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4. Plan Development
After long-range planning has been completed, criteria and priorities for building needs have been established, a School District Building Official (SDBO) and Charter School Building Officer (CSBO) has been selected and trained, and potential sites have been identified, planning for a specific building can begin. If the new school is to support the educational programs and goals established by the school district or charter school board of education, the determination of the educational plan must precede the architectural plan in the design of a facility. The end product of such specific planning should be a set of education specifications. Thorough planning, resulting in complete and carefully determined specifications, is essential to a functional, cost-effective school facility. The Council of Educational Facility Planners, International_(CEFPI) is an excellent resource.
a. Education Specifications
Education specifications are the written results of the planning phase handed to the architect/engineer to be translated into form and structure. They are the board of education's general statements of the problem which the architect is to solve and, as such, are the school district's or charter school’s primary guide to the architect and engineer in the development of building plans and specifications. Many architects and engineers refer to this document as the facility "program." The very nature of such a document makes its formulation the logical responsibility of the educators; however, the foundation components of the education system and programs described in the education specifications, the goals of the programs and student outcomes should be determined by the clients of the school and the public that the school serves within the constraints of statutory and administrative rule.
The format in which education specifications are expressed may vary according to the desires of the planners. Some general requirements should be met whatever the format.
(1) Written Education Specifications
The education specifications should be written. Although many conferences and discussions with the architect will be necessary and desirable, written specifications, clearly stated, must be available to the architect for guidance. They reduce the possibility of misunderstanding and can eliminate future disagreements over what specific directions were given.
(2) Format and Language
The education specifications document should be organized and written for the architect in a format and language that is understandable and precise. The architect can only respond to the specifications as he or she understands them. The document, then, must communicate accurately.
(3) Not Design Solutions
Education specifications should not be stated as design solutions. They are, in effect, a statement of the problems the architect and engineer must solve, not the design solutions to those problems.
(4) Developed by the Planning Team with Consultant Help
Education specifications should be developed by the education planning team; however, consultant help must be made available to that team. One danger in educators planning education facilities is evidenced in some new schools buildings—they tend to express education specifications that can lead to built-in obsolescence in a new building. Planners must be alert to the danger and make consultants available to the team who can look at trends and look ahead to ensure that education specifications reflect such concerns.
Education specifications, at a minimum, should give the architect/engineer information in four areas:
● The philosophy of the school; it should be stated including the goals and values to be achieved and outcomes desired from the school.
● The education programs that have been designed to meet the goals, values and outcomes; such programs should be described in detail— too much information is preferable to too little.
● The activities, groupings, and equipment necessary to support such programs, including student numbers involved.
● The implications for space and space relationships that come from the programs and activities.
Some information will, of course, be routinely supplied: number of pupils, grades to be included, provisions for community use, nature of future expansion, funds available, scheduled date of occupancy, and total staff and types of positions to be accommodated.
Additional information helpful to the architect might include the characteristics of the community, special requirements such as the ability to combine classroom space for larger instructional areas during certain times of the day, cafeteria space that doubles as a commons or presentations area, after school programs, or space for business partners or sponsors. Other predetermined general characteristics that are helpful to identify include the need for self-contained classrooms, how technology will be used in the school, or the need for in-school suspension specialized space. These are examples; actual needs will vary greatly.
b. Planning using Education Specifications
Education specifications, then, should identify the design problems and should be expressed effectively and accurately. The format may be narrative, outline, charts or a combination of these.
The planning process, resulting in written education specifications, is of paramount importance. It should produce the best thinking of the planning team. The composition of this team must receive careful consideration. It may vary somewhat from district to district and from charter school to charter school but, in general, should represent the public whom the school will serve, the school administrative team, the district or charter administration, the board of education, the instructional staff, the classified staff, the para-educators, the students, and the architect. Competent consultants should be made available to help the team.
The education specifications developed by the planning team must receive the approval of the school district or charter school board of education. To prevent misunderstandings, it should be made abundantly clear to members of the planning team at the time of their selection and chartering, that they will make recommendations to the board and are not working in a final decision-making capacity.
The planning team should be aware of trends in education and of the design solutions provided by architects, engineers and other consultants. Education facility consultants can provide information on trends as well as suggest literature and schools where excellent design solutions can be seen. One consideration that should be constantly in the minds of the planners is that the life expectancy of the new school they are planning will be from 50 to 75 or more years. Thus, the school may well outlast the programs for which it was designed. To hedge against obsolescence in a school facility, planners would be wise to provide, in their education specifications, that the building be highly flexible.
Current technology makes it possible for the facility to be so designed and constructed that the mechanical, electrical, communications and interior wall systems can be readily changed to provide new types of space and spatial arrangements. This capability should be a prerequisite for new educational facilities so that early obsolescence due to education program changes does not occur and, equally important, so that needed program changes are not delayed or rejected because of facility restrictions.
c. Designing Safe, Secure Schools
Violence in our schools is an ever growing concern. It is not a matter of if violence will occur, but when, and how much violence will be experienced. The threat is there; failure to act opens each school district or charter school to extensive liability. Remember the most important thing is the protection of students and staff. Many programs can be implemented for students to reduce aggression. Training for staff can also be established to catch potential problems early. Even security equipment may be purchased and installed in both new and older buildings. While all of this will improve the level of security the real test is to design and construct schools so security will be built into the entire process. Security should be examined from the design phase through construction. Value engineering-out security for cost should only be done in extreme situations. The odds of dealing with a violent incident at school are more frequent and probable than a natural disaster. The entire campus must be designed so education of students is primary and the fear of violence is eliminated.
Several security-related designs may be implemented when a school is being planned. It should be the school district's or charter school’s responsibility to have the architect examine each recommendation noted in this section of the resource manual as well as those the district or charter, the school board, parents and the community feels warrant concern. The architect will also have opinions on what is needed and what might not be needed. Good communication needs to take place so when the school is built or remodeled the best solutions are implemented. To facilitate good logical thinking, the discussion of security should be addressed from the exterior into the interior.
(1) Perimeter of School Grounds
All schools need to have a weapon-free zone established around them. Signs should be posted that say no weapon is allowed on campus, or school property.
There should be a separation of parking areas. Staff should have an area for parking in which students are not allowed to park. Parents and visitors should also have their own separate parking locations during school hours.
Traffic flow on school grounds should be free-flowing. Students should be able to come and go from the grounds and not have to work their way around the activities of the community. Staff should be able to come and go without interference from students or the community.
Landscaping at the school needs to eliminate potential hiding places. Bushes and trees that offer hiding locations need to be kept away from the school building. People need to be able to drive past the school and see what activities are going on around it.
(2) Parking Areas
Lighting is essential to the parking security of the grounds. Adequate lighting needs to be in place so that criminals will not want to conduct business in the parking areas.
The parking lots need to be visible from the school, and the school visible from the lots. This helps in deterring crime. No one wants to be caught while in the middle of a crime.
The routes from the parking areas need to be as short as possible. Direct access to the school is essential and should be monitored. This means if security cameras are installed, the cameras need to cover the walkways. The entire walkway should be visible from the school.
Parking next to the school should not be allowed. The only vehicles that should be allowed to park next to the school should be for deliveries or maintenance. All parking should be monitored by staff. Gates or barriers need to be installed to protect against attacks.
Signs should be visible to tell all the parties which parking is for whom and how to find their respective lots.
(3) Building Exterior
All dead spaces (those not visible) need to be eliminated. There should be no hiding places.
All doors do not need to be both entrances and exits. Some doors need to be designed not to have handles on the outsides. They can be permanently locked on the exterior with crash bars on the inside to facilitate building egress.
All entrances do not necessarily need to be unlocked throughout the day. In the morning one entrance should be open for all early morning work. A half-hour before school starts the rest of the doors could be unlocked. A half-hour after school ends all but one door could be locked again. This has the potential of forcing all traffic to filter past the school office.
The main school entrances should be monitored. This could be by cameras. If cameras are not installed, there should be a physical presence made by someone with authority at each entrance.
Roof access should only be made from inside the building. There should be no way to reach the roof from outside the building. This includes intentional access or unintentional access.
All lights need to be Metal Halide type. Sodium lights are not as bright and effective.
(4) Building Interior
All doors in the building need to be lockable. This will simplify a security lock-down situation.
All doors need to be made of solid wood or steel. No glass doors should be allowed. In case of a shooting, glass could be destroyed and entry made. Also, the potential for flying glass in a natural disaster is greater.
In designing the school, interior foot traffic flow needs to be addressed. Areas that have heavy use, such as gymnasiums or auditoriums need to be located in the same section. If, for example, the community is using the stage and auditorium or the gymnasium, the rest of the school needs to be secured.
Traffic flow control can also be used to advantage in cases of violence. If an intruder is in a part of the school, the other parts can be secured. This keeps the violence contained. It would be most helpful if all security gates or doors had remote-controlled opening and closing devices on them.
All phones need to be in sight of the school office and should be monitored. This reduces the possibility of false bomb threats made by students in the school.
All phones need to have Caller ID and tracing capabilities. This also reduces the potential of false bomb threats and harassing phone calls.
All glass in the building should have safety glaze. This eliminates the shattering of glass in a violent episode or disaster. There are fewer projectiles if safety glazing is in place.
Signage in the building should be clear and simple. All visitors must check in at the school office. Staff should challenge anyone they do not recognize and visitors should wear some identification.
The office should be found at the main entrance to the school. Security personnel, if present in the building, should also be found near the front of the school. This gives the appearance that security is important at the school.
An access system should be in place so that after a certain time only those with access cards have entry to parts of the building. This reduces free movement through the school and lets staff track who is in the building.
The school needs to have a lights-out policy. While this can be debated, lights on when they are supposed to be off alerts passing security patrol personnel so the incident can be checked out as suspicious.
Hallways need to be as straight as possible. No nooks or recesses should be allowed. Potential hiding places give criminals a place to conduct business without being seen.
Common areas and all locations should have adult supervision and presence. The school should be designed so that staff may access all parts of the building.
Students, like adults, do not want to be caught violating the rules. If they have a chance to do something in obscurity they may.
Doors to restrooms should be eliminated. A wall can be built in the restroom that will ensure visual privacy, but without the doors there is less chance for physical misbehavior.
(5) Communications
Being able to communicate in a disaster or violent incident is critical. A two-way public address system should be installed in each classroom with a back-up power supply attached to it. Panic buttons should be installed in every classroom (including portable classrooms). The ideal situation is to build this into the access system so each staff member has a portable alarm with them. If, for example, they enter a restroom and see a problem they can push the button and the office will receive the alarm with the location. All alarms need to be loud enough so they can be heard in all parts of the building.
While these are some ideas specifically developed for schools, it should be noted that government and private industry have been working at keeping all locations safer as well. Other ideas can be found at several Internet sites. The State of Utah has developed "Security Recommendations for State Facilities." Besides this site, the Division of Risk Management has on staff a security consultant who can assess the needs of each school and help discuss ideas to improve security. See Auditing Schools for Safety for a Virginia Department of Education document regarding auditing schools for safety. School security is essential to ensure that school personnel can focus on their mission: "To prepare every student with the knowledge and skills needed for lifelong success in a changing world."
d. Selecting an Architect-Engineer
Administrative Rule 33-5 "Construction and Architect-Engineer Selection" provides direction for the selection of architect-engineer services. It is the policy of the State to give public notice of all requirements for architect-engineer services and to negotiate contracts for these services on the basis of demonstrated competence and qualifications for the type of service required, at fair and reasonable prices.
(1) Annual Statement of Qualifications and Performance
School districts and charter schools must request firms engaged in providing architect-engineer services to submit annually a statement of qualifications and performance information which should include the following:
► The name of the firm and the location of all its offices, indicating the principal place of business.
► The age of the firm and its average number of employees over the past five years.
► The education, training, and qualifications of members of the firm and key employees.
► The experience of the firm reflecting technical capabilities and project experience.
► The names of five clients who may be contacted, including at least two for whom services were rendered in the last year.
► Any other pertinent information regarding qualifications and performance information requested by the school district or charter school.
American Council of Engineering Companies of Utah (ACEC-Utah) (formerly the Consulting Engineers Council of Utah) and the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) are required to provide the results of an annual survey on billing rates within their respective disciplines to school districts prior to April 1 of each year.
(2) Request for Statements of Interest
School districts and charter schools must prepare a request for Statements Of Interest (SOI) which describes the school district project requirements and sets forth the architect-engineer firm evaluation criteria.
(3) Small Purchases of Architect-Engineer Services
When the procurement of architect-engineer services is estimated to be less than $20,000, school districts and charter schools may select the provider directly from either the list of firms who have submitted annual statements of qualifications and performance information, or from other qualified firms, if necessary. The state procurement code requires that if the procurement is estimated to exceed $20,000, the architect-engineer selection committee method must be used.
(4) Architect-Engineer Selection Committee
The school district or charter school architect-engineer selection committee must consist of at least three members, at least one of whom (where possible) is well qualified in the professions of architecture or engineering, as appropriate. One member of the committee will act as chair and will coordinate the negotiations of a contract with the most qualified firm. Contracts are awarded at compensation which the school district or charter school determines to be fair and reasonable. In making the decision, the committee must take into account the estimated value, the project scope and complexity, as well as the professional nature of the services to be rendered. The selection committee must select for discussions no fewer than three firms evaluated as being professionally and technically qualified, unless fewer than three firms responded to the request for SOI. Should the selection committee be unable to agree on a satisfactory contract with the firm first selected, at a price the school district or charter school determines to be fair and reasonable, discussions with that firm are formally terminated. The committee then begins discussions with other qualified firms—one at a time—until an agreement is reached (Utah Code Annotated 63-56-702).
e. School Facility Design
The district's or charter’s long range plan is in place, a site has been selected, the education specifications are written, and an architect has been selected, but the work is not yet done. Although an exciting process, design of a school takes time and effort on the part of school administrators, staff and the board. The best projects are a result of an investment in time during design by all involved. An architect cannot and should not design a school in a vacuum.
The architect should begin by reviewing the site and surrounding community. Any history on the selection of the site is helpful. The education specifications should be reviewed and updated, if required. If the education specifications are recent and the planning team is available, the project will benefit enormously from a collaboration of the planning team and design architect.
It is best if a design committee is assembled to work with the architect and engineers. The designers bring experience and expertise to the process, but must discover the special needs and aspirations of the patrons and users of the school. The design committee should have representatives from the board of education, the administration, teachers, support staff, parents and students. These last two categories are sometimes forgotten but are the most crucial. Parents and students are, after all, the ultimate client we are all serving.
The architect will meet with the design committee to discuss the philosophy and goals of the community and school district or charter school prior to starting the school facility design. The design committee will meet further to review schematic building and site designs and to assist the architect in selecting construction materials, building systems, and the architectural image.
(1) Site Planning and Design
Issues of site access, traffic patterns, surrounding property usage, building orientation and public image are investigated and resolved. On site school bus, automobile and pedestrian accesses are designed. Play fields are laid out. Delivery access to kitchen, mechanical spaces, and trash removal is dealt with. Building and site utility requirements are outlined. On and off-site utility impacts are investigated. The local municipality should be contacted to discuss zoning ordinances, traffic impact, and availability of water for fire protection as well as quality of culinary water. Sanitary sewer systems need to have available capacity checked. Storm drainage requirements—such as on-site rainwater detention—need to be identified. Other agencies should be contacted for information such as Utah Department of Transportation (if the site is on a state highway or right-of-way), electrical power and natural gas companies, and telephone, cable television and irrigation companies.
The architect should coordinate these efforts but will need assistance from district or charter staff. A civil engineering consultant should also be commissioned at this point to design site utilities, pavements and grading.
(2) Building Schematic Design
The architect will draw floor plans, elevations and renderings to indicate the design intent. These drawings have enough information to show compliance with the education specifications and requirements of the design committee. A site plan should be included. Additional drawings expressing any unique building issues may also be required. A statement of probable costs should be required of the architect to show that the project will meet budget requirements set forth in the education specification.
These drawings should be reviewed by the design committee and school district/charter staff. They should then be presented to the community and approved by the board.
The Utah State Fire Marshal must also be contacted to review these plans.
(3) Design Development—Selection of Systems and Materials
When the schematic design is approved by the board of education, the architect, with the help of the design committee and district/charter maintenance staff, need to select construction materials for floors, walls, ceilings, doors and windows, cabinetry and equipment, etc. The heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, plumbing fixtures, fire alarm, intercom/sound, security, telephone and television systems are selected. Past maintenance problems should be discussed to discover methods of improving construction. The architect should enlist the help of structural, mechanical and electrical consulting engineers at this point in the project.
Principals, teachers, custodians, school foods and pupil transportation department staff, should be interviewed concerning equipment, site and building issues.
The architect then prepares more detailed drawings and an outline construction specification reflecting the wants and needs of the school district or charter school. An updated statement of probable cost is submitted at this time to show the project is on budget. These drawings and construction specifications should be reviewed by the design committee and district/charter staff. Approval may be given by the administrative staff or the board of education may want involvement. These documents are used in the value engineering process described in part 5. b. of this reference manual.
(4) Construction Documents
Once design development approval is given and value engineering is complete, the architect and consulting engineers prepare construction documents to be used in the bidding process and as the guide for the contractor to construct the project. Detailed drawings and construction specifications are prepared. The design committee and district or charter staff's time involvement is minimal at this stage; however, they should be available as a resource as questions of coordination arise. Once again a statement of probable cost should be required of the architect to assure the project is on budget prior to bidding. Bidding a project and having it go over budget is not a pleasant experience. Approval to proceed to the bidding process is usually given by the board of education.
f. The Architect's Ongoing Role
The school building design is complete, drawings and specifications are printed, and all plan review has taken place. The project is well on its way; however, the architect can and should be commissioned to assist the school district or charter school with bidding and construction administration, including project closeout and startup. The architect can assure continuity, from education specification to the opening day of school, to ensure the written program was completed in bricks and mortar. Many school districts have architects and/or project managers on staff, but benefit from requiring the design architect and engineers to stay personally involved throughout construction.
A one-year post occupancy and contract warrantee review of the project by the architect and engineers is a good way to make sure the building is used as it was designed and to identify any problems the contractor needs to repair under warrantee.
g. School District Building Official (SDBO) and State Fire Marshal Plan Review at Schematic Phase
The School District Building Official (SDBO) or Charter School Building Officer (CSBO) and the Utah State Fire Marshal's office will conduct a preliminary plan review at the schematic phase of the project. It is recommended that the SDBO and CSBO work closely with the State Fire Marshal representative from this point forward regarding the project. The project architect needs to be present also during this review because there will be many questions Fire Marshal's office personnel will have due to the early stage of the project development. The site plan is reviewed for local fire department access, fire hydrant placement, and proximity of the building to other structures or exposures. Other specific review points include the architect's determination of the following:
Building occupancy
Construction type
Area of the building
Height of the building
Need for fire sprinklers
Need for area separation walls
Need for fire rated corridors
Alternate methods or materials (trade-off's)
Special or unusual circumstances
Egress—including door swing, location, size, and number, as well as egress travel distances
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