildings or renovations to meet sustainability goals for site, water, energy, indoor environment, materials and waste. The B3 Guidelines are required on all projects that receive general obligation bond funding from the State of Minnesota. The guidelines can also be used on a voluntary basis on any project. By using the B3 Guidelines, projects will automatically be applying the SB 2030 Energy Standard. After design, during the building occupancy period, the building will also use the B3 Benchmarking tool to track and compare actual energy use and the B3 Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) to survey occupants on the indoor environmental quality of the building.

B3 Version 3.0 is applicable for projects beginning schematic design or enrolled in the B3 Guidelines Tracking Tool on or after July 1, 2017 and before January 1, 2019.

B3 Version 3.1 is applicable for projects beginning predesign or enrolled in the B3 Guidelines Tracking Tool on or after January 1, 2019 and before January 1, 2020.

B3 Version 3.2r02 has been released and is applicable for projects beginning predesign or enrolled in the B3 Guidelines Tracking Tool on or after January 1, 2020 and prior to the release of subsequent versions.

The revision 2 updates include an expanded explanation of secondary site definitions, more nuance and adjustments in triggering site scope—including differing qualifying site work scope between guidelines—and additional clarification across various guidelines including updates intended to align better with available DNR data and processes. Guideline S.2 has been updated and the percentage of stormwater required to be managed on-site has been modestly decreased and flexibility has been added in which on-site strategies may be used. Additional clarification and definitions have been provided across the Site and Water section. Daylighting metrics have also been adjusted and simplified to streamline the submittal and compliance process while maintaining high-quality daylight design in B3 projects.

This update to Version 3.2 includes the B3 Small Buildings Method to better accomodate smaller projects; a summary of the revisions is here: Revisions Summary. Please contact B3 Guidelines Administrators for further detail on how to apply these updates.

Note that the B3 Guidelines now uses the predesign start date to determine which version to use, while the SB 2030 program uses the Schematic Design start date to determine which energy and carbon performance standard applies.