Survey of the Physical Facilities for An Accredited ACCE Construction Education Program

The American Council for Construction Education (ACCE) identifies the criteria for accreditation for construction programs an disrecognized by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA) and the U. S. Department of Education. With the guidance, support, and recommendations of constructors from the education and industry community, "Standards and Criteria" have been established to insure quality of baccalaureate programs. An identified component for accreditation of an academic program is the physical facilities as defined in the ACCE annual report (1990). To help identify parameters of an acceptable facility, the accredited ACCE programs were surveyed. Seventeen of the twenty‑six administrators responded. The survey instrument was designed specifically using the Construction Science and Construction curriculum categories and their subtitles per baccalaureate degree listings. Specific attention was directed toward allocated square footage, types of activities, type of equipment, and usage of an area.

INTRODUCTION

An important consideration for the faculty and students of a construction program is the physical facility and related equipment. This requirement is a special concern for programs dealing with accreditation body such as the American Council for Construction Education. The 1990 annual report of ACCE calls out the following criteria for physical facilities.

Physical facilities should be well maintained and organized to accommodate academic activities such as lectures, discussions, seminars, conferences, laboratory work, and research. The nature of construction programs imposes a need for special types of space and equipment to introduce the student to realistic construction methods and procedures. It is important that the facilities be arranged to encourage student and faculty interaction.

Traditional laboratory courses such as drafting surveying, and material testing may use facilities developed for the design disciplines. However, it is important that there also be laboratory facilities for the teaching of construction principles and practices. There should be facilities for office‑oriented activities with adequate storage space for multiple copies of plans and specifications, and facilities for field‑oriented activities such as space for model building and simulations.

The guidelines do not definitively specify physical constraints on a program. However, the types of activities occurring in a program's facility should relate to the construction curriculum.

The specific categories in the construction curriculum for an ACCE accredited program include Construction Sciences and Construction. Subtitles under each of these categories include the following.

CONCLUSION

The findings of study indicated that there is a variety of space allocations for lab and lecture activities among the program surveyed by this study among ACCE accredited programs. It is realized that there is a possibility that multitude of activity may occur in any one area. It is evident that there is flexibility in regard to facility expectations as long as the activities occurring within the program meet ACCE guidelines.

	Materials
	Fundamentals of Construction Science
	Analysis and Design of Building Systems
	Construction Design
	Other

	Construction Fundamentals
	Estimating and Bidding
	Project Execution
	Project Control
	History of Construction
	Applications of Business
	Fundamentals; such as construction law,
	construction accounting, etc.
	Other Construction

Table 2 Program Title
Program Title	No.
Building Construction	2
Building Science	1
Construction Administration	1
Construction Management	6
Construction	1
Construction Science	3
Construction Science & Management	2
Construction Engineering Management	1
Mechanical Contracting	1
TOTAL	18

Table 4 Materials ‑ Construction materials, components, and materials testing
	School	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely For This Tonic	Type of Activities Occurring in This bag	Type of Equipment Located in the Footage
	1	Lecture: Varies Lab: 9,188	Lab -Yes	Material Testing	Material Testing
	2	800	No	Material Testing	Versa Tester Concrete Tester Humidity Room
	3	1,887	Yes	-	-
	4	3,600	Yes	Concrete Mixing Asphalt Mixing Structural Testing	Testing Equipment Asphalt & Concrete Mixing Machines
	5	400	No	Properties Testing	Optical Compantor Ultrasonic Comprarsitor Magnetic Compantor Multi Tester Tensile Tester X-Ray
	6	3,300	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
	7	150 Seat Auditorium	No	Lecture	-
	8	850	Yes	Soil & Concrete Testing	Soil & Concrete Preparation Control Room Misc. Testing Equip.
	9	306	Yes	Material Testing	Universal Equipment
	10	None
	11	19,000		Materials & Soil Testing	All common & typical concrete & ferrous metals testing equip.
	12	1,650Lecture 1,800 Lab	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
	13	400 Lab	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
	14	1,500	No	Framing Masonry	No Testing Equipment
	15	3,200	No	Soils Lab	Soils & Concrete Equipment
	16	3,000 Planned	Yes	Soil & Concrete Testing	Soil & Concrete Preparation Control Room
	17	4,000	Yes	Misc. Testing Equip. Concrete Form Work Rough Framing Carpentry Equipment	Concrete Efco Forms

Table 5 Fundamentals of Construction Science ‑ Statistics, strength of materials, dynamics, thermodynamics, soil mechanics, hydraulics
School	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely' For This Topic	Type of Activities Occurring in This Space	Type of Equipment Located in the Space
1	Lecture: Varies Lab:1,160	Lab: Yes	Lecture Material Testing	Material Testing Equipment
2	500	Yes	Soil Testing Fluid Mechanics Testing	Versa Tester Material Testing Equipment
3	Soils:1,761 Other:1,291	Yes	Soil Testing Flow Testing	Standard Equipment
4	4,800	No	Lecture & Lab Demonstrations	Hydraulic Flume
5	400	Yes	Lecture & Lab Related to Strength of Materials	Optical Comparitor Ultrasonic Comparitor Magnetic Compantor Multi Tester Tensile Tester X-Ray
6	570	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
7	400 to 1,740	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
8	850	No	Soil & Concrete Testing Fire Testing & Research	Material Testing Equipment
9	2,383	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
10	4,000	No	Lecture	Typical Equipment
11	None
12	1,650	No	Classroom	No Testing Equipment
13	1,200	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
14	-			Typical Materials Lab
15	1,230	No	Lecture	N/A
16	960	No	Classroom Instruction	No Testing Equipment
17	None

Table 6 Construction Design ‑ Temporary facilities, rigging formwork, scaffolding, foundations; construction surveying; construction graphics
School	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely' For Topic	Type of Activities Occurring m This Space	Type of Equipment Located m the
1	1,520	No	Lecture	None
2	800	No	Lecture	Versa Tester Concrete Tester Humidity Room
3	None
4	3,600	No	Lecture & Lab	Survey Equipment
5	None
6	570	No	Lecture	Surveying Equipment
7	Varies	No	Lecture & Lab	Surveying Equipment Drafting Equipment
8	361	Yes	Lecture & Lab	Surveying Equipment Laser Level EDM Device
9	976	No	Lecture	No Testing Equipment
10	None
11	1400 700	-	Lecture & Lab	Computers (PC's)
12	1,650 3,600	No	Lecture & Lab	Mixer, Sand, Gravel, Etc.
13	1,200	No	Studio & Lab	Drawing Tables Computers
14	None
15	1,230 1,600	No	Lecture & Lab	Drafting Tables
16	960	No	Lecture	None
17	400	Yes	Lab	Surveying Equipment

Table 7 Proiect Control ‑ Scheduling, project budgeting, purchasing, expediting, cost control, cash flow
	School	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely or i o	Type of Activities Occurring is This Space	Type of Equipment Located m the Space
	1	1,520	No	Lecture & Computer 16 IBM PCs Applications 4 Printers
	2	None
	3	None
	4	2,400	No	Lectures & Demos	None
	5	560	Yes	Lecture	None
	6	570	No	Lecture	None
	7	900	No	Lecture	None
	8
	9	2,208	No	Lecture Project Work Computer Work	Drafting Tables Computers
	10	1,200	No
	11	1,400 100		Lecture & Lab	Computers
	12	1,650 1,500	No	Lecture & Lab	Computers
	13	2400	No	Lecture & Lab	Computer Lab Drawing Tables
	14	900	No	Takeoffs	Tables
	15	900 1,484	No	Lecture & Lab	computers
	16	960	No	Lecture	None
	17	None

Table 8 Estimating and Bidding ‑ Quantity surveying, pricing, manpower estimates, bid compilation, bidding strategy
school	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely For This Topic	Type of Activities Occurring in This Space	Type of Equipment Located in the Space
1	1,520	No	Lecture & Computer Applications	16 IBM PCs 4 Printers
2	None
3	900	Yes		Computers Drawing Boards
4	3,600	No	Lecture & Labs
5	1,128 480	No	Traditional & Computerized Estimating	Computers
6	1,800	Yes		Drafting Tables
7	900	No	Lectures & Computer Applications	Computers
8
9	2,208	No	Lecture Project Work Computer Work	Drafting Tables Computers
10	1,500	No
11	1400 700		Lecture & Lab	Computers
12	1,650 1,500	No	Lecture Computer Lab	Computers
13	1,200	No	Lecture & Lab	Drawing Tables Computers
14	900	No	Take offs	Tables
15	900 1,428	No	Lecture & Lab	Computers
16	960	No	Lecture	None
17	2,400	No		Drafting Tables

Table 9 Storage Space
School	Allocated Square pot e	Is This Space Used Solely This Topic	Type of Activities Occurring m This Space	Type of Equipment Located in the Space
1	-	Yes	Storage Resource Room	Copier Thermofax
2	200	Yes	Storage
3	600	Yes	Storage	Hard Hats Survey Equipment
4	200	Yes	Storage	Computer Components Misc. Equipment
5	120	-	Storage	Blueprints AV Equipment Specifications
6	300	Yes	Storage
7	100	Yes	Storage
8	278	Yes	Storage	AV Equipment
9	None
10	300	Yes	Storage	Models Tools
11	360		Storage	Equip. & Material
12	500	Yes	Storage	Misc.
13	200	Yes
14	None
15	150	Yes
16	300	Yes
17	400	Yes	None	Mock-Up Materials

Table 10 Construction Fundamentals ‑ Orientation, drawings and specifications, contract documents, computer applications in construction
	school	Allocated Square Footage	Is This Space Used Solely For This Topic	Type of Activities Occurring m This Space	Type of Equipment Located in the Space
	1	1,520	No	Lecture	None
	2	1,1000	No	Drafting	Drawing Tables
	3	None
	4	3,600	No	Lectures & Demos	Computers Drawing Tables
	5	1,128		Blueprint Reading Estimating Equip. & HVAC Design	Drafting Equipment
	6	1,800 1,200	No No		Drafting Tables Computers
	7	1,203	No	Computer Lab	18 AT Type Compilers Techsonic Digitizer
	8
	9	2,202	No	Lecture Project Work Computer Work	Drafting Tables Computer Work Stations
	10	9,000	No		Standard Equip.
	11	1,400 700		Lecture & Lab	Computers
	12	1,500	No	Computer Assign.	Computers
	13	1,200	No	Lecture & Lab	Drawing Tables Computers
	14	900	No	Drafting	Drafting Tables
	15	1,232	No	Lecture & Lab
	16	960	No	Lecture	None
	17	2400	Yes