Service Offering

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Analyse existing buildings and growth modelling to establish options for future development and/or refurbishment, including consideration of scale, location and activity convergence. This method also seeks to identify how to transform assets to enable future (best practice) ways of learning, teaching, researching and working. 

Building analysis is undertaken using a matrix of quantitative and qualitative building criteria to evaluate its suitability for existing or alternative use. This evaluation tool is called the Education Asset Evaluation Framework.

BENEFITS

• Helps institutions make decisions on the future of their assets and provides a roadmap for any future new builds 
• Assists institutions plan for growth or contraction 
• Provides opportunities for strategic co-location of activities 
• Extends the life of assets through adaptive reuse 
• Improves utilisation as a result of intentionally working buildings harder 
• Improves space efficiency

Through engagement with stakeholders, Jo will identify the essential functional requirements for a building, including size of spaces, key adjacencies and types of experiences. 

The qualitative requirements are summarised in a Functional Brief report, as a guiding tool for the design process. The Functional Brief will, where appropriate, incorporate vertical and/or horizontal adjacency diagrams to communicate key adjacencies. The quantitative usable floor area (UFA) calculations are collated in an Accommodation Schedule, plus allowances for circulation, plant, toilets and other ancillary spaces to establish Net Lettable and Gross Floor Areas. This format can be shared with a quantity surveyor to establish or test the project budget. 

BENEFITS

• Clear communication of stakeholder vision and aspirations 
• Clear communication of qualitative and quantitative space requirements 
• Identify key functional adjacencies to ensure space efficiency is optimised 
• Inform cost planning 

With over twenty years of teaching and workshop experience, stakeholder engagement is one of the most enjoyable and satisfying elements of the Educology service offering. From large in-person workshops, online workshops, small meetings or one-on-one interviews – Jo’s inclusive manner ensures participation and engagement, focused on the key objectives of the session. 

In advance of each session, Jo will provide an agenda with clear objectives identified, timing and any pre-reading material. She uses a variety of formats and tools to optimise engagement and elicit the required workshop outcomes. Post-workshop summaries will be provided in the form of a Functional Brief or minutes, depending on the project requirements. 

BENEFITS

• Take stakeholders on the journey of a new development together 
• Uncover rich insights that cannot be ascertained from data sets alone 
• Co-design new ways of thinking about the campus or ways of working, teaching and researching 
• Gain stakeholder confidence 
• Identify functional requirements that will enable occupants to thrive 

Through a process of vision analysis, stakeholder engagement, workplace observations and people data analysis, Jo will prepare a workplace strategy incorporating options for enabling new ways of working. Jo has previously undertaken considerable research in relation to academic workplace, a topic that remains highly contested. 

As a result of the pandemic, workplace allocation and utilisation on university campuses is likely to be in the spotlight, debating the virtues of ‘shared’ versus ‘owned’ spaces. 

There is still a long way to go to achieve consistently good quality workspace for university staff on campus.

BENEFITS

• Evidence-based decision making 
• Improve workplace culture 
• Improve utilisation of workplace 
• Increase space efficiency (and save money)

Do you have a topic that requires investigation? Jo’s strategic thinking mindset can dive deeply into a wide range of topics to reveal new insights, contributing to the solution of identified issues. For example, how much informal learning space should institutions be providing on campus? How many lecture theatres do universities need? How much space should be dedicated to Collections in the Library? What are the most popular spaces on campus? (What are the least popular?) 

Jo will work with the institution to develop a methodology for implementation, analyse the data and reveal key insights. 

BENEFITS

• Evidence-based decision making 
• Independent perspective
• Inform infrastructure decisions
• Improve utilisation 

Does your institution have buildings that are old and no longer fit-for-purpose? Are you wondering whether a building should be refurbished or demolished? Jo has developed a well-tested methodology for analysing buildings on education campuses, called the Education Asset Evaluation Framework. 

This takes into consideration a range of quantitative data (e.g. age, size, slab-to-slab heights) and qualitative data (e.g. wayfinding, activation for teaching/research, condition), comprising a review of over thirty building characteristics. The tool is most effective when applied to a whole campus, with an evaluation process that looks at each building through the same lens. A comparative analysis clearly presents a snapshot of the condition of all buildings, highlighting which buildings are worth investing in refurbishment and which buildings are recommended for demolition. 

BENEFITS

• Evidence-based decision making 
• Helps institutions make decisions on the future of their assets 
• Assists institutions plan for growth or contraction 

Post occupancy evaluations (POEs) aim to answer specific questions in relation to how people are using space, as a means to feed into an improvement cycle. While some POE methodologies can be overly complex, Jo has developed a simple methodology that combines observation data with qualitative responses (e.g. survey). This can be applied to almost any physical environment to yield insights that will critically inform future refurbishment or development projects. Pre-occupancy evaluations can also be undertaken as a baseline to measure against following development, to measure the improved level of occupant satisfaction.

Within an educational context, Jo has undertaken numerous POEs to investigate if a specific learning space is enabling effective teaching and learning. She has adapted her PhD research findings to develop a POE titled ‘Rate My Classroom’ which can be applied to any formal learning space on campus. 

BENEFITS

• Evidence-based decision making 
• Feed into an improvement cycle
• Informs future design process 
• Identify the improvement factor between the pre- and post-occupancy environments: measure levels of satisfaction 
• Confirm if classrooms are enabling effective teaching and learning
• Inform professional development of teachers (with regard to how they use classroom space) 

Utilisation data is critical in assessing how many lecture theatres, classrooms or laboratories a university or TAFE will need in future. Some universities are beginning to invest in digital methods of tracking occupancy rates of space on campus. However, many universities still rely on manual methods. Jo can manage the manual process of collecting and analysing data, or – if your institution has the utilisation data but nobody to analyse, Jo can undertake the analysis process. 

BENEFITS

• Evidence-based decision making 
• Inform investment in new developments/refurbishments 
• Save money by not investing in new infrastructure: make existing buildings work harder 
• Identify targeted spaces for refurbishment as a result of poor utilisation

The clearer the project scope in the beginning, the more accurate and competitive your quotation responses will be. Educology can assist in the preparation of project scope briefings associated with Expressions of Interest and Request for Proposals.

Do you need fresh eyes on your bid document? Jo is an experienced writer of Expressions of Interest and Request for Proposals and can provide independent feedback on your proposal. 

Do you want to rehearse a project pitch? Jo can review and critique your pitch to ensure you are presenting your optimum offer.