Monthly Archives: June 2023

Responsibilities of the BSU Capital Planning and Space Management Team 

     Boise State University is continually expanding, and with that comes a plethora of logistics to manage. One key partner in campus construction, maintenance, and financing is the Capital Planning and Space Management Team (CPSM). This team supports university leadership in providing an environment for better learning. CPSM does this through capital planning efforts and budgeting processes to ensure multi-year plans and individual projects are aligning with the university’s strategic vision. To tell us more about the recent and future projects at Boise State, we met with Space Planner and Interior Designer, April Lanningham, and Relocations & Projects Coordinator, Lee Keily. 

     April and Lee are the members of the CPSM team who are directly responsible for designing spaces and getting people into those spaces. While April works on everything from high-level strategic plans to selecting finishes and furniture for new and renovated buildings, Lee is responsible for moving people, furniture, and equipment into those buildings. Their roles complement each other, and they work together closely to support the management of 5.9 million gross square feet of university space. 

     As April says, “We have an outstanding,  collaborative team of people working across campus. We accomplish complex renovations of old buildings that seem beyond help when the project starts. However, between our facilities folks, architectural and engineering department, and clients, it all comes together, which is very rewarding.” 

Renovating The Liberal Arts Building 

    While the CPSM team looks five to ten years down the road, April and Lee focus on projects happening within shorter timeframes to ensure providing an environment for better learning. They are the boots on the ground turning a multi-year plan into physical spaces. One such space coming online after four years of planning is the Liberal Arts Building. Once the art department vacated the space that they had occupied for 30 years it fell to CPSM to work with campus leaders to prioritize new occupancy. The primary occupants of the renovated space will be the English department and the MakerSpace that will relocate out of the Library. In addition a handful of new classrooms will come online.  Construction is starting this summer with a goal open date of fall 2024. 

A New Residence Hall For BSU 

     Another upcoming project is a 450-bed residence hall for first-year students. The building will stand along the river near the library. Boise State has long been considered a commuter college. However, there has been an influx of out of state students attending the university. Combined with a general rise in the student population, Boise State needs more on-campus housing. With so many of the homes surrounding campus already holding students, creating affordable on-campus housing for students is more important than ever.  

BSU’s COVID Response At A Capital Planning Level 

     While April and Lee have had many projects to be proud of in recent years, their response to COVID stands out for them. Lee shares, “I think all of us should be very proud of our response to COVID and the university planning part of that. We put blood, sweat, and tears into planning how students could return to in-person learning. Many universities took heat for going completely online, but we had thirty-three percent of our faculty and students on campus. We spent a summer here nearly all alone putting the campus together for students to return in person. By doing so, we were a good role model for other universities who didn’t know what to do. We put our heads together as a team and decided what to do even when there wasn’t a budget.” 

BSU Embraces Hybrid Work 

    On the heels of COVID, the CPSM team is embracing the “new normal” of hybrid work on campus. With flexible work policies determined by each division leader some space  has opened up because of new remote positions. April and Lee’s job is to put that open space to work. To accommodate in-person and hybrid work, they are trying to make the work environment more collaborative. They are able to do this because of technology, privacy pods, and adding transparency with modular walls. Many staff members have given up their private offices and embraced hybrid work. They will heavily utilize the new technologies and amenities the CPSM team introduces. 

Providing An Environment For Students 

     When asked about their favorite part of working with the university, April and Lee agree that it is the people. Lee shares, “The staff are all focused on the same thing and are here for the right reasons. Kids who come through school are getting a great education. They are lively, young, enthusiastic, and want to get an education. They don’t often realize that we are working for them, but we are here to support their education and provide value to those paying for their education. It could be easy to lose sight of that in our field because we are a step removed, but we support them. We never lose sight of that as a team.” Through their ongoing efforts in providing an environment for better learning, the team prioritizes students needs and wants, as well as what is logistically best for the community.

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And Its Effects on Employee Privacy, Productivity, + Health

As employees head back to the office for the first time in years, they bring expectations with them. One such expectation is privacy. After years of working from home, many people have created private offices away from their families that allow them to be highly productive. As these individuals return to the office, many face unassigned workstations in open floorplans full of distractions and noises that greatly hinder their productivity. Part of creating a successful return-to-work strategy is providing privacy for employees; sound masking is one of the best ways to do that.

On average, noise distractions interrupt employees every 11 minutes. It can take up to 23 minutes for them to get back in the “flow”. 

What is Sound Masking? 

Sound masking is the process of adding low-level, unobtrusive background sounds to an environment to reduce the intelligibility of human speech and reduce noise distractions in that environment. When working correctly, sound masking sounds similar to airflow from an HVAC system. Many times, people do not even realize it is on. When turned off, however, the space can suddenly feel too loud or even eerie as every little noise becomes recognizable. While sound masking doesn’t make a room quieter, its specific frequency and amplitude create a blanket of sound that reduces how far speech can travel, making it unintelligible. By covering the human voice, sound masking removes distractions and protects privacy.

Protecting Speech Privacy 

The number one complaint among office workers is insufficient speech privacy. According to research, 53% of employees report having overheard confidential company information at their workplace.
Think of all the times you have unintentionally listened to someone’s private conversation. Not only is it uncomfortable and distracting, but it can also be devastating for compliance and legal reasons. When sound masking is appropriately installed, it creates speech privacy, especially in areas where people share highly sensitive information. By placing sound masking outside conference rooms and private
offices, organizations feel confident that their confidential conversations are staying behind closed doors where they belong.

53% of employees report having overheard confidential company information at their workplace.

Boosting Productivity 

On average, noise distractions result in office workers experiencing interruptions every 11 minutes. Then, it can take up to 23 minutes to get back into the “flow” they experienced before the distraction. Researchers found that employees can waste between 21.5 and 86 minutes daily due to conversational distractions. This results in poor productivity which can add to significant monetary losses for companies. When sound masking enters a space, employees gain a minimum of 2-4% in productivity and tend to stay at the company longer.

When sound masking enters a space, employees gain a minimum of 2-4% in productivity and tend to stay at the company longer.

Improving Employee Health 

Finally, poor office acoustics can adversely affect employee health. A National Library of Medicine study found that workplace noise negatively affects employees physiologically and psychologically. These effects include higher blood pressure and heart rate, which causes hypertension, leading to heart disease and stroke risk. Additionally, loud noises can cause headaches, digestive issues, and in the case of hospital workers dealing with constant alarms, fatigue, and inability to concentrate.

Workplace noise negative effects include high blood pressure and heart rate, headaches, digestive issues, fatigue, and inability to concentrate.

No matter the workplace environment, sound masking plays a significant role in privacy, productivity, and health. So, whether your employees are returning to the office or never left, if you are experiencing acoustical issues, sound masking may be the right solution for you.

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There is nothing like biting into a cut of high-quality, perfectly cooked steak. Thanks to locally owned company Agri Beef, more and more people are having this experience than ever before. To learn about their growing beef empire, we asked executive VP of Corporate Affairs Jay Theiler to tell us the story. Jay started with Agri Beef twenty-two years ago in a marketing role when the company was a ranching and cattle feeding operation. Since then, the business, and his role in it, have grown tremendously. 

Agri Beef’s Operations 

Agri Beef encompasses over one-thousand ranching partners across the Western United States. They are involved in every step of the beef lifecycle, including ranching, cattle feeding, and beef processing. Their company boasts four premium beef brands selling their meat to America’s finest retailers and restaurants. Additionally, they export to over 30 countries. Their most recent addition is the True West Beef processing plant in Jerome, Idaho. 

True West Sharing Ownership 

True West Beef is unlike any beef processing plant in the U.S. thus far because it is 51% Agri Beef owned, with the other 49% ownership comprised of livestock producers. During COVID, the industry faced shutdowns that severely stalled their operations. This backup in supply forced beef prices to drop, causing issues in the supply network. In this new ownership model, livestock producers will have a seat at the table and can help make supply decisions whether there is a disaster or not. 

A New Meat Processing Facility in Jerome, ID 

The facility itself is an impressive 270,000 square feet. It is built with practical sustainability, like recycling 95% of its water and using every part of the animal. True West’s dedication to total quality has also led them to apply the most advanced practices and food safety measures at their facility. They care about each animal’s well-being and treat their animals with dignity and respect throughout their lifecycle. The company is also socially responsible for the overall health, safety, and education of its employees and the community. They are investing in the community with plans to employ three to four hundred people and produce beef from 500 head of cattle daily. These new jobs will positively impact the surrounding economy, and new multifamily housing projects are already in the works. 

What Makes True West Unique 

Something unique about this facility is how many windows it has. The goal behind this unusual choice was to create transparency. Jay shares, “We have this long hallway where you can see into the plant. With so much stigma around meat processing, we are trying to create transparency and show what we do while also making it a better environment for our employees.” 

Another unique choice, as designed by Erstad Architects, was making the wings of the building look like ranch buildings. This decision was made as a nod to the company’s history and its 1968 founding in American Falls, Idaho. One side houses the offices and fabrication welfare area, while the other contains the processing or harvest welfare area. Both sides have a large cafeteria for employees with massive graphics stretching across the room. The Canyon room shows the iconic Twin Falls canyon and bridge, while the other has an extensive graphic and actual view of the Sawtooth Mountains. Outside is a large courtyard where employees can spend their lunch break when it’s not too windy. Employees designed these additions to make the facility a great place to work. 

Furnishing The Facility 

There is a mix of office furniture solutions throughout the office and processing plant. The vision was to design a space that felt open, so private offices with a glass wall and individual workstations made their way into the design. In the main office, many cow murals liven up the space. Additionally, a large training room is put to good use training staff. Out in the plant, the furniture needed to withstand the occasional hosing off, so the OEC design team took special care of selecting furniture specifically for that purpose. “Jen and the OEC team were very good listeners to what we were trying to achieve in the building. They were responsive and understanding of our budget constraints, which we greatly appreciated.” 

Free Samples 

The commercial kitchen adjacent to the large conference room is where the business’s work meets its clientele. “We have some of the most recognizable customers and chefs, including Wolfgang Puck, Thomas Keller at the French Laundry, and Michael Mina, who want the highest quality beef. We wanted our facilities to showcase that we understand our customers and their business. When they visit, we will show them the plant and then take them to the test kitchen and cook up samples. Sometimes they bring their chefs out and cook themselves.” 

Trailblazers In The Industry 

Building this new plant has been a big step for Agri Beef. Through shared ownership with livestock partners, sustainable practices, dedication to their employees and the surrounding community, True West is becoming a trailblazer in the beef industry. Most importantly, they are proud of their work and excited to share it with people locally, nationally, and globally.

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Half of all meetings these days are spent on video. Employees want to work and hold meetings in spaces where they look better, sound better, and can hear better. Here are four design principles Steelcase has learned in their research to keep in mind when developing collaboration spaces employees love to use:

1. Consider room layout so everyone faces the camera. This may mean shifting orientation to the long wall instead of the short wall in a room.
2. In enclosed spaces, center the camera in the room to ensure everyone at the table is in the field of view.
3. Limit the spread of sound and atmospheric noise and echoes. Consider fabric wall treatments, carpet, panels, and softer seating. Acoustic fabric panels opposite the technology in the room will help with sound
   absorption.
4. Provide multi-faceted lighting of the space, people, and background. Avoid lights that are directly behind the individuals on camera.

One more tip. If you make your technology easier to use, the more likely your team will be to use it. Get as close to one touch technology as possible.

See you in the office!

Scott Galloway

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