Tenant Behavior Archives - School Construction News https://schoolconstructionnews.com Design - Construction - Operations Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.11 University of Florida Completes New Business Building https://schoolconstructionnews.com/2015/02/12/university-florida-completes-new-business-building/ GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s new $22.8 million, state-of-the-art Heavener Hall School of Business building recently welcomed its first students.

The post University of Florida Completes New Business Building appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s new $22.8 million, state-of-the-art Heavener Hall School of Business building recently welcomed its first students. The three-story, 57,000-square-foot facility serves as the new home for 2,800 undergraduate students enrolled in the Warrington College of Business Administration and brings all college activities under the same roof for the first time.

Designed by SchenkelShultz Architecture of Orlando, Fla., in association with Robert A.M. Stern Architects of New York, Heavener Hall’s design and construction used innovative Building Information Modeling (BIM) software to reduce construction conflicts, improve efficiencies and ensure work was completed successfully within the tight footprint. It also allowed for a “smart” record model of the completed building, which was designed to reflect the Collegiate Gothic architectural style found throughout the university’s historic district.

In addition to both small- and medium-sized classrooms, the facility includes study rooms, academic advisement areas, student commons, informal collaborative zones, a first floor café, faculty offices and more. It also provides round-the-clock access to the university’s business students.

“As you move up in the building, the first floor is more student-activity centric, the second floor is student-faculty related and the third floor is more related to faculty with these specialty programs,” said J. Thomas Chandler, AIA, president and chief operating officer of SchenkelShultz Architecture, to School Construction News at the project’s outset.

“This is a 21st century higher education building,” Chandler added. “The whole purpose of this new home was to create this collaborative and interactive environment for students and faculty. This gives them the opportunity to implement significant goals and objectives that the administration has for 21st century higher education.”

The building also helps meet the university’s sustainability goals and was designed to achieve LEED Gold certification. It incorporates green elements, such as highly insulated roof and walls, green glazing systems and an HVAC system that uses a chilled-beam approach. The design team also took advantage of the master campus storm-draining system already in place.

Ajax Building Corporation of Ajax, Fla., broke ground on Heavener Hall in May 2013. The building is named for James W. “Bill” Heavener, a 1970 graduate of the School of Business and current CEO of Full Sail University, who donated a substantial sum to the building’s development.

The post University of Florida Completes New Business Building appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> Top 5 School Design & Construction Stories of 2013 https://schoolconstructionnews.com/2014/01/22/top-5-school-design-construction-stories-2013/ The school construction industry continued to focus on green building and technology as construction on several 21st century education facilities broke ground and debuted in 2013.

The post Top 5 School Design & Construction Stories of 2013 appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> The school construction industry continued to focus on green building and technology as construction on several 21st century education facilities broke ground and debuted in 2013. Facilities focused on media and technology as well as career preparation — specifically careers in business — were the most highly anticipated ones to open. Read on to remember some of the top stories that School Construction News readers clicked on the most last year.

1. Pasadena ISD to Open New Career and Technology High School: The Pasadena Independent School District broke ground in April on the 246,000-square-foot Career and Technology High School (CTE) scheduled to open in August 2014. The school will be equipped with facilities to prepare students for 21st century careers — from cosmetology to construction — while earning them college credits with focus on the community’s job market.

2. Yale Attracts Researchers with New Innovative Labs: Yale University opened the new W-B 24 scientific research facility at the university’s growing West Campus Integrated Science & Technology Center (W-ISTC). The 460,000 square feet of laboratory space has been designed so that the individual labs can support a variety of biology and engineering studies and include features such as microscopy suites, DNA sequencers and cell culture, which will likely draw new researchers and their practices.

3. New Business School Underway at University of Florida: The University of Florida broke ground on Heavener Hall, a new 21st century business school for the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration. The 56,200-square-foot building will give the undergraduate business program one dedicated location for undergraduate students to learn. The current business program is spread out among several other buildings.

4. Construction Continues on UConn’s New Basketball Arena: A new basketball court is in the works at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. The two-floor, 78,200-square-foot court will feature a new basketball Hall of Fame, which will include three men’s and eight women’s NCAA championship trophies.

5. Salt Lake Community College Unveils Media Center: Salt Lake Community College (SLCC) debuted its new Center for Arts and Media (CAM) in early November at South City Campus. The new 130,000-square-foot center houses SLCC programs, such as journalism, television broadcast production, music technology, and recording and visual arts, for about 9,000 students.

While the school construction industry in 2013 continued to focus on creating 21st century learning environments, School Construction News predicts some other trends for 2014. Our January/February issue highlights new steps in sustainable design, as more and more net-zero energy facilities are being built. In fact, the Facilities of the Month cover story features the new Los Angeles Harbor College Sciences Complex, designed to achieve net-zero energy and to serve as a teaching tool for the college’s physical science and life science programs. Stay tuned for the most up-to-date stories in the coming year.

The post Top 5 School Design & Construction Stories of 2013 appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> UF Opens Clinical & Translational Research Building https://schoolconstructionnews.com/2013/10/23/uf-opens-clinical-translational-research-building/ GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s (UF) Clinical and Translational Research Building recently opened in Gainesville.

The post UF Opens Clinical & Translational Research Building appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida’s (UF) Clinical and Translational Research Building recently opened in Gainesville. The five-story, 120,000-square-foot building serves as the headquarters for the clinical and translational research at the university, as well as the state at large. The building houses the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the UF Institute on Aging, as well as other research groups studying topics such as biostatistics, epidemiology, Muscular Dystrophy and Health Outcomes and Policy.
Perkins+Will’s Miami office served as the architect, while New York-headquartered Skanska served as the construction manager.
The new research facility is one of two like it in the country. It encourages collaborative study by incorporating three main components: health care, education and research. The design team worked with the university’s administration in order to fulfill the project goals such as creating environments that propel innovative, interdisciplinary research and discoveries; interfacing with the community through education; developing a space that is adaptable, flexible and modular; and providing a variety of indoor and outdoor interactive healing environments.
“The overall goal of the project was to create a building that would allow for the functions of translational research and allow for its flexibility along with its functions, meaning a building that would have to be ultimately configurable. It has a module-based design so that it can accommodate different kinds of needs regarding the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and how it relates to the Institute of Aging,” said Pat Bosch, LEED AP, design director with the Perkins+Will Miami office. “It was important to the client and to us that the building foster researchers’ goals of shortening the time from laboratory discovery to bedside treatment.”
The building was designed to achieve LEED Platinum, allowing the building to speak to the research being conducted inside. Natural elements heavily influenced the building’s design. For instance, a glass curtain wall reflects and refracts the area’s large amounts of sunlight. A solar photovoltaic system provides 8 percent to 12 percent of the building’s electricity. Rainwater is also collected to provide irrigation to the landscaping and to terrace planters, as well as to flush the latrines throughout the facilities. Displacement ventilation systems help keep the building cool while limiting the need for air conditioning.
“We learned a lot about the nature of translational research,” Bosch said. “You rarely get to have those three components merged into one. [The facility] is truly innovating by merging programs and disciplines and having the ability to allow for academia research and health care to all coexist and turn into this incubator of potential solutions to age old.”
The building’s location right next to an existing cogeneration plant posed acoustical challenges and vision challenges. The courtyard shields the building from the acoustics of the plant. The design team used strategies with glass and self-shading devices to help with those challenges. Skanska delivered successfully on time on budget, Bosch said.
“The Institute on Aging has always been dedicated to improving the health and preserving the independence of older adults and this wonderfully sustainable new facility will help that mission,” said Dr. Marco Pahor, director of the Institute on Aging, in a statement. “We are pleased that the IOA’s initial construction grant from the NIH has led to this multidisciplinary facility where researchers and clinicians from diverse fields can work together in an environment that promotes wellness.”

The post UF Opens Clinical & Translational Research Building appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> New Business School Underway at University of Florida https://schoolconstructionnews.com/2013/10/15/new-business-school-underway-university-florida/ GAINESVILLE, Fla.

The post New Business School Underway at University of Florida appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida is constructing a new 21st century business school, following the construction of other American business schools such as the ones at the University at Albany – SUNY and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. Construction on Heavener Hall, the new building for the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business Administration, broke ground in May, and the beam signing ceremony, to commemorate the start of vertical construction, happened on Sept. 20.

The $22 million project is designed by Orlando, Fla.-based SchenkelShultz Architecture in association with New York-based Robert A.M. Stern Architects. Midway, Fla.-based Ajax Building Corporation is serving as the general contractor on the project.

The 56,200-square-foot building will give the undergraduate business program at the University of Florida one dedicated location for undergraduate students to learn. The current business program is spread out among several other buildings.

“This is a 21st century higher education building,” said J. Thomas Chandler, AIA, president and chief operating officer of SchenkelShultz Architecture. “The whole purpose of this new home was to create this collaborative and interactive environment for students and faculty. This gives them the opportunity to implement significant goals and objectives that the administration has for 21st century higher education.”

The new building, slated for completion in September 2014, is organized around three floors, Chandler said. The first floor encompasses a student commons area, with a very collaborative and technology-rich environment. This floor includes other support functions such as multipurpose areas and a small cafeteria. Chandler described the floor as one where “students interact with students.”

Students collaborate with faculty and staff on the second floor, Chandler said. The second floor will have an academic success center that allows for interactive instructional learning and gives the students the opportunity to work directly with academic advisers or teaching assistants on a much smaller scale outside of the classroom. This teaching floor will also house a series of larger scale classrooms. The third floor will house the dean’s suite, the international program and serve as a hub for career development.

“As you move up in the building, the first floor is more student-activity centric, the second floor is student-faculty related and the third floor is more related to faculty with these specialty programs,” Chandler said.

Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification, the building also incorporates green elements such as an HVAC system that has a chilled-beam approach. The design team was also able to take advantage of the master campus storm-draining system that is already in place at the university. Plus, the building will have a highly insulated roof, walls and glazing systems.

The most difficult part of the project, Chandler said, was designing it to fit the collegiate gothic style of architecture that makes up the historic district on the campus, where the new business school is located. Plus, he said the building is being constructed on an incredibly tight site, so being able to meet the historic guidelines and fit it into the campus utility infrastructure also became a challenge.

The design team used Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology to optimize efficiencies and constructability. Using this software, they will also be able to provide a “smart” record model of the building at completion, which will help the maintenance and operations staff maintain the building in the future.

The post New Business School Underway at University of Florida appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> University of Florida Works to Maintain Its Numbers as PECO Funding Decreases https://schoolconstructionnews.com/2011/11/30/university-florida-works-maintain-its-numbers-peco-funding-decreases/ GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With an enrollment of just over 49,000, the University of Florida in Gainesville is packed with students taking up every available classroom, study hall and library space on its historic tree-lined campus.

“Our enrollment has actually plateaued over the last few years and we are holding it there on purpose,” remarks Ed Poppell, UF vice-president for business affairs.

The post University of Florida Works to Maintain Its Numbers as PECO Funding Decreases appeared first on School Construction News.

]]> GAINESVILLE, Fla. — With an enrollment of just over 49,000, the University of Florida in Gainesville is packed with students taking up every available classroom, study hall and library space on its historic tree-lined campus.

“Our enrollment has actually plateaued over the last few years and we are holding it there on purpose,” remarks Ed Poppell, UF vice-president for business affairs.

One of the reasons the school has decided to maintain its student numbers has to do with the uncertainty of Florida’s Public Education Capital Outlay program, otherwise known as PECO, which is funded through a gross receipts tax on utilities that the state legislature then allocates for building construction and infrastructure on K-12 and college and university campuses throughout Florida.

“Whether it comes to maintaining, renovating, rehabilitating or building something new on our campus, PECO has been our primary source of funding,” continues Poppell. “It’s hard to imagine what we will do if that funding continues to dwindle.”

But the odds that that funding will indeed continue to dwindle now seem highly likely in the wake of a September PECO estimating conference of trust fund appropriations indicating that state funds for repairs and maintenance will be off by some $267.6 million in fiscal year 2012-2013.

“We’re looking at a disaster in the making,” bluntly remarks Chris Kinsley.

“PECO is the state systems’ main source for educational space,” continues Kinsley, who is the director of finance and facilities for the State University System.

“What these schools, with continuing infrastructure needs, are expected to do without those funds is anyone’s guess,” continues Kinsley.

The precipitous drop in PECO funding has hit every public school in Florida differently. “We actually got nothing from PECO at all this year, let alone what may happen next year,” reports Fred Matz, CFO for the Pinellas County public school system in the city of Largo.

That drop-off particularly stands out compared to last year when Pinellas received $6.2 million from the fund, money that was absorbed for maintaining existing structures, one of which dates back to the 1920s.

“Meanwhile, our maintenance guy here says we could easily use $200 million over just the next two years alone for maintenance needs, as well as construction and renovation projects,” adds Matz.

Even before the alarming PECO estimates were released, state-wide funding for the current school year had dropped from $254.2 million last year to $51.3 million for fiscal year 2011-2012. The state legislature responded by upping that figure to $77 million, before targeting $55 million of that amount to the state’s 350 charter schools.

The remaining $21.9 million was left for Florida colleges and universities — a 71 percent drop from the previous year.

The real and projected decline in PECO funding is partly due to a parallel decrease in revenue from the utilities tax. But Florida school facilities planning took an additional hit in September when the four-member cabinet of Governor Rick Scott (R) decided to put off a vote on a $15 million bond sale for new school construction.

Scott, who had earlier vetoed another $165 million in school-building bonds passed by the legislature, said he wanted to hold off on approving the $15 million bond sale until the schools themselves could more fully explain their capital needs.

According to Jackie Schultz, a spokesperson for Scott, “No date has yet been scheduled for the cabinet to take up this issue again.”

“It is pending while the Governor is reviewing information that was received regarding the various projects to be funded,” adds Schultz.

Matz in Pinellas County says he is bewildered by the Scott Administration’s demand for additional information: “Currently all of the districts are required to submit a facilities work program that identifies our five, ten and 20-year construction plans.”

“We don’t go into great detail, but we identify the construction, renovation and maintenance projects by school and name,” continues Matz, adding: “And that means that the facilities department of the state at any given point knows what our plans and hopes are.”

Even as the PECO funding has dwindled away, construction and repair needs for the state’s colleges and universities have continued to grow. The State University System’s Board of Governors earlier this fall requested $144 million for such needs, a figure that Kinsley now says is no longer attainable.

“Since that request was submitted, the estimates have dropped further,” says Kinsley, “and even that $144 million was thought to be not enough to begin with.”

The prospect of even less money has school officials reeling: “Basically it means that we’re never going to catch up with our backlog,” says Rebecca Rogers, the director of planning and construction with Santa Fe College, which has campuses in north central Florida and some buildings dating to the mid-1970s. “All we can do is prioritize the repairs and replacements that we can get done on the amount of money that we do get. That increases our operating costs because we’re left with maintaining older equipment, repairing roofs that are at the end of their useful lives and using less energy-efficient equipment as well,” she said.

Rogers notes that even before the current PECO crunch, what Santa Fe College needed and what it got from the fund were two different things. “If we got everything we asked for in terms of just general renovation and remodels, infrastructure and site improvements, it would come to $3.8 million,” says Rogers.

Instead, PECO funded less than $700,000 in projects for Santa Fe College the last go-around.
Much now depends on the results of an additional PECO estimating conference which is not yet officially scheduled but will take place before the end of the year. A final estimate will then be sent to state lawmakers to help them develop next year’s budget.

If the decline in funding remains static or gets worse, says Kinsley, Florida’s schools will be forced to implement short-term solutions to long-term infrastructure needs.

“Maybe instead of a school replacing a roof that is past its estimated life, they will have to patch it one more time,” he says.

But Kinsley also notes that the possibility of buildings becoming dangerous without proper maintenance will grow with time.

“At some point something dramatic could happen,” Kinsley adds. “For now, it’s a quiet crisis.”

PECO Figures

According to Florida’s Public Education Capital Outlay Estimating Conference statistics compiled in September, the amount of money available in the PECO trust fund for the next five fiscal years has decreased dramatically from estimates released earlier this year, making the pitch for the funding of new school construction, renovation and rehabilitation projects a particularly tough sale.

FISCAL YEAR 2012-2013

Earlier 2011 Estimate: $380.8 million
September 2011 Estimate: $113.2 million
Total Estimate Decrease: 267.6 million

FISCAL YEAR 2013-2014

Earlier 2011 Estimate: $903.6 million
September 2011 Estimate: $493.9 million
Total Estimate Decrease: $409.7 million

FISCAL YEAR 2014-2015

Earlier 2011 Estimate: $904.8 million
September 2011 Estimate: $698.2 million
Total Estimate Decrease: $206.6 million

FISCAL YEAR 2015-2016

Earlier 2011 Estimate: $827.1 million
September 2011 Estimate: $722.4 million
Total Estimate Decrease: $107.4 million

FISCAL YEAR 2016-2017

Earlier 2011 Estimate: $818.2 million
September 2011 Estimate: $738.0 million
Total Estimate Decrease: $35.2 million

The post University of Florida Works to Maintain Its Numbers as PECO Funding Decreases appeared first on School Construction News.

]]>