Question

What takes place during pre-planning

Answer 1

 capital project begins when someone believes that facilities are not available to allow them to successfully complete their goals. At this point, they become a client of PDC. They feel the solution to the problem is new or remodeled space that more fully meets their needs. These ideas come from a variety of sources including students, faculty, staff, and the public -"If we only had a new building with more space and better equipment, we could be successful".

Projects become candidates for further development after approval by the President and following review by the affected Deans or Vice President and the Provost.

Capital projects are often the result of programmatic changes. A department has a problem with space as a result of changes in their program or deterioration of their current facilities. Enrollment changes have triggered the need for new or modified facilities. Changing research activities requiring different or additional space to support laboratory needs have become a major influence in the need for space. The one thing all of these changes have in common is consistency with the University Strategic Plan.

PDC helps the client define the scope of the project. The client may not have considered all of their needs or completely defined the program and its relationship with other activities. PDC works with the client to define the problem and investigate solutions. We occasionally combine the needs of several programs into a single project to create a coordinated solution. For major remodeling we develop a comprehensive project to address all of the facility's needs, including fire safety, deferred maintenance, accessibility, and energy conservation.

College administrators review the project to establish justification and priority. The college judges the project and its relationship to the strategic plan and the priorities of other projects in the same college. Changes may be made for a variety of reasons - the project is not needed because the problem can be solved in another way or the need is no longer great enough to warrant significant capital investments.

Preparation of cost estimates is important. In the early stages of development, there is limited information available. These early cost estimates are based on cost-per-foot for similar projects and their accuracy is therefore limited by lack of detail. As the project concepts are more fully defined, including site, we are able to develop specific and accurate project and construction costs.

Projects are reviewed by the President's Capital Projects Advisory Committee (CPAC) where concept approval is required before more detailed planning is initiated. PDC assists the CPAC only by reviewing and preparing budgetary cost estimates to determine the feasibility of a project. There are a number of levels of review and decision points to make sure that a project is justified. The administration and the Board of Regents review the project in the context of the approved strategic plan of the university.

Completion of the Campus Master Plan has allowed the university and the Board of Regents to relate the need for a project with long-term development plans of the university. Additionally, the administration review considers the relative priority of each of the projects and its likelihood of success and constituent support. Project needs often can be solved in a number of ways and it may be helpful to combine the needs of several small projects into a single larger project. Change may result from adjustments to several projects because vacated space will be available. Projects are occasionally phased to meet either programmatic, construction or funding constraints.