‘You can’t just turn off the utilities, walk away, and come back in a year’
University and college campuses face new challenge of caring for empty buildings
WATERLOO REGION — Post-secondary institutions in Waterloo Region have spent decades building up their campuses to meet the needs of the tens of thousands of students who flock to the region every year.
Now, with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier
University announcing that most courses will be offered online this fall, and Conestoga College expected to announce a similar decision, the schools are on the clock to devise plans for what campuses will look like in a COVID-19 world.
Chief among the questions:
what do you do with all the buildings that won’t be used?
John Straube, an associate professor joint-appointed to the department of civil and environmental engineering and the school of architecture at the University of Waterloo, said there are some critical mistakes that can be made in attempts to cut costs.
“Buildings are an investment that is going to require attention and money forever,” said Straube. “You can’t just turn off the utilities, walk away, and come back in a year and expect your asset to still be there.”
Consider an overflowing toilet bowl on the sixth floor of the Waterloo Engineering 7 building, he said, with the water percolating down through all six floors below it.
“That should give people the heebie-jeebies who look after buildings,” he said.
In a typical situation of excess building space, Straube said the first conclusion would be to look for different ways to utilize the facility. But in the face of COVID-19, there aren’t any obvious answers.
“It’s not the space that’s the problem, it’s the fact that we’re not allowed to collect together in large groups indoors,” he said. “And that’s what these spaces are all about.”
After the 2008 financial crisis, he was part of a consulting team that helped Goldman Sachs safely delay a casino build that had run out of money — a premise he said many businesses were facing with their in-development projects.
In that situation, they were able to delay construction for two years before finishing the job, focusing on areas like building temperature, moisture control and monitoring systems.
It’s an example he said draws the closest similarity to what educational institutions are facing — managing the building supply so that they can be used in a post-pandemic world.
For universities that offer courses in the fall, winter and summer, there is never a slowdown where most facilities aren’t being used in at least some capacity.
But for elementary schools that effectively close for the summer, some building managers have been tempted in the past to save money by choosing not to use the air conditioner.
“The problem is that you’re not air conditioning just to keep things cool, you’re air conditioning to keep things dry,” said Straube. “There’s more than a few examples of people returning after the summer to find their library full of mould.”
The same principle exists in the winter with heating, and modern building designs have
“Our buildings are now things we need to continue to care and feed for, even if we’re not using them.” JOHN STRAUBE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR JOINT-APPOINTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING AND THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
magnified the problem.
Over the last 30 years, more and more buildings have been designed under the assumption they will be kept at a consistent temperature and level of humidity — think gypsum wallboard and ceiling tiles.
“I always joke that even the dumbest of the three little pigs didn’t build his house out of paper,” said Straube. “And we lined five sides of most of our modern rooms with paper.”
That means internal components like electric wiring, fire alarm system and plumbing are all becoming more and more dependent on strong interior conditions.
“Our buildings are now things we need to continue to care and feed for, even if we’re not using them.”
Mike Milovick is a student housing property owner, realtor and father of an incoming first-year Waterloo student. He said he’s had “lots of time to think about a lot of things as it relates to students and what the fall may look like.”
As it relates to managing properties, Milovick has also found himself with an unusually high number of vacant units this summer. Not because they haven’t been rented, but because the students are staying with their parents. Of the 35 student renters, only five are currently in their unit.
“It’s the same principle the universities face in that you worry about security and floods and just not having anyone there to notice any of the problems,” he said.
That’s forced him to crank up his own on-site visits, going to each property two to three times a week to ensure there aren’t any issues. With residential insurance, most companies actually ensure the properties are monitored on a weekly basis.
Stepanka Elias, executive director of facilities and plant operations at Waterloo, said the university has already taken steps to streamline its monitoring of the facilities since faculty, staff and students were forced to leave campus little by little in March.
“We have to be very careful to be a good steward of our spaces,” she said. Maintenance crews are equipped with a long checklist which requires walking through every building to ensure doors are locked, nothing is leaking, and the equipment in the mechanical rooms is working properly.
Meanwhile, engineers have continued to monitor the school’s central plant, and custodians continue to ensure a level of cleanliness across facilities. “We have many people who have been on campus on a regular basis,” said Elias.
At neighbouring Wilfrid Laurier University, school spokesperson Claire Bruner-Prime said monitoring has also taken precedent through this time.
“Laurier facilities staff continue to monitor and conduct regular maintenance on all university buildings, following health and safety guidelines,” she said.
Now, the shift for both institutions is reopening its facilities as the province continues with its phased approach to relaunch the economy.
“While most of Laurier’s employees are currently working remotely, the university is preparing options and scenarios for their safe return to campus, possibly in a phased approach, when public health authorities deem it safe to do so,” she said.