2010 SCUP Award for Institutional Innovation and Integration Recipient 

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The 2010 recipient for SCUP’s Institutional Innovation and Integration Award is Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada for their entry, “Nanaimo Campus Master Plan – Integrated Planning Process.” It was submitted by Ric Kelm, executive director, facilities services and campus development at the university. This award recognizes and honors the achievement of higher education institutions or teams of individuals whose work demonstrates innovative thinking, planning, and implementation in an integrated fashion.

Vancouver Island University (VIU) is known as a center of excellence for teaching, applied research and learning. With roots dating back to 1936 when Nanaimo’s first vocational training school opened its doors, VIU shares a rich history and deep relationships with its communities. With a recent change in status from university/college to full university (2008), VIU has changed more than its name and is positioning itself to become a national leader in education, community development and environmental practices with the implementation of the Nanaimo Campus Master Plan (NCMP) in conjunction with a new Integrated Planning Process.

Framing The Future
The campus master plan was approved in January 2009. Volume one addresses many campus development, educational and community issues including: a master site plan that details the modifications to existing buildings and the construction of new facilities, and a planning strategy that delineates spatial structure and composition, environmental sustainability, experiential quality in terms of human interface and visible features, movement and infrastructure systems.

Volume two includes various technical studies providing an information base for decisions and recommendations inherent in the plan. This includes site analysis, inventory of existing facilities, transportation strategy, and sustainability policy. The NCMP also includes a digital model of the campus to study current and future design options. The NCMP proposes a compact academic core surrounded by student and market housing development. These developments will add a critical mass of residential life and activity, reduce environmental implications of intensive commuting, and conform to City of Nanaimo and Nanaimo Regional District growth containment patterns. It proposes developments to restore natural features, promote environmental stewardship, take advantage of available geothermal energy, reduce greenhouse gases, and bring the campus to its full potential.

The NCMP is the result of an extensive consultation process with the campus community, the First Nations community, the City of Nanaimo, the local business community, and residents in adjacent neighborhoods. A comprehensive consultant team was guided by a steering committee that was chaired jointly by the acting vice president of finance and operations and the director of facilities services and campus development. Meetings began in late 2007 to set objectives for the plan, analyze existing conditions, determine patterns of future growth, explore design options, pursue optimal design concepts and draft a comprehensive plan. Concurrently, information-gathering meetings were held on campus and in adjacent communities. Input was used to create a vision to build the campus in ways that best support the needs of students, faculty and staff, community, and others using or visiting the campus.

Safeguarding the Future
The NCMP supports the university’s multi-faceted, interdisciplinary sustainability policy. Institutional sustainability promotes and maintains recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff; support of the surrounding community; and identification of VIU as a distinguished regional destination. Social sustainability establishes VIU as a focal point within the city, including connections to adjacent environmental zones, adjacent recreational facilities, local communities and neighborhoods, and the downtown core. It introduces equitable space and environmental standards to promote physical health and psychosocial well being in all campus facilities. Fiscal sustainability mandates development of endowments and income streams to fund scholarships and new facilities, maintain campus infrastructure, and introduce environmental initiatives such as using available geothermal energy, minimizing water consumption, and optimizing waste management to provide dramatic reductions in consumption and operating costs. Operational sustainability introduces integrated planning as an administrative mechanism optimizing the effectiveness of all resources and operations. This process is an overriding policy that affects all sustainability goals and all university developments and activities. Environmental sustainability introduces compact, efficient and economically serviced development of primary land resources and preserves existing functional structures and infrastructures. This policy mandates LEED® Gold performance standards for all future buildings, commits to the demolition of poor quality inefficient facilities and includes environmentally upgraded systems in retained buildings. It also includes restoration of indigenous vegetation, landscapes and watercourses, adding hundreds of trees to form a wildlife corridor and the implementation of long-term water reduction strategies.

Facilities and Infrastructure Capital Investments
The NCMP defines the infrastructure investment priorities and resource utilization for VIU. The University Center project is the immediate capital priority and essential to realize the campus plan. The project consists of: two new academic complexes, a comprehensive university, student and community center, an academic square connecting these buildings, a sports, health and wellness center, a geo-exchange district energy system, and a sustainable transportation initiative. It integrates academic program space, student service space, community services, and ceremonial facilities for aboriginal programs. Space allowances for all academic and research activities have been based on an academic plan and on a master program for those activities, including ministry space entitlement standards for universities. The plan was a catalyst for establishment of an integrated planning process at VIU that addresses institution-wide objectives and synthesizes all aspects of the university operation. It will coordinate all planning for strategic, academic, research, and ancillary services, and fiscal, operational, social, and physical activities for maximum focus and performance of future developments. The academic plan is supported by the NCMP by addressing required infrastructure and facilities deficiencies, enhancing research and learning capacity, and accommodating new programs and technologies. The geo-exchange district energy system is key to long-term sustainable operation of the campus and has the potential to reduce campus energy use and GHG emissions by more than 75%. The sustainable transportation initiative is an essential part of the regional district of Nanaimo and the university’s sustainable transportation plan. The NCMP defined more than $200 million worth of infrastructure and facilities for the Nanaimo campus.

The plan formalized primary organizational goals, many of which already existed; however, they had not been expressed with specific tactical and strategic objectives for achieving them. The most dramatic change of focus was in environmental sustainability, as stated in this vision:

“To see higher education take a leadership role in preparing students and employees to achieve a just and sustainable society. The campus itself would serve as a model of sustainability, with curriculum and operations reflecting an integrative approach to learning and practice. The process of education would emphasize active, experiential, inquiry based learning and real-world problem solving. On the model campus all sectors would work collaboratively to advance sustainability, and the content and context of learning would reflect a focus on systemic, interdisciplinary thinking with respect to human health, ethics, future generations, and planetary stewardship.”

The NCMP involved the work of a dedicated team of VIU staff, faculty, students, external stakeholders, and consultants. This document will maintain a living document format that will continue to encourage the input of the university’s internal and external community and incorporate that input on a 5-year revisit and revise schedule. Facilities Management is seen as the "champion” of the plan and we see it as our responsibility to ensure every development is aligned with the plan.