A Preview of Capital Project Planning Activities

The TFPG provides a fast-paced and informative preview of planning a capital project for your school or community group.  We welcome organizations of all sizes (public schools, independent schools, and faith-based school organizations).  The pre-planning and pre-design activity may be experienced in one of the following two parts:

 Part I,  is delivered through a 3-hour Round Table Seminar for governing boards and key stakeholders. A packet of planning and design materials is included; plus a 60 - day period for follow-up communications.

Part II is customized for school and community stakeholders, requiring  4 1/2 hours.

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Pre-design and planning activities may follow the outlines below:  

Part I - Introductory Activities: (3  Hours)              

• A Lecture/discussion on educational engineering premises.
• Importance of environmentally friendly schools (Green Schools).
  
• How a philosophy of teaching and learning suggests certain goals for educational specifications and school designs.
• A comprehensive review of research-based examples of school design patterns that influence student Behavior, Attitude, and Learning.

Part II - Comprehensive Activities (4 1/2  Hours)    

•  A TFPG representative guides clients through specific educational engineering activities leading to school-specific design.
  
• The outcome is a detailed, research-based, illustration of what the clients want the school to be.
  

These activities are short previews of the seminars, illustrating what can happen if sound educational engineering principles are followed in building capital projects.

Four Ways to Schedule a Pre-Design and Planning Round Table Seminar:

1. Using our online form
2. Call 706-614-1338
3. Write to:
   TFPG, 2351 College Station Road, Suite 407
   Athens, GA 30605
4. E.Mail us at tfpg@tfpg.org
   

The TFPG provides a fast-paced and informative preview of planning a capital project for your school or community group.  We welcome organizations of all sizes. In this Round Table Seminar we provide valuable insights for clients regarding the information requirements for sound educational planning and design activities necessary for developing a new school or renovating an existing structure.  The pre-planning and pre-design activity may be experienced in two parts:

The shorter component, Part I,  is delivered through a 3 hour  pre-design and planning Round Table Seminar for governing boards and key stakeholders (a  group of no more than 20 stakeholders).  The shorter version is outlined above.   The fee for this service is on a per person basis in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, payable the day of the seminar plus an advance for travel and materials. The fee for international clients is also on a per person basis payable the day of the seminar, plus an advance for ground and air transportation, lodging and materials. A packet of planning and design materials is included; plus a 60 - day period for follow-up communications.

Part II is customized for school and community stakeholders, requiring  4 1/2 hours for no more than 20 participants.  The cost of this service in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean is on a per person basis payable the day of the seminar, plus an advance for travel and materials.  The fee for international clients is also on a per person basis payable the day of the seminar, plus an advance for ground and air transportation, lodging and materials. A packet of planning and design materials is included; plus a 60 - day period for follow-up communications. 

What is the need for a pre-design and pre-planning forum? 

Many school organizations do not employ a staff member devoted to school facilities planning.  Often school leaders do not build schools frequently enough to stay informed about the latest research-based school design patterns that influence student behavior, attitude, and learning.  The TFPG,  in cooperation with the University of Georgia's School Design & Planning Laboratory, continuously refines our seminar techniques, conducts new research, reviews information regarding "green schools", and studies existing research reports to ensure that our clients know about educationally sound school designs.  The TFPG minimizes the actual value of "best practices" because we want our clients to ask:  "Whose best practices, where, when, and how often do they work?" 

The TFPG provides a wide spectrum of service to supplement or replace the slot in a school system that might have been devoted to facilities planning.  We do not just happen to have educational specifications and a concept design of "best practices" in a drawer or stored on a computer to sell to clients, and we strive to show only what sound research suggests; answering the question: What is the "ideal" school for this community or organization?  We always consider the cultural, social, economic, and demographic constraints in the school's service area when presenting design ideas. Our work in this  pre-design and planning round table seminar is based on sharing knowledge, not on selling a plan that we already have developed and conveniently hidden away.  Why?  Every public and private school should reflect its stakeholders' cultural and value systems and not those of the vendor.

Educational facilities planning depends on valid and reliable group process methods.  At the TFPG, there is considerable emphasis on educational engineering and stakeholder participation. We develop a setting to allow equal representation and input from all representatives of the school organization.  No individual is allowed to dominate the meetings we hold, because we believe planning is a participatory process.  Special emphasis is placed on the beliefs and values of the client group so that the true culture of the school can be reflected in the concept design.

Through the TFPG's planning process, leaders and stakeholders acquire the right information for beginning a capital project.  Clients take away information that equips them to make decisions founded on reliable concepts; not on  what a neighboring school  may have just built, what may be stored away in a computer, or what may be defined as a prototype school by a state agency.  TFPG does not have a dated "plan in a box" waiting for a buyer.  TFPG avoids the hard sell approach to gloss over poor and dated concepts. Beyond the workshop, you may decide to employ TFPG to work with you through the entire capital project (including hiring an architect).  We believe that the educational functions dictates the forms of spaces for learning, not the other way around.

With our focused planning process, the stakeholders get their facilities needs met according to sound research, planning, and design principles.  Unfortunately, there are many school organizations that never received what the stakeholders wanted or needed.  When the school facility was completed, clients have often been disappointed.  Public taxpayers and supporters of private, independent schools have often paid for a school building they never received.   The main cause for this is usually lack of information that they could have gained in the pre-planning forum; and the premature hiring of an architect to supervise educational planning activities, all in the name of saving money for the client.  We must deal with function (the things that go on in the school) before we hire an architect to work on form.  Function before Form, always!

Thanks for Reading the TFPG Planning Overview!