Investing in MSU's future: The critical role of capital renewal

• Michigan State University is home to hundreds of buildings, and the university's Capital Renewal Program invests in maintaining infrastructure and facilities across campus.
• Video shows an interview with MSU Capital Renewal Planning Manager, Kelsey Oosterhoff.
• “We have five-hundred and seventy-eight buildings making up almost twenty-five million gross square feet," confirmed Oosterhoff.

(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)

Michigan State University is home to hundreds of buildings across campus, but what goes into the maintenance behind those buildings?

I spoke with MSU's Capital Renewal team to learn a little bit more about the process.

“It’s an elevator here. It’s a roof there. A boiler there," explained
MSU Capital Renewal Planning Manager, Kelsey Oosterhoff.

This adds up when you are maintaining every academic building... covering millions of square feet of land.

“How many buildings do you think are on campus?”

“I would say probably in the hundreds. So, probably 150," guessed Sean Mullen, incoming Freshman at MSU.

“We have five-hundred and seventy-eight buildings making up almost twenty-five million gross square feet," confirmed Oosterhoff.

And MSU's Capital Renewal team sits at the helm, working daily to keep those structures safe and fully functional, "Capital renewal is the ongoing reinvestment into our existing facilities and infrastructure across campus," described Oosterhoff.

Kelsey Oosterhoff is MSU's Capital Renewal Planning Manager, and she says, with over 67% of space across campus over 50 years old, each building requires its own unique set of care, "The newer lab buildings across campus have very complex modern mechanical systems that require a different level of care than an 1800 or 1900 hundred building that has unique challenges of its own.”

And through re-occurring facility condition assessments, “Assessing every building system from the roofs, the windows, the doors, to the mechanical systems, the plumbing," said Oosterhoff.

Kelsey and her team are able to determine the needs of each structure and prioritize what needs attention and when.

“This is an original fan in the building, was put in when the building was put up. When we go to look at capital renewal and replacement of this unit we need to keep in mind the changes that have happened to the building. We need to bring it up to modern standard, and to meet current codes," said MSU Mechanical Designer, Alan Vanderstelt.

While capital renewal is a process at the university with many complexities, Kelsey says, one shared goal drives it all, "To maintain a multiyear strategic plan so we are coordinating with the academic mission, and not wasting resources.”

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