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Cornell University

Facilities and
Campus Services

Facilities Engineering Technical Stewardship

Facilities Engineering serves as stewards of the University’s infrastructure through its engagement of construction projects on campus.  This includes reviewing design documents from consultants, publishing and updating the University’s Design & Construction Standards, and serving as Subject Matter Experts (SME) in support of project teams from concept development through closeout.

Getting Started:

Image of Facilities Engineering working on the Big Red Barn's roof.

Design Review Guidelines:

  • Contact FEDesignReview@cornell.edu at least one month in advance of expected date of design drawings receipt.
  • Once drawings are loaded into eBuilder and ready for review, submit a design review request to FEDesignReview@cornell.edu via eBuilder. FE Shared Services will then receive a design review “Action Required” email from eBuilder to begin the review process.
  • Section Leaders in the disciplines relevant to the project will assign Facilities Engineering staff to review the design documents.
  • Facilities Engineering will distribute the documents and upload a spreadsheet of consolidated comments to eBuilder.
  • Facilities Engineering will be available to review design team’s responses or comments.

Standard Update Guidelines:

  • Facilities Engineering is committed to reviewing all Design and Construction Standards once every two years. Facilities Engineering will update standards based on construction experiences, code updates, technology updates, maintenance requirements, or other campus needs.
  • As part of the standards review and update process, Facilities Engineering teams with subject matter experts within Facilities Management, Energy and Sustainability, Transportation, Office of the University Architect, Campus Planning, Environmental Health and Safety, Cornell Police, Cornell Information Technology, and others review standards and develop updates.
  • Draft updates are reviewed by Facilities Engineering and FCS Leadership and then presented to the Zone Facility Directors for input and uploaded to the Cornell Design and Construction Standards Website.
Image showing the Facilities Engineering portable lab project.

Project Support Guidelines:

  • Project Support Services include but are not limited to the following:
    • Attendance at Pre-Design meetings to discuss standards and basis of design with the design team.
    • Review of Institutional knowledge of existing buildings and adjacent conditions as part of the Pre-Design initiative.
    • Attendance at Pre-Installation Meetings as part of construction support.
    • Attendance of the 10-month warranty review walk-through as part of post project support.

Requirements:

  • Design Reviews, Standards Updates, and most project support services are performed at no cost to our campus partners.  Project support services in excess of two to four hours per task may require a separate funding source.
  • Facilities Engineering does request advance notice for design reviews and project support to provide timely response and facilitate the scheduling of staff. To ensure a two-week turnaround of Design Reviews, Facilities Engineering requests a minimum of one month advance notice of the expected drawing set receipt.