University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Facilities Planning and Design

The University's Facilities Planning and Design Office was created in 1959 as the Planning Office and was given responsibility for evaluating space need requests and facilities use and for developing plans for both new buildings and renovations. (Once plans were final and a contract was awarded, responsibility for a specific project moved to the University's Construction Administration Department.) In 1974, the Planning Office was reorganized and its name changed to Facilities Planning Office. In 1987, the name was modified to Facilities Planning and Design Office. The responsibilities of the office, however, have remained basically the same.

From the description of Records of the Facilities Planning and Design Office, 1947- 1993 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 27122231

In 1959, the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated funds to the Consolidated University of North Carolina to establish a long-range planning effort for capital improvements. In September of that year, the Chapel Hill campus used $15,000 from the appropriation to create the University Planning Office, with Arthur Norman Tuttle, Jr., as director. Initially the office was part of the Division of Business Affairs. On or shortly after 1 July 1966, however, it began reporting to the Assistant to the Chancellor, Claiborne S. Jones. This arrangement continued until March 1968, when the Planning Office returned administratively to the Division of Business Affairs and began reporting to the Director of Operations and Engineering.

The first major responsibility of the Planning Office was to develop a ten-year plan for campus space needs. Planning staff began by evaluating property and facility use and requests for space. Eventually they developed specific design programs for new buildings and for renovations and additions to existing structures. In the process, they worked closely with many campus groups, including departmental and school personnel, the faculty Buildings and Grounds Committee, and administrative officials, as well as with architects, consulting engineers, and officers of the Consolidated University's General Administration and Board of Trustees.

The Planning Office prepared various need justifications and cost estimates for submission to campus officials, General Administration, the Board of Trustees, and the General Assembly. Planning staff supervised the architect's preparation of schematic drawings and construction specifications for the contractor bidding process in approved projects. With the award of contract and the initiation of construction, primary responsibility for the project passed from the Planning Office to the Office of the University Engineer (later Office of Construction and Engineering, then Construction Administration Department).

In 1969, Gordon H. Rutherford replaced Arthur Tuttle as Director of the Planning Office. On 1 July 1974, the Planning Office was reorganized and its name changed to Facilities Planning Office. Also at that time, the office began reporting directly to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Business. In 1987, the Facilities Planning Office was renamed Facilities Planning and Design Office. While the division of responsibilities within the office has become finer, its basic functions have remained unchanged.

From the guide to the Facilities Planning and Design Office of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Records, 1947-1993, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives.)