green building/ LEED

Objectives
Sustainable design, LEED, the Integrated Design Process, and other related practices are relatively new developments in the construction industry. In your future jobs, you will likely need to educate many project stakeholders, such as clients, about these new developments. This assignment is intended to give you an opportunity to identify and analyze some of the career opportunities emerging as a result of the green revolution, while you familiarize yourselves with LEED rating system.
Background
As a sustainability expert, imagine that you have been asked to facilitate the first design meeting for new administrative offices for the local school board. The school board is not very familiar with sustainable building rating systems but wants to be as “green” as possible and achieve a LEED Gold rating.
The site is located in Toronto and is accessible by public transportation. The grounds are surrounded by low-rise residential development and mid-rise office buildings. The building will be an 8 storey office building which will house offices and supporting spaces for the administration staff, including kitchenettes and a gym. The site has an existing building on it, which will be demolished, and is surrounded by a limited number of paved parking spaces. The client is interested in incorporating a renewable energy source and is focused on durability and keeping the maintenance cost low.

Task
Prepare a professional report to a client (the school board) of approximately 2000 words (about 8 pages, double-spaced) presenting the background information for the first facilitated meeting which will include facilitated visioning session. Be sure to include all of the information listed below.
• provide framework for the discussion for the first meeting and the facilitated visioning session
• indicate whom you would invite to attend the first meeting
• identify some of the key decisions that must be reached at the meeting
• identify critical communication tools that will be used in dealing with the various stakeholders for the duration of the project
• outline main design strategies that you recommend in trying to achieve LEED Gold rating for the building
• identify one LEED credit in each of the five base categories (5 credits in total) that you would recommend pursuing and briefly explain strategies to achieve them
• choose two LEED credits which you would not recommend pursuing and explain they are not be feasible
• suggest the next steps following the first meeting and also some of the key goals that you hope to achieve as a facilitator
References
Please list all references. Provide references in APA format.
Evaluation criteria
• Demonstrating an understanding of sustainability issues
• Knowledge of IDP process, key players and communication tools
• A thorough analysis of design options and strategies
• Well presented, thought out reasoning and approach
• Use of appropriate language and presentation skills: clarity, conciseness, appropriateness or terminology, spelling and punctuation
• Accuracy and completeness of data