FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. --- The University of Arkansas’ Office of Physical Plant is being reorganized to provide greater maintenance capability for campus facilities and better management of new facility construction for a campus expected to grow from 16,000 students at present to 22,500 by 2010.

The reorganization-including a new management structure-is consistent with the report of Physical Plant consultants Draper & Associates and the Adams Consulting Group. Their report was made public in November 2000.

"The central theme that came out of the consultants’ report was that, while Physical Plant was doing excellent work in many areas, particularly the building trades and general service to campus, it needed to strengthen its performance in two major ways," said Don Pederson, vice chancellor for finance and administration, to whom the Office of Physical Plant reports.

"First, we needed to find a way to fund and address capital renewal and deferred maintenance of existing campus buildings and facilities. Second, we needed to restructure ourselves to handle the volume and complexity of planning and management of new facilities that will be constructed over the next decade.

"No employee will be laid off in this reorganization," Pederson said. "If anything, we expect to grow over the next few years, but we need to do it as efficiently and effectively as possible."

Directed by Leo Yanda, the Office of Physical Plant is responsible for service functions that provide utilities and maintain campus facilities and grounds for 76 structures, 3.1 million gross square feet of floor space, with an estimated value of over $600 million. Physical Plant provides utilities and charge-back services for an additional 94 structures and 2.7 million gross square feet of auxiliary service spaces. Physical Plant currently does this with an annual operating budget of about $25 million, and a staff of 350 employees in four major departments.

Those four departments, each led by an associate director, are: Administration and Services, Operations, Contracted Services and Landscape Architecture, and Design & Utilities.

The new management structure will create five departments and reorganize units within the current structure as follows:

1. Design and Construction Services will contain construction planning, construction management services, construction services (including the construction trade shops) and outside contracting/contract management.
2. Facilities Operation and Maintenance will contain buildings zone maintenance, central maintenance of buildings, building support (custodial services, pest control, waste management, and recycling) services, grounds maintenance, and campus Environmental Health & Safety.
3. Utility Operations & Maintenance will house utility production and distribution, energy management, and building systems maintenance and control.
4. Business and Support Services will contain finance and administration, information technology, the service desk, vehicle maintenance, and central supply.
5. Facility Planning will be responsible for maintaining the campus facilities master plan, space use planning and analysis, Facility Condition Assessment maintenance/update, facility planning and portfolio management, and capital budgeting and financing.

In addition, the reorganization will elevate the leadership position of Physical Plant from director to associate vice chancellor for facilities.

"This reorganization will allow us to get more work done in a timely fashion, particularly in regard to building maintenance," Yanda said. "Currently, about 70 percent of our buildings are in relatively good condition, about 18 percent are in average shape, and 12 percent are in poor shape.

"Even though we are refocusing the existing Physical Plant budget, we need an infusion of funds to renovate our substandard buildings," Yanda added. "The consultants estimate that after renovation occurs, it will take an additional $1.6 million per year to keep all of our buildings’ systems and exteriors in relatively good condition. We expect that a good part of the ongoing capital renewal funding will be realized through the efficiencies this reorganization will create."

One of the new, more efficient methods of building maintenance will be a "systems approach," Yanda said. By this approach, buildings will be assessed for maintenance and renovation needs by looking at everything at once. This will provide better prioritization, identification of required funds, and will maximize the value of the investment in our buildings.

The Physical Plant reorganization-planned by the Physical Plant administration in concert with the consultants-is being guided by seven principles, Yanda said:

--Identify and delineate the core facility management functions required by the University, consistent with its mission; focus limited available resources on core service functions.

--Clearly separate organizationally and financially those services that are required for building maintenance (stewardship) functions from those that are non-maintenance or chargeable services, such as renovations. Create a balanced priority between the two service categories.

--Co-develop departmental improvement initiatives with the Physical Plant Department Administration and respective individual service center supervisors.

--Implement change to the department in an "employee neutral" manner.

--Utilize industry best practices as a starting point for proposed improvements. Refine industry best practices to address the unique requirements of the campus.

--Design service centers, new and old, using a requirements-based approach. Apply the exact resources required based on the specific service load for each.

--Improve the ability of the overall facility management function to actively engage in, manage, and support the facility capital planning process from top to bottom.