usnh space utilization study and master plan guidelines
The University System of New Hampshire (USNH) is New Hampshire’s public higher education network, spanning the State over five campuses that each serve unique missions. Every ten years, each system institution updates its campus masterplan. In the most recent cycle of planning, the system expected to face a period of declining enrollments, so the system sought to understand its building portfolio and plan for future capital projects that would likely focus on decommissioning and repurposing. DumontJanks collaborated with USNH in developing guidelines for individual campus master plans that provide comparisons across campuses while still allowing each institution to engage in meaningful planning for their individual priorities, and in developing baseline system-wide space utilization information that provides guidance on existing deficits and surpluses.
The guidelines provided each campus with the context and intent for master planning, strategies for engagement with relevant stakeholders, key topics for analysis, and the steps for synthesizing a single plan out of several scenarios. In essence, we provided the campuses with a system-level toolkit to identify and address campus-level issues in their individual master plans.
The space analysis confirmed that the system had excess space, even at enrollment levels prior to the projected decline. The finding held true across almost every space type, especially among office spaces. The space analysis also motivated a set of specific recommendations for the system. These recommendations included exploring hoteling modules for office space, investigating expansion of provost control over some spaces, expanding classroom taxonomy, and standardizing space data management policies.
