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Scouser District Energy

July 2, 2026
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Eurocodes

Energy Management Systems

Chicken Veggie Risotto

July 1, 2026
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The Recipe

Cowboy Coffee

July 1, 2026
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“We wish to suggest a structure

for the salt of deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA).

This structure has novel features

which are of considerable biological interest….”

James Watson | “Nature” April 1953

“The Valley of Wyoming” 1865 Jasper Cropsey

University of Wyoming 2021

This simple method preparing hot coffee evolved from open flame; out on the range.  The result is a strong, robust cup that retains grittiness due to the coarse grind and the absence of a filter. Cowboy coffee is more about utility and simplicity rather than precision and refinement, which aligns with the rugged and practical nature of cowboy life.  Here’s how it’s typically made:

Ingredients:

Coarsely ground coffee beans, water.

Equipment:

A pot (often a simple metal or enamel coffee pot), a heat source (campfire or portable stove), and a way to separate the grounds from the liquid (like pouring or using a fine mesh strainer).

Process:

Add coarsely ground coffee to the pot. The amount can vary based on personal preference, but it’s generally a couple of tablespoons of coffee per cup of water.

Add water to the pot. Again, the ratio of coffee to water can be adjusted based on taste preferences.

Place the pot on the heat source and bring it to a near-boil. Watch it carefully to avoid boiling over.

Once it’s heated, let it steep for a few minutes. Some cowboys might toss in a crushed eggshell to help settle the grounds.

Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for a moment to allow the coffee grounds to settle.

Pour the coffee carefully to avoid pouring the grounds into your cup.

Locals swear by it:

“Cowboy coffee ain’t as easy as it looks. It takes some know-how to make it right.” – Unknown

“You can’t compromise with a cup of weak coffee.” – Cowboy Proverb

“There are only two things that a cowboy can’t do without – his horse and his coffee.” – Unknown

“A cowboy’s day starts with coffee and ends with whiskey.” – Unknown

“Life is too short for bad coffee.” – Unknown

“Cowboy coffee: where the grounds are meant to be chewed, not sipped.” – Unknown

Electric: Wyoming

"We were together. I forget the rest." -- Walt Whitman ('Leaves of Grass', 1855) "Everything I know is because of love" -- Leo Tolstoy

Wyoming

University of Alaska Ethnobotany: Bannock

Cafes at Saint George

July 1, 2026
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University of Toronto Asset Management Corporation Report | $8.2B


Jordan Peterson was a Professor at the University of Toronto St. George


Facilities & Services | Campus Master Plan | 2025 update to U & T building design standards

Ædificare & Utilization

July 1, 2026
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New Construction Release Schedule: https://www.census.gov/construction/c30/release.html

Reports are usually released at 10 AM EST the first day of every month except this month. (May 2026)

There’s been a significant redesign of the look and feel of the monthly Census Bureau reports construction activity. Today we sort through the rather more granular statistics that inform our recommendations for facility spend.

 

December 1, 2025

It has been 20 years since we began tracking educational settlement facility spend.  Starting this month we will examine federal government data together with the best available data about space utilization to enlighten our response to the perfectly reasonable question: “Are we over-building or under-building or building ineffectively”.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

United States: Schools of Architecture

The Society for College and University Planning (Ann Arbor, Michigan)

National Center for Education Statistics

The Financial Impact of Architectural Design: Balancing Aesthetics and Budget in Modern Construction

 

Homeschooling

2022 International Existing Building Code 

  • University College London

As reported by the US Department of Commerce Census Bureau the value of construction put in place by August 2025 by the US education industry proceeded at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $137.604 billion.  This number does not include renovation for projects under 50,000 square feet and new construction in university-affiliated health care delivery enterprises.   Reports are released two months after calendar month.  The complete report is available at the link below:

MONTHLY CONSTRUCTION SPENDING August 2025 (released two months after calendar month)

 

 


This spend makes the US education facilities industry (which includes colleges, universities, technical/vocational and K-12 schools, most university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery enterprises, etc.) the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States after commercial property; and fairly close.  For perspective consider total public + private construction ranked according to the tabulation most recently released:

$137.604 billion| Education Facilities

$155.728 billion | Power

$69.625 billion | Healthcare

Keep in mind that inflation figures into the elevated dollar figures.  Overall — including construction, energy, custodial services, furnishings, security. etc., — the non-instructional spend plus the construction spend of the US education facilities is running at a rate of about $300 – $500 billion per year.

LIVE: A selection of construction cameras at  US schools, colleges and universities

Architectural Billings

We typically pick through the new data set; looking for clues relevant to real asset spend decisions.  Finally, we encourage the education facilities industry to contribute to the accuracy of these monthly reports by responding the US Census Bureau’s data gathering contractors.

Reconstruction of Ancient Agora

 

As surely as people are born, grow wealthy and die with extra cash,

there will be a home for that cash to sustain their memory and to steer

the cultural heritage of the next generation in beautiful settings.

More

National Center for Educational Statistics

AIA: Billings Index shows but remains strong May 2022

National Center for Education Statistics

Sightlines: Capital Investment College Facilities

OxBlue: Time-Lapse Construction Cameras for Education

Architectural Billing Index

IBISWorld Education Sector

US Census Bureau Form F-33 Survey of School System Finances

American School & University

New Report from Occuspace Finds U.S. Campuses Face Significant Underutilization

Global Consistency in Presenting Construction & Life Cycle Costs

Carnegie Classifications

Chocolate Cherry Breakfast Muffins & Cowboy Coffee

July 1, 2026
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Oklahoma State University Financial Statements 2024 | $1.425B (Page 5)

Executive Leadership | Higher Learning Commission | Facilities Master Plan

Pleasant Valley Schoolhouse | Stillwater

Standards Oklahoma

Cowboy Coffee

“The War on the West” Jordan B. Peterson & Douglas Murray

 

Tax-Free Bonds

July 1, 2026
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Current Referenda | Ballotpedia

Perspective:

  • The largest school bond referendum on ballots in November 2025 is the $1.4 billion package for Richardson Independent School District (ISD) in Texas.
  • University of Michigan’s 2025  $2 billion general revenue bonds
  • New York University’s 2025 $2.18 billion bonds through the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York
  • The largest school bond referendum on ballots in November 2024 was Measure US for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) in California, totaling $9 billion.
  • In the November 2022 elections, a significant number of school bond referenda were presented to voters across the United States. For example, in Wisconsin alone, there were 57 successful capital referenda amounting to nearly $2.1 billion in authorized debt​ (Wisconsin Policy Forum)
  • In Texas, Central Texas schools had a total of $4.24 billion in bonds on the ballot, covering various propositions for school facilities, technology improvements, and athletic facilities​ (Fox 7 Austin)
  • In California and Arkansas, bond measures totaling $74 million — including school choice — were aimed at addressing school facility improvements​ (The74Million)
  • Voters in 16 North Carolina counties approved bond issues totaling $4.27 billion, with $3.08 billion dedicated to K-12 public school construction and improvements​ (EducationNC)

 

“The cure for high prices, is high prices” — They say.

Today we explore fiscal runaway in the US education “industry” with particular interest in the financing instruments for building the real assets that are the beating heart of culture in neighborhoods, cities, counties and states.  We steer clear of social and political issues.  The marketing of these projects — and how the loans are paid off — provides insight into the costs and benefits of this $100+ billion industry; the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States.

Educational Settlement Finance

We cannot do much to stop the hyperbolically rising cost of administrative functionaries but we can force the incumbents we describe in our ABOUT to work a little harder to reduce un-used (or un-useable) space and reduce maintenance cost.  Sometimes simple questions result in obvious answers that result in significant savings.

More recently hybrid teaching and learning space, owing the the circumstances of the pandemic, opens new possibilities for placing downward pressure on cost.

What the University of Michigan has done to reduce the life cycle cost of the real assets of educational settlements

Gallery: School Bond Referenda

Regulation or Money-Laundering?

After Architect-Engineers and Building Construction Contractors (many of whom finance election advocacy enterprises) the following organizations are involved in placing a bond on the open market:

  1. School Districts: Individual school districts issue bonds to fund construction or renovation of school facilities, purchase equipment, or cover other educational expenses. Each school district is responsible for managing its own bond issuances.
  2. Colleges and Universities: Higher education institutions, such as universities and colleges, issue bonds to finance campus expansions, construction of new academic buildings, dormitories, research facilities, and other capital projects.
  3. State-Level Agencies: Many states have agencies responsible for overseeing and coordinating bond issuances for schools and universities. These agencies may facilitate bond sales, help ensure compliance with state regulations, and provide financial assistance to educational institutions.
  4. Municipal Finance Authorities: Municipal finance authorities at the state or local level often play a role in facilitating bond transactions for educational entities. They may act as intermediaries in the bond issuance process.
  5. Investment Banks and Underwriters: Investment banks and underwriters assist educational institutions in structuring and selling their bonds to investors. They help determine bond terms, market the bonds, and manage the offering.
  6. Bond Counsel: Bond counsel, typically law firms, provide legal advice to educational institutions on bond issuances. They help ensure that the bond issuance complies with all legal requirements and regulations.
  7. Rating Agencies: Rating agencies, such as Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings, assess the creditworthiness of the bonds and assign credit ratings. These ratings influence the interest rates at which the bonds can be issued.
  8. Investors: Various institutional and individual investors, including mutual funds, pension funds, and individual bond buyers, purchase school and university bonds as part of their investment portfolios.
  9. Financial Advisors: Financial advisory firms provide guidance to educational institutions on bond issuances, helping them make informed financial decisions related to borrowing and debt management.
  10. Regulatory Authorities: Federal and state regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and state-specific agencies, oversee and regulate the issuance of bonds to ensure compliance with securities laws and financial regulations.

These organizations collectively contribute to the process of issuing, selling, and managing school and university bonds in the United States, allowing educational institutions to raise the necessary funds for their capital projects and operations. The specific entities involved may vary depending on the size and location of the educational institution and the nature of the bond issuance.

Bond issuances affect local property values.

Lights Out

 

Educational Settlement Finance

July 1, 2026
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Giovanni Paolo Panini, An architectural capriccio with figures among Roman ruins

The post-pandemic #WiseCampus transformation requires significant capital to meet the sustainability goals of its leadership.  Campuses are cities-within-cities and are, to a fair degree, financed in a similar fashion.  Tax-free bonds are an effective instrument for school districts, colleges and universities — and the host community in which they are nested — for raising capital for infrastructure projects while also providing investors with, say $10,000 to $100,000, to allocate toward a tax-free dividend income stream that produces a return in the range of 2 to 8 percent annually.

An aging population may be receptive to investment opportunities that protect their retirement savings from taxation.

Once a month, we walk through the prospectuses of one or two bond offerings of school districts, colleges and universities and examine offering specifics regarding infrastructure construction, operations and maintenance.  We pay particular attention to details regarding “continuing operations”. Somehow the education industry has to pay for its green agenda.  See our CALENDAR for the next Finance colloquium; open to everyone.

The interactive map provided by Electronic Municipal Market Access identifies state-by-state listings of tax-free bonds that contribute to the construction and operation of education facilities; some of which involved university-affiliated medical research and healthcare delivery enterprises.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR INTERACTIVE MAP

 

If you need help cutting through this list please feel free to click in any day at 11 AM Eastern time.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our hope page.  We collaborate with subject matter experts at Municipal Analytics and UBS.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Administration & Management, Finance, #SmartCampus

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, John Kaczor, Liberty Ziegahn

*We see the pandemic as a driver for a step-reduction in cost in all dimensions of education communities.  We coined the term with a hashtag about two years ago.

*College and university infrastructure projects are classified with public school districts under the rubric “municipal bonds” at the moment.  CLICK HERE for more information.

 

More:

Duke Law Review:  Don’t ‘Screw Joe the Plummer’: The Sausage-Making of Financial Reform

An Expanded Study of School Bond Elections in Michigan

International Existing Building Code

July 1, 2026
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“A Square with Imaginary Buildings” | Hendrik van Steenwijck (1614)

 

2024 International Existing Building Code

2025 GROUP B PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE I-CODES | April 2025

Important 2024  IEBC Changes Affecting College & University Facilities

Code Change Campus Impact
1. Occupiable Roofs New provisions coordinate rooftop occupancy requirements with the 2024 IBC. Universities converting roofs into terraces, student gathering areas, dining spaces, green roofs, or observation decks must evaluate structural capacity, means of egress, accessibility, guardrails, and fire protection.
2. Risk Category Clarification for Additions Provides clearer guidance when additions have a different occupancy than the existing building. This is particularly important for laboratory expansions, medical research buildings, student health facilities, and emergency operations centers.
3. Storm Shelter Coordination Storm shelter provisions now coordinate directly with IBC Section 423 and ICC 500. Campus projects in tornado-prone regions should verify shelter requirements early during planning.
4. Smoke Compartment Requirements Certain renovations involving healthcare occupancies, student medical clinics, and assisted-living facilities may require additional smoke compartmentation during major alterations.
5. Adult Changing Stations Projects adding toilet facilities may now require adult changing stations in certain accessible family or assisted-use restrooms. This primarily affects stadiums, arenas, student unions, libraries, and performing arts centers.
6. Exterior Wall Renovations on High-Rise Buildings Installation of combustible exterior wall coverings or envelope systems on existing high-rise buildings may trigger automatic sprinkler requirements. This should be evaluated during residence hall and research tower renovations.
7. Existing Automatic Sprinkler Systems New provisions establish conditions under which certain non-required sprinkler systems may be removed following occupancy changes. Campus owners should review this carefully before renovation projects.
8. Temporary Emergency Building Uses New Appendix E provides guidance for temporary emergency use of existing buildings. Universities can incorporate these concepts into emergency operations planning during natural disasters or public health emergencies.
9. Construction Site Safety Planning New owner responsibilities emphasize development of site safety plans and designation of responsible personnel during construction. This is especially valuable on occupied campuses where construction occurs adjacent to classrooms, residence halls, hospitals, and pedestrian routes.
10. Better Coordination with the 2024 IBC Many provisions have been reorganized or updated to improve consistency between the IEBC and the current International Building Code. Campus design teams can expect fewer conflicts between existing-building and new-construction requirements during modernization projects.

 

Facilities Most Likely to be Affected

  • Research laboratories
  • Residence halls
  • Athletic stadiums and arenas
  • Libraries
  • Student unions
  • Classroom buildings
  • Central utility plants
  • Medical schools and student health clinics
  • Performing arts centers
  • High-rise academic buildings

“`

 

November 30, 2021

 

Every month we direct our colleagues in the education industry to the US Census Department’s monthly construction report to make a point: at an average annual clip of about $75 billion, the education industry is the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States.  A large part of that construction involves infrastructure upgrades of existing buildings that contribute to sustainability goals but may not make flashy architectural statements for philanthropists.

EDUCATION INDUSTRY CONSTRUCTION SPEND

The International Existing Building Code (IEBC) is a model code in the International Code Council family of codes intended to provide requirements for repair and alternative approaches for alterations and additions to existing buildings (LEARN MORE).  A large number of existing buildings and structures do not comply with the current building code requirements for new construction.  Although many of these buildings are potentially salvageable, rehabilitation is often cost-prohibitive because compliance with all the new requirements for new construction could require extensive changes that go well beyond the value of building or the original scope of the alteration.

FREE ACCESS: 2021 International Existing Building Code

 

Education facility planners, architects and managers: Sound familiar?

ICC administered workgroups have been convening with considerable frequency over the past several months to pull together a number of relevant concepts for the next (2019 Group B) revision.  For the purpose of providing some perspective on the complexity and subtlety of the issues in play, a partial overview of working group activity is available in the links below.  Keep in mind that there are many other proposals being developed by our ICC working group and others.

IEBC Healthcare for BCAC December 11 2018

16-169 IEBC BCC Worksheet October 2-3 2018

There are other many other issues we have been tracking.  The foregoing simply presents the level of detail and subtlety that is noteworthy.

On Tuesday the ICC has released its the complete monograph for use at the Group B Committee Action Hearings, April 28-May 8 at the Albuquerque Convention Center:

2019 Group B Proposed Changes

It is a large document — 2919 pages — so keep that in mind when accessing it.  There are many issues affecting #TotalCostofOwnership of the education facility industry so we will get cracking on it again next week.   See our CALENDAR for the next online teleconference.  Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Finally, we persist in encouraging education industry facility managers (especially those with operations and maintenance data) to participate in the ICC code development process.  You may do so by CLICKING HERE.   Real asset managers for school districts, colleges, universities and technical schools in the Albuquerque region should take advantage of the opportunity to observe the ICC code-development process.   The Group B Hearings are usually webcast — and we will signal the link to the 10-day webcast when it becomes available — but the experience of seeing how building codes are determined is enlightening when you can watch it live and on site.

 

Issue: [16-169]

Category: Architectural, Facility Asset Management, Space Planning

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

#StandardsNewMexico

LEARN MORE:

ICC Group B Code Development Schedule

Innovation and Competitiveness in Artificial Intelligence

July 1, 2026
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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NIST Expands AI Consortium’s Scope, Calls for New Members

 

The International Trade Administration (ITA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) is requesting public comments to gain insights on the current global artificial intelligence (AI) market. Responses will provide clarity about stakeholder concerns regarding international AI policies, regulations, and other measures which may impact U.S. exports of AI technologies. Additionally, the request for information (RFI) includes inquiries related to AI standards development. ANSI encourages relevant stakeholders to respond by ITA’s deadline of October 17, 2022.

Fueling U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness in AI: Respond to International Trade Administration’s Request for Information

Commerce Department Launches the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee

 

Image

 

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