Harvard University

Planning and Real Estate

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Law School
Cambridge, MA
 

• Over 100 facilities, with >6 million square feet of space
• Mix of historical architecture and complex mechanical systems
• Consistent evaluation to single standard yielded valuable baseline data

Harvard University owns and manages a vast inventory of institutional and residential real estate. Over the past fifteen years, ON-SITE INSIGHT has helped various organizational units within the University, to help them better understand and communicate the physical circumstances of their assets. To date, we have successfully completed more than one hundred facility assessments, representing over six million square feet of academic, residential, athletic, administrative and commercial space. These range from Memorial Church and Faculty Club to the 300,000 SF Science Center, Holyoke Center and Blodgett Pool.

Many of these efforts entailed careful attention to historical architectural detail. Others featured the complexities associated with the University fire protection system, and central steam and chilled water.  For the Faculty of Arts and Science, OSI adapted its quantitative presentation to the FAS chart of accounts, and integrated our work into the University’s five-year planning cycle. Effective planning required an understanding of the University’s particular operating circumstances, e.g. dorms that are off-line only every four years, and the effects of scholarly appointments and grant-funding on laboratory spaces.

Evaluating all facilities to a single standard provided Harvard with useful baseline data on the portfolios. One outcome of our work with Planning and Real Estate was a move toward a more standardized approach to certain capital activities (e.g. the development of specifications that eased and improved the bidding process and achieved greater consistency in pricing and work). In a number of instances OSI also helped building managers evaluate the effectiveness of contracted maintenance, with an eye toward making facilities operate even more efficiently and comfortably. A highly collaborative process between OSI and Harvard staff yielded assessments that were embraced as truly useful planning and asset management tools.