CHPS is happy to announce that Greentools 2008 will include free, half-day, professionally facilitated charrettes for selected school districts. The primary goal of these charrettes is to bring CHPS best practices and goals into the project as early as possible to ensure greater success. A school district charrette is one of the best strategies possible to ensure that the benefits of CHPS and high performance, green, healthy schools are delivered. School districts that have projects in early programming phases in late summer or fall of 2008 are prime candidates for a school district charrette.

As part of the charrette, CHPS will help the team to begin to work through an integrated design planning process that will consider the design of all building systems and components together.

Integrated design brings together the various disciplines involved in designing a building and reviews recommendations as a whole. It allows professionals working in various disciplines to take advantage of efficiencies that are not apparent when they are working in isolation. It recognizes that each discipline’s recommendations have an impact on other aspects of the building. For example, the HVAC system selection and design should take into consideration other building systems such as lighting and daylighting. A lack of teamwork can result in oversized systems or systems that are optimized for non-typical conditions of the facility.

Any part of a design team may apply for a charrette, but to be eligible, a team must send at least five representatives from various disciplines. The more representatives who attend, the more useful the charrette will be. Of these five, one of the representatives must be from the primary design firm and one must be from the school district/owner.

In addition, the project team must be committed to using CHPS, high performance, healthy, green features in the project. School districts that have passed board level CHPS resolutions (for more information on CHPS resolutions, click here) or are considering them will be given priority status.

Finally, a project must be in the initial design stages to qualify for a charrette. The earlier it is in the process, the more useful the charrette will be.

WCS/Ca - Jim Ogden and James Becker of WCS/Ca, a green construction consultant providing expertise to owners on sustainable design and construction practices, will also lead a professional design charrette. Jim Ogden is a CHPS Board member with a passion for sustainable design and construction. He is a founding member of the State of California’s Sustainable Building Task Force and has assisted several school districts with implementation of CHPS Best Practices. Jim has facilitated several eco-charrettes and speaks regularly on sustainable design and construction concepts.

James Becker, PE, is a Commissioning Agent currently assisting several California school districts achieve CHPS certification and is currently the commissioning agent for the Natomas Unified School District’s H. Allen Hight project, subject of the CHPS tour on day 2 of the Greentools Conference . James has extensive experience “making complicated systems work” and helping district’s achieve quality in their buildings. James frequently gives presentations on construction quality assurance and the commissioning process.

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