Building / facilities planning are a major undertaking for any organization. Whether you are a Federal or State agency trying to address better utilization of available space, a School District needing to make renovations, or a University planning for future capital development, the professionals at MGT provide solutions that save clients time and money.
WHAT WE DO
Facilities Master Planning
MGT offers comprehensive services that assist our clients with developing facilities master plans. Our experts are extremely knowledgeable and have been assisting clients, both large and small, for over 30 years.
Depending on our clients needs, the process of planning often requires the development of multiple scenarios in order to determine the most efficient and effective plan within the budget available. Components of the process vary, but some of the more typical factors include:
The components for evaluation in creating a plan may typically include many of the following:
- Renovations
- School closures
- Additions
- Building new schools
- Changing grade configurations
- Aligning space to educational program offerings
- Changing attendance boundaries
- Policy changes that affect school facilities
- Budget estimates (capital & operational)
- Planning for special program schools
At MGT, the overall result of our plan is to provide the level of detail necessary that allow our clients to make sound and successful decisions.
Student Housing Planning and Analysis
Student housing is an important support component for most colleges and universities and is a primary tool for recruiting and retaining students. MGT professionals possess a vast amount of expertise and student housing planning credentials. We do a detailed analysis of student housing needs and offer recommendations with unique solutions that are tailored to fit our client’s in higher education.
Below are some of the consulting services offered in regard to student housing:
- Administrative and Organizational Reviews
- Capacity Analysis
- Capital Budgets Preparation
- Comprehensive Housing Plans
- Customer Surveys
- Debt Capacity Analysis
- Demand Estimates
- Facilities Condition Assessments
- Faculty and Staff Housing Reviews
- Feasibility Studies
- Focus Groups
- Financial Analyses
- Market Research
- Off-Campus Market Reviews
- Peer Reviews (Competitive Analysis)
- Privatized Housing Analyses
- Project Pro Forma Development
- Project Sequencing
- Rental Rate Analysis
Facilities Assessments
Sometimes budgetary restraints push facilities maintenance down the ladder. After a period of time, this deferral of repair and renovation to existing facilities eventually creates a subsequent problem that needs to be addressed. At MGT we have been offering a systematic and reliable assessment tool called BASYS®.
BASYS® evaluates the condition of your facilities in four key areas:
- Physical Condition
- Grounds (Exterior) Condition
- Educational Suitability
- Technological Readiness
It is customizable to our client’s unique needs and can be used as a budgeting tool for capital improvements as well as identify approximate costs for repairs and renovations. It also serves as a tool to rank the relative need among buildings and building systems.
Demographic Analysis/Enrollment Projections
The need for facilities is often a function of usage. Who uses them, how many, and frequency of use all serve to determine space requirement or whether more space must be created. Demographics and/or enrollment projection can be a difficult process unless you know where to find the information. At MGT of America, we have the expertise to provide solutions that our clients need to make good decisions.
Among other things, MGT experts use an enrollment projection model to estimate future student enrollment by grade level and by school for up to ten years. The model is based upon group survival factors, but can be adjusted to incorporate other anticipated influences on enrollment, such as new housing developments, the opening or closing of a large business, or major in/out migration trends. It is also very useful in examining the impact of alternative grade groupings or changes in attendance zone boundaries on the enrollments of the individual schools.
In the end, enrollment projections can be used to:
- Estimate the number of teachers needed at each school
- Determine whether existing schools should be expanded or new schools should be built
- Calculate how much state funding would be received
Our experts work to provide the right information for proper planning because knowing what to expect allows for proper preparation and better results.
Capacity & Utilization for School Districts
School enrollment fluctuates on a regular basis for many school districts. Combine that uncertainty with less state funding, budget reductions, and an increase in benefit and health care costs and the situation becomes even more difficult.
MGT has answers. We provide creative solutions that eliminate empty seats and work to balance enrollment throughout our client’s districts. This means greater and legitimate funding to ensure ongoing budgetary fulfillment. It’s a matter of ensuring that each district operates with the right number of schools with a minimal number of empty seats.
Community Engagement
Part of any planning process involves ensuring honest communication of information publicly. MGT of America professionals have developed and use an advanced audience response software that allows free, unrestricted public comment during any projects planning phase.
Our charrette procedure allows for the collection of public input on issues that are important for the success of the master plan. It gives every person an equal opportunity to express his/her views in a comfortable environment and allows MGT experts the ability to instantaneously poll stakeholders and receive feedback that can be used to generate discussion in smaller groups.
In the end, it fosters the ability to achieve consensus and enhances a positive environment that becomes even more motivated towards success.
SOLUTIONS THAT MATTER
From Norfolk, Virginia to Boulder, Colorado to Brookline, Massachusetts, MGT professionals provide expert advice and have helped literally hundreds of institutions lay the foundation for their current and future facilities needs. Our experience help our client’s get the job done in a timely and cost efficient manner. Contact us today to find out more.