Lindsey Huling's Blog

Capital Planning

Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 | Assignments for TLEP 4830

Although it may seem blunt, the one thing I learned from Bob Waddle is that I never want to be a director of capital planning. In his position he has so much to decide and deliberate with other people, I am sure I am not cut out for that position. While I do not want to be in a capital planning position I did find Mr. Waddle’s presentation very interesting. He and his two coworkers were very truthful and knowledgeable of the subject, allowing our class to be educated.

One of the most interesting topics that Mr. Waddle mentioned was about the design of the facility. He strongly suggested that as a capital planner, do not design the building yourself, let the professionals do it. From my standpoint I feel this would be difficult because I believe everyone gets thoughts in their head about how they want a building to look. Now I would by no means want to design the building myself, but it would be hard to just put together a list of wants and needs and then give it to the designer not knowing what you may get. The other interesting factor that all the men pointed out was that renderings are not always accurate. It was nice to see that they were all being honest when they said that the Wolfe Center Theater looks way bigger in its pictures than it is in real life and, that Mr. Waddle, said he has never been as disappointed as when he saw the brick being laid for the new resident hall.

I understand that building ‘green’ facilities these days can be difficult and extremely expensive, however, I feel that anyone building a new structure should make them energy efficient. I was very pleased to hear that both the Wolfe Center and the Stroh Center are going to be LEED facilities but it disappointing to know that the new residence halls may not be up to par with the set standards of LEED. After doing some research I found two universities, Colorado State University and Norwich University, in Vermont, that have built and renovated their facilities in order to be in compliance with LEED.

Norwich University, located in Vermont, is normally known for being the oldest private military university as well as the birthplace of the ROTC, but in this case we are talking about its new residence hall.  The South Hall dormitory has just earned the universities first LEED Gold certificate but is not the only green building on campus. Norwich University is considered one of the most energy efficient universities in the country by having high-efficiency lighting, vending machines that turn off at night and windows in dorms and offices that are energy efficient.  Also unique to the campus is that the dining facilities serve Vermont grown food and they compost any waste left over.

As for Colorado State University, they have been deemed ‘The Green University’.  It has been over 50 years since the college has seen such construction and growth on its campus but representatives are proud to say that they are trying to leave as little a carbon footprint as possible. On its main campus alone there are over 20 new renovations and constructions in the making. The website provides links keeping students informed about all the new projects going on and also explains in a video why it is they are choosing to stay such a green college. By having each project having a LEED expert in on the design it is no wonder that Colorado State University is one of the greenest colleges in the country. Other than the LEED expert, planners have provided buildings with solar panels, the use of responsible forest management wood, and the use of renewable energy.

I recognize that doing such an overhaul on a university, such as the one in Colorado, is unfeasible for the majority of colleges, such as Bowling Green. In my opinion though, that does not mean that the university shouldn’t still build energy efficient facilities one by one. What I truly liked about Colorado State University was that they had a whole site designated to the facilities management team and keeping students informed. With the amount of construction going on around BGSU I feel that students would benefit from having such a website providing students with lot closings, building renovations, landscape renovations, where funding is coming from and so on. If BGSU was to compare their construction with other higher education institutions as we are, I think they could really learn a lot about how to address the updates with students and think more about trying to be a LEED certified institution.

Overall the presentation given by Mr. Waddle was very informational. He was very straight forward with what his views were but still made his jobs seem interesting and make students want to be in the position. Even as an outsider looking in I saw the complexity it takes to begin the construction of a building. It is amazing the amount of time it takes to find a construction company who has a low bid, great group chemistry with your workers and has the expertise to get the project done. Even after that process workers are needed to keep a close eye on the project to know that all the construction mile stones are being met. Had Mr. Waddle and his co-workers not come in to our class, I assure you I would not have realized the difficulty of capital planning.