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Haley & Aldrich facilitators and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo convene AEC partners to find solutions for student housing crisis

Higher education

Haley & Aldrich facilitators and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo convene to find solutions for student housing crisis 

Summary

  • Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) has only about half as many places to live as it has students. Housing rates — driven by construction and design costs — contribute substantially to the total cost of education. The issue is not unique to Cal Poly: A similar crisis affects the entire California State University system. 
  • Facing a statewide push to control costs, facilities leaders at Cal Poly SLO needed to transform campus housing development. They knew that the status quo industry project delivery methods would not move the needle on the cost or pace of delivery of their aggressive 10-year master plan for housing.  
  • The team engaged Haley & Aldrich to design and facilitate a one-day summit involving more than 80 architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) partners from more than 40 organizations. Our facilitators not only led the workshop but also leveraged insights from our industrialized construction efforts that have helped many contractors and trades begin to realize the efficiencies of “productizing” building elements and shifting to a production vs. a construction model.   
  • With our help, the Cal Poly SLO team developed a vision for transformation and concrete first steps, including standard design shaped by a “kit of parts” mindset to build high-quality, lower-cost, mass-customized housing.   
  • This vision could provide a model for the whole California State University system and lead the way for transformation in the building industry.    

For more information, contact:

Melissa McEwen

Principal Consultant and Service Leader, Lean Consulting

Nick Masci

Principal Consultant, Construction Manufacturing