It’s a question that comes up on most campuses. How do we create a modern, sustainable living environment within the confines of the spaces we currently have available?

Whether your student life facilities date back to 1960 or 1890, transforming them into high-performance buildings – ones that meet student expectations, accommodate desired programming, consume less energy, employ green design elements and are cost-effective to build and operate — isn’t a pipe dream. Successful renovation projects on a number of campuses are proving that, with the right approach, it can be done. Here’s how:

Know your consumers’ priorities

While the role of a campus living environment— developing community and developing students— hasn’t changed, the expectations that students bring to campus certainly has. Rick Kenzler, University Architect at Illinois State University, says recent renovations of seven residences and three dining centers were driven by feedback from potential freshmen. “Many of these students had never shared a bedroom, and in some cases, had never shared a bathroom with parents or siblings. They were consumers in the strongest sense of the word, looking for the best value.” Offering suite-style housing choices and marketplace dining experiences was a clear priority.

Allow form to follow function

It’s tempting to see renovations as systems replacement projects. But high-performance buildings require bigger picture thinking, says Eddie Hull, Dean of Residence Life and Executive Director of Housing Services at Duke University. What are the implications of the programming changes you need to make? Will this require new spaces, redesigned spaces or changes in building capacity? Then you can determine impacts on handicapped access, evaluate building systems and introduce sustainability initiatives through product selection, building envelope and landscaping.

Make a real commitment

At Duke, which has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2020 and recently opened its LEED Platinum Smart Home residence, a university-wide commitment to model sustainable practices overcame resistance to change. That commitment goes beyond design and construction guidelines. It involves engaging field staff in the review and selection of systems and products being considered for capital projects and providing training and equipment needed to effectively manage and maintain renovated facilities. In addition, student life and housing leaders must champion their projects, says Hull. “If you don’t believe in what you need a project to accomplish, how can you expect anyone else to support it?”

Balance contingencies

With existing facilities, it’s hard to know what you’re going to encounter inside the walls. Contingency planning requires a sensitive balance between pre-project investigation to calculate potential costs and not being so conservative that you leave money on the table that could have been used to achieve your desired program

Don’t solve every problem

When beginning a renovation project, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to solve every problem ever documented in the building. Stick to the primary goals of your project and address the infrastructure issues related to that goal. Along the way, you’ll identify the smaller issues that may be solved with maintenance funds down the road, says Kenzler.

Tighten up your schedule

Faster decision-making is often stronger decision-making, says Molly Ranz Calhoun, Assistant Vice President and Director of the Office of Student Life at The Ohio State University. “More time and money don’t necessarily mean better decisions,” she says. “When you have longer schedules, you can take longer to make decisions and second-guess everything.” Learn from what you’ve done before, take new risks and move forward expeditiously.

Don’t rush design

Across the board, campus leaders agree that solid, well thought out design is critical to success. Even on the tightest schedule, spending the time to get the design right can make or break the cost-effectiveness of the process and the finished building. It can also mean the difference between a building that performs well today and one that is also flexible enough to meet future needs.

Weigh green options carefully

On a current residence hall renovation at The Ohio State, Ranz Calhoun says her team looked carefully at ways to meet campus guidelines for 30% reduction in energy usage over 2004 levels for all residence halls and achieve LEED Silver status. “Replacing the windows we installed in 1998 would take 150 years to pay off, and we would be putting those windows into a landfill. We had to ask, ‘Is this the right thing to do?’” The university kept the windows and conserved energy through insulating the building envelope and employing a 50% geothermal heating and cooling solution.

Harness students’ passions

Engage students in innovative solutions, advises Von Stange, Ed.D., Assistant Vice President for Student Services and Director of Housing and Dining at the University of Iowa. Often, students aren’t aware of sustainable features in the buildings they’re using, or how to reduce their personal energy use, because universities aren’t communicating that. Effective communication not only educates students about sustainability, it allows student enthusiasm and creativity to push a campus to achieve more within its facilities.