The purpose of this credit is to build community by sharing school resources with non-school groups, and vice versa. In addition, sharing spaces and services among schools and other community entities can cut down on construction costs and operating expenses, while helping everyone get access to resources they need.

The amount of work involved in this credit will be unique to each school and community. Schools will often informally share the use of various building spaces. If this is already happening at your school, it could cost little to nothing to formalize these agreements in order to meet the LEED requirements. Sometimes minor changes, like adding security gates, may need to be made; these will require some additional costs.

Projects should consider student safety before attempting this credit. The type and degree of concern will depend on the strategies you choose for sharing spaces, but often the problem can be addressed properly by installing security gates limiting access to appropriate areas.

Projects should also consider concerns around liability and insurance, increased wear-and-tear, trash and extending hours of cleaning or security personnel. Whether these are an issue will likely be project-specific.

What’s New in LEED v4

• This was a LEED 2009 Schools credit for BD+C systems, and is new for EBOM.