Green Building Certification Program: NAREIT
SCENARIO
Much like the majority of real estate development firms in the US, the firm you work for has never pursued a green real estate development project of any kind. Your boss has come to believe, however, that the day is coming when your firm will be disadvantaged in its market if it does not become more familiar with the evolving trends, including the green certification programs and resources that are the subject of your assignment.
TASK
As an analyst in your firm, you have been assigned the responsibility of reviewing a green certification program and providing a recommendation to your leadership on participation in the program for your firm’s next eligible development project. As an analyst, you should have an ability to review materials on a subject from different sources and evaluate their veracity; determine the subject’s applicability to your firm, stakeholders, and marketplace; and project the impacts, costs, and benefits of participation in the certification program’s offering.
The completed assignment is to be delivered in two forms:
1. A10-minute briefing (with presentation) to your firm’s leaders; and,
2. A written memo that provides the same information, but in text form. The memo should be no more 800 words, plus graphics, charts and/or appendices as appropriate.
An analyst’s completed report may include a clear positive or negative recommendation. If a recommendation is positive, the content should provide information on demonstrable benefits to be derived from participation in the program. Benefits reference the costs or burden anticipated to achieve the standards aligned with the stated benefits. If an analyst’s recommendation is negative, content should be clear on which risks or burdens are not worth taking, and why. If costs outweigh benefits, it might be prudent to indicate some form of sensitivity analysis, which will illustrate the conditions through which a recommendation could change. In the absence of information sufficient to make a firm positive or negative recommendation, an analyst should qualify his / her work indicating which conditional characteristics, or which conditions in the market place could influence a change in your recommendation.
