The Value of Facility Assessments
Photo: GMC’s approach brings together experts from various disciplines, such as architecture, healthcare, physical security, electronic security, mechanical, electrical, fire protection, plumbing and civil engineering to evaluate the facility. | Photo Credit: Courtesy of GMC
By Hillary Morgan, AIA, NCARB, Vice President of Justice Architecture, Goodwyn Mills Cawood
Regardless of the industry, facility assessments are a vital tool for supporting organizations in achieving their goals, particularly for the future. For the corrections industry, however, the importance of facility assessments cannot be overstated. By looking at the current conditions of a facility, leaders can make informed decisions not only about future repairs, maintenance and further investments, but also to ensure the safety and security of those working and living in these facilities.
What is a Facility Assessment?
A facility assessment is the process of evaluating every piece of the physical infrastructure of a building itself. This is done to determine the existing conditions of the facility in terms of structure and support.
Why is it Important?
Sometimes, it may seem like a new facility is needed, when in reality, the problem is inefficient use of the existing space. Other times, renovation may seem like the most viable option; however, assessment of building systems or aging infrastructure may prove otherwise. Without taking the time to fully assess an asset, how it’s being used and its current state, it can be difficult to make an educated decision about how to move forward.
A facility assessment is imperative due to the nature of correctional facilities, which are under constant use, are often outdated and may face overcrowding. A holistic evaluation of the facility is necessary to plan for the future. Through a facility assessment, recommendations are made to improve the facility and bring it up to current code, calculate the costs of renovations and repairs, determine the number of inmates a facility can house and, in more severe cases, highlight the need for construction of a new facility altogether. Facility assessments are an important first step to increase safety, wellbeing and efficiency in a correctional facility.
What Does a Facility Assessment Look Like?
While the process may vary, Goodwyn Mills Cawood’s (GMC) approach brings together a team of experts from various disciplines,
such as architecture, healthcare, physical security, electronic security, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and civil engineering to evaluate the facility. With this assessment team, we do a deep dive of MEP, security, tension, layout, civil and water systems, observing and inspecting every piece of infrastructure. Conditions are documented in notes and photographs taken during walk-through visual inspections. This process is critical to collecting all necessary data to best support the assessment.
An evaluation report is created based on what was observed. The report lists requirements and recommendations on a point-based condition index. This serves as a priority list to highlight the top needs as well as those that are less pressing. With security being a top priority for corrections facilities, issues related to safety are often more heavily weighted to ensure these are addressed immediately.
By planning and designing with security at the forefront, potential threats can be eliminated. The facility assessment report helps to determine what needs to be replaced or renovated to best maintain security and safety.
From this report, we facilitate the cost and time for each of the items on the priority list for leaders to see how this can align with their allotted budget and timeline. This can help to support master planning as well as capital planning documents to properly secure funding for the facility.
Hillary Morgan is the Vice President, Justice Architecture for Goodwyn Mills Cawood. She has more than 10 years of architectural experience in the education and corrections sectors and currently leads operations, administration, client relations and design and construction services for GMC’s justice projects.
For more details about the next steps following a facility assessment, as well as a practical case history involving a facility assessment for a new jail project in Burke County, Ga., read the rest of the article in the September/October Maintenance & Operations edition of Correctional News.