Design Firm Business Practices

As the number of clients that expect buildings to perform at high levels increases, architects and engineers seeking to provide services to them will need to set strategic goals for improving their firm's capabilities to design and deliver high performance buildings and to be convincing about their skills and approach. This section presents tools for managing practice change, will help you assemble qualified teams, and help market green buildings to your clients.

Establishing a Strategic Plan for Design Firms
The essence of strategic planning is in thinking clearly about where to go in the future, committing to a direction with specific goals to achieve it, and developing strategies that will help one succeed in achieving these goals and this direction. Here is an overview on strategic planning to help you get started.

We will be adding more tools and resources to this section soon. In the meantime, check out these two videos on high performance buildings.

High Performance Building: Perspectives and Practice Video
Rocky Mountain Institute and the USGBC have partnered to produce a compelling video that documents the business case for building green. This new documentary profiles more than a dozen LEED projects and features interviews with CEOs, school administrators, government officials, building managers and designers who recognize the real benefits of going green

Banner Bank DVD
In "Green is the Color of Money," Developer Gary Christensen and his team lead viewers through an exploration of the integrated design process for the LEED Platinum Banner Bank building in Boise, Idaho. Showing different stages in Banner's construction, Christensen takes the audience step-by-step through the LEED certification process, analyzing the challenges and then turning them into design opportunities.