Chapter 3: Facilities Master Planning

A. Master Planning

1. Definition: Master planning is the mechanism used to plan the future physical development of a campus. The plan should translate campus philosophy, and programmatic goals and objectives into necessary physical development. Master plans can vary greatly as to cost, scope, time frame, and physical area. A master plan should include narrative, site plans, and/or models that illustrate how the campus will look in the future.
2. Responsibilities: The impetus, support, and promotion of successful master planning activity can only come from the administrative level of the campus. The campus will establish a master plan committee to both lead the process and include the voice of key campus constituents. The campus is encouraged to enlist the services of nationally recognized master planning experts. The campus staff will manage the process. The campus is encouraged to include the UM University Architect, or other UM architect/engineer that may be designated by the UM Director of Facilities Planning and Development on the committee to provide expertise in the planning process and assure the master plan is consistent with University requirements. The planning staff should have a direct tie to the decision-making level of the institution, providing support and sponsorship for the plan.
3. Process: This master planning process should be in place before development of individual facility projects. Section II.B describes the delegations of authority and responsibility for managing facility development projects. The processes to retain consultants and manage the project are set out in Sections V and VI.
4. Campus Objectives: The campus will establish the principles and objectives for the physical environment of the campus, evaluating existing resources, and identifying institutional programmatic goals and needs. The information of programmatic goals and needs come from the institution’s academic and strategic planning process.
5. Planning Consultant: The planning consultant will work with the campus planning committee to link institutional goals and principles to existing conditions and future physical development. The team will explore alternatives for land use, the placement of buildings, space functions, circulation patterns, open spaces, and options for enhancing or protecting the character of the campus. Several iterations of review and participation from key campus constituents are done to assure the plan’s relevance to the University community. After approval by Campus Administration, the planning consultants will prepare recommendations and guidelines for immediate and long-range development illustrating these conceptually in written and graphic form.
6. Approval: Administrative review and approval by the Campus, UM and the Board of Curators will allow the plan to become adopted.
7. Periodic Review: The master plan must be responsive to the changing and dynamic nature of the institution. The plan must undergo periodic review and updating. The campus can accomplish the review process in two ways. The campus can simply repeat this set of steps at regular intervals, normally several years apart. However, the plan can become out of date if the interval is too long. Alternately, the campus can revisit the plan annually and adapt it in small increments. The campus can hire the master planning consultant on a retainer basis to review current projects, to hold annual plan review meetings, and confer and advise campus leaders regularly. Such an approach allows a plan to grow and change, and it also provides an effective means to ensure the plan’s influence on individual facility projects.

B. Facility Development

1. Definition: The facility development process plans individual buildings and provides the mechanism for adapting the principles of the master plan to a single facility project. The facility development process builds on the master plan. The following process is a mechanism for achieving this linkage between the campus master plan and individual building projects.
2. Facility Project Conception: The campus originates the project. The initial concept phase should include several considerations such as overall program priority, potential funding sources, and the relationship of the project to the campus master plan. Campus approval of the initial project concept allows the project to proceed into a more detailed program development and analysis effort. If the campus requires the expertise of consultants, see section II and V for policies and procedures.
3. Program Development and Analysis: The preparation and analysis of the detailed facility program will provide the foundation for the facility need. Section VI in this manual describes the programming process.
4. Project Approval: The Campus approves the program and the financing plan. The campus can include the project in the institution’s Capital Budget Request or they can pursue other financing. Refer to Section IV for a detailed description of the capital budgeting process.
5. Design Initiation: Sections II, V, and VI describe the policies and procedures for design.