The City of Chicago strives to be the leader in sustainable design strategies and high performance projects. As a sister agency, Chicago Public Schools has embraced the belief that sustainable design practices benefit not only the external environment, but particularly a building’s occupants, resulting in optimized indoor environments for learning.
Achieving LEED Credits
In order to achieve LEED certification, focus shall be maintained on achieving as many credits as possible, especially those credits which are based upon design decisions, rather than relying upon the existing conditions or owner obligations. Refer to the Credit Strategy matrix in Appendix B for a general guide on the relevancy of specific credits for CPS projects.
The Design Team should review the strategies and to be aggressive in targeting more points than are required by the targeted level of certification.
In addition to LEED v4, the CPS Design Guidelines draw from other green building frameworks including, but not limited to California High Performance Schools, WELLTM, Living Building Challenge, Fitwel, Green Globes, and LEED Zero.
The following strategies are intended to give project teams ideas but is not intended to be an exhaustive nor prescriptive list of strategies. Core strategies have been integrated into Volume 3 to the greatest extent possible, while allowing flexibility for the design team’s unique approach to the project.
An integrative design process, as described in Appendix B should guide the team to the most appropriate solutions.
For specific information about the USGBC and how to achieve LEED for Schools Silver Certification, visit www.USGBC.org
Energy & Sustainability Management Plan
The Energy and Sustainability Management Plan (ESMP) bridges capital projects and operations & maintenance, creating a seamless transition between building design and construction continued operations of our facilities. The ESMP ensures continued performance improvement of our facilities over time, promotes energy and sustainability in the curriculum, and makes a meaningful difference in the learning environment, helping future leaders understand the importance of addressing the climate crisis. The ESMP and LEED checklist can be found in Appendix B.