Building tomorrow’s schools with today’s budgets

Fiscal responsibility is a popular catch phrase – everybody is for it, nobody is against it – program manager John Dougherty, asks how do we achieve it?

In 2016, the Florida Legislature passed a bill that prohibits school boards from spending funds, public or privately sourced, on new school construction projects that exceed the capped statutory cost public schools can spend per student station (the space required for each student).

With school districts in other states also facing similar caps, at a time when school populations are increasing, many are asking how do we continue to deliver quality buildings and reduce public school construction costs?

The need to control or, where possible, reduce project costs is not a new issue for school district capital programs. But the spending caps now being imposed on public school construction in certain US states demand school districts be even more focused on controlling building costs to avoid their operating budgets being hit by state-imposed fines in the future.

Control What You Can

As always, good project management is essential. A good place to start is by identifying exactly which of a program’s costs can and cannot be controlled. For example, while the market sets the cost of trade labor, the design team determines what materials are to be used and how efficiently the buildings are to be constructed.

Sweat the Big Stuff

Once you know what you can control, it’s important to understand and manage those factors that can drive these costs beyond the original budget. These are some of the most common issues to look out for:  

1. Acquiring and Improving the Site

Schools require large parcels of land that often need extensive site improvements. This can be expensive.  Due diligence inspections and studies above and below the surface are essential for controlling risk and cost before committing to the acquisition. In addition, make the following steps a part of your process to manage these costs effectively:

• Identify and estimate the cost for extraordinary site improvements including unsuitable soils, rock, required retaining walls, and extending roads and utilities to the site.
• Support all land recommendations with an estimate of the probable site development costs including extraordinary items and an appropriate risk contingency.
• Analyze land swaps with other governmental agencies or developers as closely as arm’s-length purchases.

2. Cost Per Square Foot Per Area Constructed

Schools are historically long-lasting buildings that compete for limited maintenance, operations, and capital renewal dollars. Bad cost-saving decisions can, therefore, have generational consequences.  Cost and life cycle returns are used to prioritize changes based on the anticipated return on investment.

Avoiding “tip-of-the-spear” (untested) materials and systems is recommended in favor of products with a proven record of success.  Seek independent validation from other school districts or credible sources particularly on changes to the building envelope or mechanical, electrical or plumbing (MEP) systems.

3. Size of the Building

When analyzing cost considerations in relation to building size, it helps to understand how the program of spaces was created in the first place.  Some districts prepare a careful analysis and model, while others use a favorite, or previous, building’s program of spaces or a state-mandated model.  Each scenario creates opportunities and limitations.

The best designs are guided by the teachings of the thought-leading architect Louis Sullivan, who said “…form ever follows function. This is the law.” If the space program flows from a careful analysis and model, this expectation should be met.  However, if it was based on a prototype or state-mandated model, the assumptions should be validated by post-occupancy surveys and evaluations.

With school district leaders pressured to keep current with ever-changing technology and mandates to improve educational outcomes, new approaches to teaching and learning are changing the ways in which school spaces need to be furnished and used.  Facilities planners/designers must adapt their planning processes to reflect this, ahead of any complacent or inappropriate compliancy-driven issues.

4. Maintaining Business As Usual

The cost of continuing to conduct “business as usual” while construction is taking place is one of the most overlooked in projects.  This includes organizing temporary facilities such as portable classrooms, storage trailers, and parking areas, and must be considered when planning the project.

What If Costs Keep Rising?

If you’ve done everything possible to manage the costs you can and still face an issue, then one final option may be to trim the space you’re building. Support from district leaders and regulators is essential to secure agreement. It’s also critical that the academic team’s voice is heard, and cost cuts are balanced to the benefit of learning areas.

For this to happen, the review process must be transparent and consider the following elements and options:

• Can the number of MEP rooms be reduced in size and number by moving equipment onto mezzanines, roofs, or above ceilings?
• Can functions be consolidated to reduce redundant circulation space?
• Can the number of private offices be reduced with cubes and itinerant spaces?
• Can any of the spaces be transformed into multi-purpose use to raise the overall utilization rate?
• Can technology be used to reduce area sizes such as the nonfiction stacks?
• Can adjacencies be leveraged by using large openings or doors?

Next, review the furnishings, fixtures, and equipment based on the revised program of spaces and the new academic opportunities. Furnishings should be comfortable and easily moved to support independent study and collaboration.  Educational technologies and the supporting connectivity need to extend into every area where learning and teaching occur.

Finally, anticipate a reluctance to change. The community may feel short-changed by a smaller-than-prototypical school, while staff and students will feel anxious about the new learning space. Keep them informed and propose changes that will improve the design bit-by-bit without going too far, too fast.

Steps for getting it right:

• Account fully for the site acquisition and improvement costs.
• Carefully research system and product changes.
• Use consensus-building processes like design charrettes and symposiums.
• Document the journey with videos and graphic reports.
• Keep the community and stakeholders informed throughout the project.