ENGINEERING FOR EDUCATION
Whether in a city or on college campus, keeping infrastructure up and running is key
By Wendy Kinderman
R
oads and buildings. Electricity and
telecommunications. Water and wastewater.
Parks and natural areas. All these and more are
components of a typical city. They are also essential parts
of a higher education campus.
At least nine months out of every year, university and
college campuses are bustling with thousands of students,
faculty, and staff, all with the same needs as any other
community for safe and dependable infrastructure.
Facilities managers, just like municipal managers and
officials, balance budgets, provide resources, and
troubleshoot problems – and Ayres Associates’ engineers
help them.
Higher education campuses often are physically
complicated – they often have a number of old buildings
on site and the old infrastructure to go with them. They
have ever-changing populations to be accommodated. The
campuses themselves are constantly evolving, developing
5-year, 10-year, 20-year plans – and their engineers need
to keep those future goals in mind on every project. These
can also be complicated clients, with a number of entities
involved in many of the decisions, requiring an emphasis
on communication and collaboration for project success.
But those sorts of challenges also make higher education
facilities exciting clients to work with, as the following
stories demonstrate.
AyresAssociates.com
│19