Executive Summary

Program

The University of Hawai’i Community Design Center (UHCDC) was contracted by the State of Hawai’i Department of Education (DOE) to update the 2018 Center for Workforce Excellence Proof of Concept Study. To do this, UHCDC reengaged the Hawai’i State Public Library System (HSPLS), University of Hawai’i Community Colleges (UHCC) and DOE, to update the program, revise the proof of concept design, cost estimate, and to gather agency feedback on site, parking, and other development issues for the project.

Multiple stakeholder programming workshops resulted in the program matrix and program adjacency diagrams included in this report. A summary of the requested program includes: HSPLS: Library, 12,460 SF DOE: Offices, 7,635 SF UHCC: Sensory Lab, 2,950 SF Cyber Technology, 4,650 SF Validation Lab 940 SF Nursing, 3,000 SF Support Spaces: 1,800 SF Total: 33,435 SF 10% Circulation: 3,715 SF Total Estimated: 37,150 SF

Site Concerns

The project site is located in Wahiawā town, on the parcel that is currently home to the Wahiawā Public Library. The parcel sits between California Avenue, Center Street, and Lehua Street. The parcel is a commercial property and is zoned R-5. The yard setbacks are 30’ for front yards and 15’ for side and rear yards. Working group members from HSPLS have expressed concerns regarding the large setback requirements for the property. The current Wahiawā Library and Civic Center property has received complaints and concerns from the community regarding public defecation on the open lawn and within property setbacks. In addition, in March 2020, the neighboring building which housed the Wahiawā Women, Infants, and Children program was arsoned. With growing public health and safety concerns regarding the existing neighboring sites, the yard setbacks in the proof of concept update have been reduced to the requirements for dwelling use: 10’ front yard and 5’ side and rear yard.

The project team held a meeting with the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) to receive an update on the neighboring Wahiawā Civic Center project. The proposed civic center design locates the Judiciary building nearest to the project site with the assumption that the existing Wahiawā Public Library building would remain a one-story building. The Judiciary expressed concerns regarding the ability to ensure judges’ safety especially from overhead vantage points. The proof of concept design has not been fully vetted with DAGS or Judiciary and will require continued collaboration as the design moves forward.

During working group meetings, DOE and UHCC expressed concerns over the ability to maintain security to upper floors. The public library welcomes the general public. However, offices and facilities located within DOE and UHCC floors are typically restricted to employees, students, and invited guests. Wayfinding signage will be an important feature of the building interior. Other security measures that were brought up during working group meetings included security guards and cardkey access.

There were no infrastructure related studies conducted as part of this work. An informal inquiry to DAGS about the Wahiawā Civic Center project

reflected no infrastructure capacity issues on that project so far. However, no information was gathered on sewer, water, or electrical capacity for this project.

The site coverage for this project is significant. The team assumed underground retention of roof/surface water, and added street trees to shade the surrounding sidewalk areas.

Parking

The facility’s parking structure will be shared between DOE, HSPLS, and UHCC. HSPLS requires designated stalls specific to its patrons and has requested that these stalls be located on the first floor. All agencies prefer that reserved stalls for their employees and guests be located on the same floor as their interior facilities. A joint-use-agreement may continue to be explored as a means to equitably share parking stalls.

Proof of Concept Design

Floor plans were developed to gather feedback on spatial organization and adjacency. They were reviewed twice by each agency. These floor plans are programmatic in nature, and do not represent building design floor plans. This proof of concept work did not incorporate structural or aesthetic considerations, and generally incorporated code requirements.

Cost

In 2021, the state appropriated $42 million for the planning, design, and construction of the project, which will be managed by DOE. A 0% cost estimate was provided for the proof of concept design on January 21, 2022. The design included a 3-story interior program a 4-story parking garage. The estimated cost was approximately $47.7M. A second, informal 0% cost estimate was provided for a 3-story interior program and a 3-story parking garage for approximately $37.1M. Including DOE’s soft costs for design and construction, the modified cost estimate for the reduced design put the project nearly $5M over budget. The working group was surveyed for a list of subtractive alternatives and to rank potential value-engineering strategies. Detailed responses to the survey are recorded in the appendix.

Subtractive Alternates

The three tenants of the project were asked to provide information regarding potential subtractive alternates specific to their program.

HSPLS’s subtractive alternates were to reduce the following programs: the size of the Friends of the Library Storefront, the Receivable Processing area, the Computer Lab, and Stacks. UHCC noted the removal of Computer Lab 2 (LAVA Lab). As DOE’s program is the smallest of the programs, DOE is asking HSPLS and UHCC to prioritize their list of subtractive alternatives.

All working group agencies also provided their preference to the following question: “If the project needed to be significantly value engineered, rank the following approaches in order of preference”. The approaches are listed in order of preference:

1. Interior build-out (construct shell only) 2. Overall building footprint (reduce overall building size) 3. Parking structure (reduce parking stalls to reduce parking structure size) 4. Eliminate parking structure

Constructing the building shell was the most popular first choice preference. Reducing the overall building footprint was voted once for first, second, and third choice preference. Reducing parking stalls was the third choice option. All agencies listed eliminating the parking structure as their last choice.