Renovation Vs. New Construction

The ability to choose wisely comes down to dollars and sense

By Erica DiCioccio
Photos: Patrik Argast Photography

Continued facility maintenance and upkeep are an essential part of an effective operations strategy, but inevitably, a department will need to choose between renovating existing facilities or building new ones; which option is better depends on a variety of factors. However, this proven process will help assess the options and confidently recommend the optimal one to city leaders and community members.

At the highest level, begin by assessing the existing facilities in question in the context of city goals and community needs. This allows you to identify what renovations may be necessary. Establishing a renovation scope can then be costed and compared to one for new construction in order to determine which choice is better. In short, conduct a feasibility study.

A feasibility study will provide essential information about a facility’s status:

• Its general fitness and ability to continue to support community programming and events

• Disability access

• The condition of the building’s major systems

• The possibility of maintaining key elements of the facility, or whether it is beyond a serviceable life expectancy

• Availability of parts to provide proper maintenance.

Break It Down

To determine whether renovation or new construction is practical, here is an outline for a collaborative and comprehensive approach:

1. Investigate existing facilities on a multi-disciplinary site walk with the maintenance team and staff members. This will help ensure that all the components are assessed, such as general building access and layout, existing structural systems, major building systems (mechanical, plumbing, and electrical), safety and security, and maintenance. The effect of these systems on the health of the facility’s users also should be assessed.

2. Conduct a review of operational expenses. This is the key to understanding facility performance, as well as being able to assess probable return on investment for any contemplated upgrades. For example, if the HVAC system is 20 years old, upgrading to a new, more efficient, energy star-rated system, may extend the life expectancy of the system greatly—typically, 20 years or more. This can cut current energy bills by 25 to 50 percent, saving operational dollars every month and eventually costing less than the continued maintenance of an older system.

3. Conduct a code review and code cycle analysis for the building type. Renovations may trigger code updates for items such as accessibility, health, fire, seismic, and structural codes that often have significant cost implications. A feasibility analysis is essential for dependable decision-making.

4. In addition to the technical assessment of the guts of the facilities, analyze their functionality from a programmatic perspective. Consider the facilities’ layout, spacing, orientation, boundaries, and flexibility. Does the current building layout support the programming needs of the community? If things were slightly different, can more “saleable” programming for the community be provided to increase revenue? This is also the time to dream big. What might be done if anything were possible? Consider how the facilities fulfill or might fulfill existing master plans. Identify specific project goals, such as reducing maintenance and operating costs, minimizing environmental impacts, updating and adding new programming, modernizing facility finishes, or increasing community usage. Make this an inclusive, collaborative process by seeking residents’ and city officials’ input.  

5. Based on these assessments, prepare renovation and new construction action plans that include graphic floor plans, roof plans, reflected ceiling plans, and site plans, as well as descriptive equipment schedules or similar information to establish a priority list. They should also provide land-use plans that show how the facilities connect to the neighborhood; identify components such as community buildings, restroom/storage/maintenance facilities, playgrounds, picnic areas, aquatic features, sports fields and courts, open spaces, landscaped spaces, and parking lots.

6. Prepare cost estimates for all of the needed and desired renovations. This list should also account for the project schedule, the building assessment with current lifecycle expectations, project phasing and facility-closure estimates, and a project-delivery method. Here is a checklist of common high-cost items:

• Code-related costs, including required code updates (building type, health code, fire, setbacks, fire protection), exiting (door quantity and width), seismic structural design, fire sprinklers, alarms, and building size (per type).

• Building systems-related costs, including renovations to a structure, the envelope (skin and glass), mechanical systems, electrical system, and plumbing fixtures.

This process provides an opportunity to respond to larger societal trends and innovations. Given the long lifespan of community-serving facilities, much has happened since they were built, and whether you choose to renovate or build new, what you do now will need to stand the test of time. The latest trends and solutions in furniture systems, technology, materials, and design can help maximize the resiliency and value of the facilities.

The Next Step

Once the process is completed, you will have defined the priorities and the key needs and wants of the facility and community, and have a clear understanding of how to get to the finish line. Now you can assess the impact of the proposed renovation and associated costs and compare them to the possibility of new construction. The cost-estimation team should be able to compare current market conditions for similar buildings in order to generate a rough order of magnitude budget for a new building, typically expressed as a dollar-per-square-foot cost. This will indicate what renovating an existing building would cost, and how much a “new building” could be built for a similar or slightly higher amount.

A key factor in this decision should be the desired lifespan of the investment. Is the renovation targeted for the next 20 years of operation or beyond? For instance, a new ground-up building should be viewed as a 50-year investment. Both investments still require putting money aside to continue to provide maintenance for the facility, but costs are considerably less on a new building for the first 5 to 10 years.

Other factors during decision-making are standardizing all buildings to have the same types of MPE platforms in order to reduce maintenance costs at all facilities. Also, consider the age of specific key components like electrical breakers to ensure they can still be purchased. The older that facilities get, the harder and more expensive some replacement parts are to obtain, making a routine repair for the maintenance team an emergency repair by a contractor.

The key in effectively assessing an existing facility and planning for the future is to have a plan and take a collaborative and holistic approach to reviewing facilities. All of this information will allow for an informed decision about the future, choosing wisely between renovation and new construction.

Erica DiCioccio, AIA, LEED AP BD+C; Associate/Architect for Dahlin Group. For over 12 years, Erica has successfully led projects from inception to completion for public, educational, institutional, and commercial clients with an emphasis on efficient and sustainable design solutions that are on budget. For more information, visit https://www.dahlingroup.com.