Flood Abatement Equipment

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Flood Abatement Equipment

July 7, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie | Dutch East India Company

FM Global is one of several organizations that produce technical and business documents that set the standard of care for risk management in education facilities.   These standards — Property Loss Prevention Data Sheets —  contribute to the reduction in the risk of property loss due to fire, weather conditions, and failure of electrical or mechanical equipment.  They incorporate nearly 200 years of property loss experience, research and engineering results, as well as input from consensus standards committees, equipment manufacturers and others.

In July FM Global updated its standard FM 2510 Flood Abatement Equipment which should interest flood barrier manufacturers, standard authorities, industrial and commercial facilities looking to protect their buildings from riverline flooding conditions.

The following updates were proposed and mostly adopted:

  • Modifications to the opening barrier protocol to include water performance testing at lower depths;
  • Additional tests that apply to open-cellular rubber compounds (i.e., foam-type rubber) which are commonly used as gaskets on flood barriers need to be added to the Standard to sufficiently assess their quality;
  • Addition of adhesive testing. Many barrier designs use adhesives to bond the gasket material to the barrier. Adhesives are not addressed under the current protocol;
    Modify the flood abatement pump section to clarify approval of pump packages vs. wet-end only;
  • Additional requirements for electric drive and submersible flood pumps;
  • Modifications to backwater valve section to be inclusive of all types of “backwater valves” besides the traditional check valve.
  • Additional requirements for waterproofing products for building penetrations. Products in this category include collars, plugs, elastomeric seals, and types of putty.

This standard also contains test requirements for the performance of flood barriers, flood mitigation pumps, backwater valves, and waterproofing products for building penetrations, as well as an evaluation of the components comprising these products to assure reliability in the barrier’s performance.

While there are a number of noteworthy colleges and universities that have grown near rivers and lakes — twenty-five of which are listed HERE — severe weather and system failures present flooding risks to them all.

Another Data Sheet — I-40 Floods — was updated in October.   Both Data Sheets are available for download at the link below:

FM GLOBAL PROPERTY LOSS PREVENTION DATA SHEETS

You will need to set up (free) access credentials.

You may contact FM Global directly: Josephine Mahnken, (781) 255-4813, josephine.mahnken@fmapprovals.com, 1151 Boston-Providence Turnpike, Norwood, MA 02062

Our “door” is open every day at 11 AM Eastern time to discuss any consensus document that sets the standard of care for the emergent #SmartCampus.  Additionally, we dedicate one session per month to Management and Water standards.  See our CALENDAR for the next online teleconference.   Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Risk Management, Facility Asset Management

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

Property Loss Prevention

 

Code for Fireworks Display

July 4, 2025
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“Fireworks over Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome” | Jacob Philipp Hackert (1775)

At least twice a year, and during performances with flame effects, public safety departments in colleges and universities have an elevated concern about campus citizen safety, and the safety of the host community, when fireworks are used for celebration.  We find very rigorous prohibitions against the use of fireworks, weapons and explosives on campus.  Education and enforcement usually falls on facility and operation campus safety units.

That much said, we follow development, but do not advocate in NFPA 1123 Code for Fireworks Display, because it lies among a grouping of titles that set the standard of care for many college and university public safety departments that sometimes need to craft prohibitions with consideration for the business purposes of entertainment and celebration in education facilities.   NFPA 1123 is not a long document — only 22 pages of core text — but it contains a few basic considerations for display site selection, clearances and permitting that campus public safety departments will coordinate with the host community.  It references NFPA 1126, Standard for the Use of Pyrotechnics Before a Proximate Audience and NFPA 160 Standard for the Use of Flame Effects Before an Audience.

Something to keep an eye on.  The home page for this code is linked below:

NFPA 1123 Code for Fireworks Display

For a sense of the technical discussions, transcripts of two developmental stages are linked below:

Public Input Report

Public Comment Report

Public comment on 2026 Edition proposed revisions is receivable until May 30, 2024.

We maintain this title on our periodic Prometheus colloquium.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting.

Issue: [16-134]

Category: Public Safety

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben

 


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The Chemistry of Fireworks

 

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July 3, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Standards IowaIowa Facilities Management“John Francis Rague– Pioneer Architect of Iowa”

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Seed the Future

July 3, 2025
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July 2, 2025
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Southern Methodist University: Real Estate Investment Trusts

July 2, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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Southern Methodist University | Dallas County

All the work we do intervening in technical standards setting to make educational settlements safer, simpler, lower-cost and longer-lasting does not keep pace with the growth rate of the largest non-residential building construction market in the United States which is presently challenged by international demand; but perhaps not for long.

Resource Guide

 

What do REITs actually build on campus?

  • Most university-linked REIT activity is in student housing.

  • Publicly traded REITs (e.g., American Campus Communities, EdR before acquisition) invest heavily in dormitories, apartments, and mixed-use retail.

  • They typically do not build core academic facilities (labs, classrooms) or administrative buildings.

Why do universities use REITs?

  • To outsource capital costs. Universities avoid debt on their balance sheets.

  • REITs finance, build, and sometimes operate student housing under long-term ground leases or Public-Private Partnerships (P3s).

  • Universities see this as a way to expand housing quickly without issuing bonds.

While REITs don’t “overbuild” in the academic sense, they can fuel:

  • Overcapacity in student housing if enrollment projections are wrong or decline.

  • Pressure to approve new beds even as demand flattens or drops.

  • Long-term financial obligations (e.g., guaranteed occupancy rates in P3 contracts) that burden universities if enrollment falls.

  • Some universities guaranteed minimum occupancy in REIT partnerships. If enrollment dipped, they had to subsidize empty rooms.

Most overbuilding in core facilities—labs, classrooms, administrative space—has been driven by:

  • Ambitious master plans

  • Competition for prestige

  • Donor-driven construction

  • Misaligned enrollment forecasts

We leave the topic of “Football Field Syndrome” for another day.

Redundant Square Footage

July 2, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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This Washington D.C. – based non-profit’s founding originated at the University of Michigan in the 1920’s and has long since expanded affiliates in several North American regions and states.  It maintains one of the most active bibliography on space utilization, curated here to support today’s colloquium.

How Understanding Campus Utilization Rates Can Reduce Your Institution’s Carbon Footprint

“The State of Facilities in Higher Education: Space, Spending, & Staff” (June 2024)
Discusses the tension between campus building stock and declining enrollment, examining the ratio of space-to-enrollment growth, and exploring how institutions are reducing footprint amid surplus space

“Changing the Facilities Backlog Conversation in Higher Education” (July/August 2021)
Covers how colleges manage over 6 billion sq ft of campus space, a deferred maintenance backlog of $112 billion, and strategies (“Catch Up” & “Keep Up”) for dealing with excess and aging space

“Gordian Partners with APPA to Estimate Higher Education Infrastructure Backlog Need” (July 2021)
Details the count of 6.2 billion sq ft in 210,000 buildings, average age nearing 50 years, and current replacement value exceeding $2 trillion—highlighting the need to reassess and reduce physical footprint

“Abstract: Space Planning and Administration” (Body of Knowledge, ~2019)
Describes how some universities manage 20 million+ sq ft on a single site, emphasizing processes to inventory, classify, and efficiently use space, noting underutilized spaces like athletic fields (“football field syndrome”)

“The State of Facilities in Higher Education: Facilities Manager Magazine” (March/April 2025)
While full access is member‑only, the issue’s focus (“Elevating Student Experiences”) includes featured articles on repurposing and rightsizing spaces in response to shifting enrollment.

“Institutional Success” (APPA Thought Leaders Series, circa 2014)
Outlines how reducing campus square footage—such as demolishing 120,000 sq ft of trailers and replacing with 175,000 sq ft centralized facility—can save ~$1.6 M annual maintenance

 

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English as the Standard Language of the Internet

July 1, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com
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