Capital Planning with Bob Waddell

Bob Waddell spoke with our Facilities class on Tuesday, September 14, 2010.  He explained all of the different aspects that were associated with planning and development of a facility.  I was not aware of all of the different aspects that are included in planning for a facility.  Obviously, there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration, but the small details are in abundance. 

One aspect of facility development that Mr. Waddell discussed was the selection of contractors.  This is obviously a very important step in the developing process that needs to be examined carefully and with a lot of thought and consideration.  The bidding process is a very extensive process.

Another topic covered in the discussion is space.  In comparison to building an academic facility, the designers plan for approximately 15 square feet per person inside a single room.  An issue that Mr. Waddell addressed is the fact that for a fine arts facility, at least 20 square feet per person is required to allow for enough space for the students to move freely.  However, each class requires different needs that also require more movement space per person; therefore it is hard to plan for enough space for each person. 

When comparing BGSU’s construction budget to The Ohio State Unviersity’s budget, OSU was just granted with a spending budge of $4.7 billion for all campuses (http://www.osu.edu/news/newsitem2897).  Clearly, this is more than BGSU is going to spend in the year 2011, as OSU is allowed for the fiscal year.  As my student fees have increased because of the construction, I have become slightly irritated.  I cannot imagine having the university budget increase 8.7 percent as OSU’s budget increased for the year 2011 (http://www.osu.edu/news/newsitem2897). 

To compare OSU and BGSU to another school, I have chosen The University of Michigan.  As Bob Waddell spoke about BGSU being LEED certified, The University of Michigan has also diverted some of their buildings to becoming LEED certified (http://www.michigandaily.com/content/u-buildings-construction-projects-become-leed-certified).   By doing so, the buildings will apparently “exceed the national standard for energy efficiency by 30 percent” (http://www.michigandaily.com/content/u-buildings-construction-projects-become-leed-certified).

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