Evidence continues to emerge about the effect indoor air quality has on a student's ability to learn. One study cited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows moderate changes in room temperature affect children's abilities to perform mental tasks requiring concentration, such as addition, multiplication and sentence comprehension.…

Poor indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools and universities contributes to absenteeism and reduced performance. The American Lung Association estimates that U.S. students miss more than 14 million school days a year because of asthma, allergies and other respiratory problems exacerbated by poor IAQ. Fortunately, maintenance departments in education…

Done right, green is not only the right thing to do, it's a good business move. During the past year, the author has talked with quite a few school business officials. Some are on board with "going green," whereas others are still leery. Some aren't quite sure what "green schools" are. Some say that it doesn't matter to the community how green the…

If your lab facilities are going to be replaced or renovated, you should insist that the science instructors be involved in the process from planning to construction. You know what you'll need in a facility, and your input should be sought out by administrators and architects alike. Once construction is complete, changes can be very costly, so…

This dissertation captures the 10-year contemporary history of implementing the facilities element of New Jersey's historic Abbott v. Burke decision. New Jersey's Legislature and Governor took this Supreme Court decision and created legislation responding to multiple constituencies and lobbyists while shaping a school construction program to be…

This report, and the accompanying tables, provide the findings of the 14th annual survey of College Construction prepared for "College Planning & Management" magazine. Representatives of Market Data Retrieval (MDR) sent survey forms and made follow-up telephone calls to every college in the U.S. seeking information on their…

Some two months after enactment of the federal economic-stimulus package, school facilities directors are still trying to piece together how much money will be available under the measure for school construction projects, what it can be used for, and when it can be accessed. Before President Barack Obama signed the $787 billion American Recovery…

The FY 2012 Educational Facilities Master Plan (Master Plan) and Amendments to the FY 2011-2016 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) reflect the adopted actions of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council and integrate the facilities planning process with the annual capital budget and the six-year CIP. The CIP is developed in accordance with the…

The Labour Government launched the "Building Schools for the Future" programme (BSF) in February 2003 with the aim of refurbishing or rebuilding all secondary schools in England over a 15-year period, with an anticipated budget of 45 billion British Pounds. In this article, we locate BSF in a wider public policy context which has already…

The intersection of technology and the 21st Century learner has challenged many school districts to rethink their approach to the design of school facilities and the definition of "classroom." To strategically plan for the future, districts must not only consider facilities and curriculum, but understand a process of change that is…

Just imagine...a school designed and constructed to produce as much energy on site as that which is consumed from the electric grid. The electricity and gas bills would be 10% or less of that of a typical building; there would be no water bills for site and landscaping irrigation. What was merely a conceptual thought as little as five years ago is…

Climate change planning is fast becoming an important element in university policy and governance. As the causes and impacts of global climate change become more apparent, many universities are embracing climate planning roles as community leaders, educators and researchers, and operators of major activity centers. For example, 685 university…

Nearly every institution is faced with the situation of having to reduce the cost of a construction project from time to time through a process generally referred to as "value engineering." Just the mention of those words, however, gives rise to all types of connotations, thoughts, and memories (usually negative) for those in the…

There has been a tremendous increase in use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the design and construction industry. There have been numerous case studies that have documented the improvements. The majority of these improvements have focused on better coordination of design resulting in fewer Requests for Information and/or change orders.…

When schools and universities look at saving energy in their facilities, they are likely to review the efficiency of their heating and cooling systems, or the quality of their building envelopes. When facility managers focus attention on school bathrooms, they are more likely to consider issues such as cleanliness and safety as more critical than…