Construct and Maintain

According to our 18th Annual College Construction Report, just $9.7B worth of college construction was completed in 2012, a drop from previous year investments. The majority of dollars spent were for the construction of new buildings. But building new is only part of the equation; taking care of the buildings we already have in place is the other.

With the importance of higher education on the rise and enrollment continuing to climb, we will continue to need new and upgraded spaces. We will also need to set aside dollars to maintain the new facilities that we build, otherwise our investments will be squandered. Then there are all of those “other” buildings… the ones originally built in the 1920s, added on to in the ’50s, ’70s, ’90s, and so on. The truth is that a majority of our educational facilities in this country are approaching the half-century mark and are in major need of maintenance and repair!

In a 1988 report, “The Decaying American Campus: A Ticking Time Bomb,” prepared by the accounting firm of Coopers & Lybrand and sponsored by the Association of Physical Plant Administrators of Universities and Colleges and by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, we were told that by constantly deferring expenses for maintenance, colleges and universities faced an estimated $20B in urgently needed work to repair and update buildings, equipment, and utilities. The total potential need could cost up to $70B. The report also found that, despite urgent repair needs, colleges and universities deferred $4 for every $1 spent on maintenance in their 1988 budgets.

The 2010 APPA Thought Leaders Series states that higher education institutions own some of the most valuable real estate in the world with some of the most significant architecture, specialized research facilities, and beloved sports complexes. Yet while campuses and facilities were identified as strength, they were also perceived as a weakness. Aging buildings combined with rising materials and energy costs can make the physical campus a drag on the institutional budget.

Not performing routine maintenance can cost us many times over; increasing costs, wasting taxpayer dollars, and disrupting our students’ education. It’s not hard to get people excited about a new and shiny building. However, it’s time we get excited about our ability to maintain the buildings we have — giving them new life, making them better and safer places to learn. 

Featured

  • Kimball International Debuts Health & Education Experience Center

    Kimball International recently opened a new facility at its corporate headquarters in Jasper, Ind., that will act as a hands-on showroom for a variety of its furniture products and solutions, according to a news release. The 13,000-square-foot Health & Education Experience Center was originally designed by Gensler as the headquarters for Kimball International’s National brand.

  • Fort Collins to Convert 1980s Office Park into Junior High School

    The Liberty Common School, a charter-public school in Fort Collins, Colo., recently broke ground on an adaptive reuse project that will convert an 1980s-era office park into a 45,000-square-foot junior high school for seventh- and eighth-grade students, according to a news release.

  • Allegion US Partners with Two Colleges for Mobile Credential Technology

    Allegion US recently announced a partnership with Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) and Denison College, in conjunction with Transact + CBORD, to install mobile credential technologies campus-wide, according to a news release. Implementing Mobile Student ID into Apple Wallet and Google Wallet will allow students access to campus facilities, amenities, and residence halls using just their phones.

  • Beeville ISD Starts Construction on New Elementary School

    The Beeville Independent School District near Corpus Christi, Texas, recently began a construction project that will consolidate two existing, aging schools into a new elementary school, according to a news release. The district is partnering with Pfluger Architects and Spawglass General Contractors for the design and construction, respectively, of the new facility.

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