Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Campus Housing Consultants Launch Strategic Planning Service

  • By Matt Jones
  • 06/26/24

Scion Advisory Services recently launched its new Strategic Housing Planning Service, a cost-effective and collaborative process that provides colleges and universities with a method to align its student-housing offerings with its institutional mission, according to a news release. The service takes into account the needs, hurdles, and possibilities across a full campus housing system, as opposed to the single residential facility that tends to be the focus of many feasibility or demand studies.

“We created this option to go beyond the limitations of a traditional single-building feasibility study by providing a complete assessment of a campus housing program,” said Scion Advisory Services Senior Vice President Jay Pearlman. “Significantly, for an institution not needing a full facilities condition assessment or a design exercise, a Strategic Housing Plan can provide the value of a full housing master plan at a reduced cost and in a much shorter timeframe. Our team is ready and eager to serve the higher education community with these new customized consulting services.”

The planning walks colleges and universities through their responses to critical issues like whether the current housing program supports the institutional mission; how to improve existing facilities to support current students’ needs and anticipate future ones; how to address aging facilities; how to discuss the relationship between aging facilities and student experience to university leadership; how to prioritize buildings for renovations, decommissioning, and reconstruction; how these moves could impact departmental cash flow; and available strategies and financing options to pay for repair, replacement, and construction, according to the news release.

“The COVID-19 pandemic caused many campuses to rethink the role of residential life. The Strategic Housing Plan addresses a notable void in the market for student housing planning services,” said Pearlman. “Our approach has been shown effective at institutions concerned with current conditions of housing facilities or the quality of the student experience, or who are working to improve their competitive position among peer institutions or with the off-campus market. A Scion Strategic Housing Plan provides a framework for future housing investments and could serve as a key first step in evaluating the viability of alternative financing, including public-private partnerships.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Georgia State University Opens New Research Tower

    Georgia State University in Atlanta, Ga., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new, nine-story, 155,000-square-foot Research Tower, according to university news. Amenities include academic classrooms, a large lecture space, teaching labs, faculty research space, and the uppermost floors reserved for future expansion.

  • Lawrence Group Announces Three New Hires

    Integrated planning and design firm Lawrence Group, based in St. Louis, Mo., recently welcomed three new staff members, according to a news release.

  • St. Lucie County, Fla., Breaks Ground on New K–8 School

    St. Lucie Public Schools in St. Lucie County, Fla., recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for a new K–8 school, according to a news release. The district partnered with Spiezle Architectural Group, Inc., for the design of the upcoming Ft. Pierce K–8 School, which comprises six buildings covering 215,000 square feet.

  • Wenger Names New Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts, Controls

    Wenger Corporation, which provides products and solutions for music and theater education, performing arts and athletic storage, recently announced the hiring of a new Vice President of Sales for Performing Arts and Controls.