Enhance Your Capital Project Planning Process
From renovating existing facilities to constructing new buildings, institutions complete many capital projects each year. While critical for modernizing campus for functional and aesthetic reasons, the process for determining which capital projects are funded—and which are not—is complex and politically fraught.
Institutions have a nearly unlimited number of capital projects they could complete. However, given limited resources, the capital plan must prioritize the most important ones. While building condition is typically the most accessible information for potential projects, renewal needs do not always align with institutional strategic priorities, and comparing quantitative condition data (such as facilities condition index) against qualitative factors (such as impact on student success) can be challenging.
By weighing the impact of individual projects on strategic goals, Facilities leaders can develop final projects lists that balance maintenance needs with broader institutional priorities.
"My title suggests my job is to oversee the development and construction of campus buildings. Really, I’m just a glorified accountant. And it’s getting harder and harder to get the money I need."
Institutions struggle with inconsistent and insufficient access to capital funding. Other institutional priorities frequently supersede capital needs, requiring Facilities leaders to seek out new ways to fund projects.
Institutions are experimenting with funding strategies ranging from student fees to energy gain-sharing to public-private partnerships. EAB has compiled 100 of the most promising methods into a funding playbook, alongside case studies for each tactic.
Building maintenance endowments enable an initially small investment to grow into a sizeable pool of money from which resources can be pulled to pay for maintenance and renewal. While maintenance endowment may increase project costs at the beginning, they can reduce the long-term costs for the space and streamline future capital renewal projects by easing funding uncertainties. Some institutions, like Furman University and the University of Idaho, have leveraged building endowments successfully for decades.
Given the complexity of modern capital projects and institutional budgets, campus stakeholders can grow frustrated when their desired projects are delayed or rejected. By better communicating the institution’s prioritization methodology, Facilities can signal that it understands broader strategic priorities and ease potential stakeholder tensions.
There are three core components to improving communication around capital project decision-making:
- Succinctly outline key process steps and timeline. Leaders depict step-by-step prioritization process with a general timeline and the stakeholders involved in one page.
- Preview high-level decision-making criteria. Materials provide a high-level depiction of project prioritization criteria and decision-making process.
- Highlight stakeholders involved. Process maps like the one from the University of the Fraser Valley below highlight cross-campus representation on the prioritization committee.
As an extended period may pass between capital project conception and execution, Facilities leaders must create capital plans that both lock-in stakeholder approval while also remaining flexible to meet changing priorities. Especially in an erratic funding environment, creating capital plans that clearly articulate both short- and long-term project priorities ensures Facilities optimizes limited capital allocations.
Prototyping can save institutions from moving too soon by mitigating resistance and piloting certain investments ahead of time. However, successful prototyping requires a commitment of time and effort to get right. In particular, leaders should put serious thought into which spaces will benefit from prototyping, who should participate, and how to gather feedback.
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