Master Planning for Schools in 4 Steps

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HENDERSON HEADLINES MASTER PLANNING FOR SCHOOLS IN 4 STEPS Authored by: Lindsey Blackburn | October 23, 2019 The goal of educational institutions has always been to create an optimal environment for learning. With the list of needs often exceeding the capital budget’s available balance, achieving that goal can seem impossible. Many facility managers are forced to find quick solutions to everyday issues just to keep things running. As a result, they are rarely able to get ahead of major building issues. At Henderson Engineers, we understand the importance of keeping systems running and getting ahead of poor-performing environments. That’s why we work through master planning with our clients. Master planning is a step-by-step strategy to improve and manage building systems performance. Our team has helped school districts and college campuses across the nation understand, prioritize, and implement master planning solutions. The following four-step process can help you maximize your capital improvement budget and deliver building systems performance. EVALUATE The first step in the process is to get a firm grasp on the current status of the facilities. Reviewing any existing plans and/or reports can often give you a starting point. However, site assessments —actually putting eyes on the systems— can provide a much more accurate understanding of the state of the equipment as well as an opportunity to discover any obvious issues. There are several ways to document observations from a site assessment, but the most important thing is to capture information in a way that provides a holistic understanding of the facility’s condition. The compiled report typically includes an executive summary of pertinent information, as well as a detailed description of the findings and a list of recommendations and solutions. In addition, interviewing the onsite staff is an extremely important part of the process. They understand the specific issues they face on a daily basis, such as spaces that are consistently hot or cold, humidity issues, or breakers that regularly trip and require resetting. By communicating directly with the zone managers or the building maintenance staff, the team can understand their unique perspective on what issues are truly interrupting the learning environment. This can also help to secure their buy-in for upgrades as they can give input on the most critical and sometimes hidden system deficiencies. PRIORITIZE Because upgrading everything at once isn’t feasible, prioritization is a necessity in the master planning process. When prioritizing updates, there are three considerations: •

The age and remaining life expectancy of the equipment. Are there systems that would cause a building-wide shut-down if they failed due to age? Are there no longer parts available for servicing central equipment? If so, these can be prioritized over localized equipment age.

Safety. Many district or campus facilities undergoing renovation or expansion include


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