Capital Assets & Planning

The University’s Strategic Plan guides its overall development. The Campus Master Plan, on the other hand, serves as a planning framework for the physical development of the campus. The original plan was created in 1991 and supplemental reports were developed in 1995 and 2000.

In 1995, the University developed a land management plan to guide future administration of agricultural land in Story and Boone counties. The plan addresses disposal and acquisition concepts and is used to communicate with external entities, including the ISU Foundation, City of Ames, and Story and Boone Counties. This document may be viewed at: (http://www.fpm.iastate.edu/planning/masterplan/LandManagement96.pdf).

The Five Year Capital Plan is updated annually to identify the University’s need for facility improvements and additions. These project requests are submitted to the Board of Regents for review and approval before they are submitted to the Iowa Legislature. The projects represent high priority needs that cannot be met with existing space or within available budgets.

The University’s space has changed significantly since the 1996 NCA Accreditation Review with the addition of new space and the renovation of existing space. The major categories of space in Gross Square Feet (GSF) are shown for the 2004-05 fiscal year:

Approximately 1.7 million GSF have been added to the total University space since 1996. More than 1.1 million GSF were added in the Academic/Administrative category, and nearly 0.5 million GSF were added to the Residence System.

The Office of Space Management is responsible for maintaining information about facilities availability and utilization, and using this information to advise University administration about how existing and new space could be used to solve space problems. The office manages the facilities inventory with assistance from all departments through biennial updates or more frequently when significant changes occur. The information is maintained in a relational database with comprehensive report-writing capabilities and downloadable files to allow departments to better manage their own space. Space inventory information by either department or building is available on-line. Classroom utilization studies are also available on-line.

Space Management uses the Facilities Assessment Model as a systematic process to judge the adequacy of existing space against well-defined criteria and performance measures. The model and specialized space studies provide the justification for recommendations to the administration concerning new projects on the Five-Year Capital Program or reallocations among departments. Staffing shortages in the past few years have prevented continued development of the model, but recent staffing reallocation will allow it to again be a resource to guide capital development and realignment.

In 2002, the University finalized and documented the process for development of capital projects in an effort to demystify the process for the entire university community by widely communicating the Internal Capital Planning Process. This process engages the administration in understanding a project’s relevance to the Strategic Plan and the probable opportunities to accomplish the project. It also provides appropriate information to external parties.

The following is a listing of major facilities constructed in the last 10 years:

In addition to the completed projects, there are a number of major projects currently in the design and construction phases. The University uses an interactive web system to manage all capital projects. The public has access to general information on all projects, including names of the primary team members, cost of the project, and completion date. Also accessible are project photos, web cameras, and bidding information. When a project is issued for bid, complete bid documents and plan holders list are available for viewing or download on the particular project site.

A January 2004 task force examined sources of financing for capital projects and described nine sources as possible alternatives:

• State appropriations–direct appropriations and bonding authority
• Self-liquidating debt
• Use of a separate entity
• Facilities and administrative cost recovery–from contracts and grants
• Private gifts
• Master lease–primarily equipment purchases
• Federal initiatives
• Off-balance sheet–long-term lease
• Asset disposal–primarily land sale

Many of the University’s current and recent capital projects are financed with a combination of these kinds of sources; the most frequently used are state appropriations and private gifts.

On a day-to-day basis, the building maintenance service teams operate, repair, and maintain the University’s academic and classroom facilities with support to the area research farms. The teams are a mix of multi-talented, multi-skilled trades personnel experienced in all areas of building mechanical, electrical, and building structural systems. The teams respond on an “as needed” basis to building problems and perform routine maintenance and repairs to building systems for corrective measures. The teams proactively perform prescheduled building preventive maintenance activities, thus ensuring that systems are reliable, safe, and operating at peak performance to meet the required needs of the University community.

Deferred maintenance is a problem at Iowa State as it is for nearly every university. It occurs when routine maintenance does not happen in a timely manner, usually for lack of adequate funding. Maintenance projects are prioritized to make the best use of available funds. A high priority is placed on the projects that preserve the safety of people, prevent loss of program functionality, or have the potential to create additional damage to facilities. Because the deferred maintenance backlog is substantial, special effort is made to include some of the higher priority needs into capital projects that are initiated to make programmatic improvements in the buildings. By including deferred maintenance as part of the larger capital project, some of the burden is shifted to other fund sources and the limited maintenance funding is used for other high priority projects.

The Maintenance and Improvement Committee (MIC) is a widely represented group with responsibility for approval and funding of maintenance projects requested by users and Facilities Planning and Management staff. Funding for maintenance projects is limited so MIC is charged with prioritizing the use of these funds.

The backlog of deferred maintenance is large enough that the Board of Regents has initiated a special legislative request that will begin to address some of the high priorities needs that the University has been unable to fund.