Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to specify the conditions under which the Campus will lease space for academic and administrative units at MU.
Background
The MU campus actively promotes planning for space needs at the departmental, college, and administrative levels. Colleges and departments are encouraged to make programmatic decisions such as those involved in recruitment or acquisition of grants, with space needs in mind. Costs associated with obtaining and/or renovating space must be included in the total budget to reflect true operational program costs.
Departments requesting additional space must first look within their existing space assignments and study the feasibility of internally reallocating space to meet existing needs. If the department cannot reallocate space internally, or if the type of space needed does not reflect the type of space available, the college or administrative unit will look within its current assigned space to identify usable space to meet the needs of the requesting unit.
Should adequate space not be identified, the college or administrative unit will work with Space Planning & Management (SPM) to identify other campus space that may be made available to the requesting unit. SPM will identify unused assignable space, assigned but unused or underutilized space or space assigned to another unit as appropriate to meet the needs of the requesting unit.
For additional information on Real Estate policies, please visit the University of Missouri System’s Real Estate General Policy.
Conditions Warranting Leasing of Space
Requests for leased space may include, but are not limited to:
- Site specific requests to support service provision and/or data collection in situations where such activities cannot feasibly be conducted in an on-campus location.
- Requests from colleges or administrative units in situations where no functionally adequate space can be provided on campus at a reasonable cost.
- Requests to support functions which benefit the entire campus and for which no acceptable on-campus space is available.
- Requests for swing space that cannot be accommodated on campus within existing owned facilities.
In general, requests for leasing of space to meet programmatic requirements for service delivery or data collection will be considered only if funds for lease costs are available in the operating budget of the program. Requests from colleges or administrative units for other purposes will be honored only if suitable space is unavailable and if the state of available space is such that remodeling or relocation costs would exceed the costs of leased space, especially for short term use.
Process for Requesting Leased Space
- f the leased space is funded solely from departmental funds then the department will work directly with Office of UM Real Estate to obtain/negotiate the lease and UM Real Estate will consult with Campus Facilities regarding other services on an as-needed basis.
- If the leased space is being partially or wholly funded by the campus, then the requesting department must complete the space request form (SRF) and then proceed through the Campus Space Committee for review and approval prior to the finalization of the lease.
- If a facilities/space agreement is being negotiated with a non-E&G division/department
by an education and general administrative/unit/department/division (E&G) whether departmentally funded and/or campus funded, then the space request form (SRF) must be completed and Space Planning & Management approval must be obtained, before the facilities/space agreement can be executed.