Stanford has initiated at least 2,334 construction projects since 2000, with 28 of these projects currently in progress, according to data from the University’s Land, Buildings and Real Estate (LBRE) division gathered on Feb. 8. Here’s what the data tells us about construction at Stanford.
The LBRE website lists information for more than two thousand projects. The information includes project name, number, start and end dates and representative.
The projects range from one-day parking structure cleaning to construction for the new Stanford Hospital, which took five to six years to complete and wrapped up in 2017. Larger projects are broken into multiple smaller projects on the LBRE website. Smaller projects can still impact circulation and utility corridors.
An interactive map of ongoing construction projects can be found on the LBRE website.
University spokesperson Luisa Rapport wrote in an email to The Daily that the LBRE dataset is used for construction coordination and mapping and may include omissions or errors.
2012 was the year with the most campus construction projects in recent years, with 181 projects started and 183 completed.
Based on the LBRE data, the median duration of a Stanford construction project is around 75 days. Roughly half of the listed projects were completed within 46 to 140 days.
Of the 2,334 listed projects, the one with the longest construction time was the Governor’s Corner Phase 1A Project, which took 3,725 days to complete. The project began on June 16, 2005 and concluded on Aug. 28, 2015.
The longest ongoing project listed on the LBRE website is the installation of temporary chillers, which began in February of 2020. These temporary chillers were installed for Stanford’s Central Energy Facility to help cool campus buildings and “maintain health and safety” in warmer weather, and are considered “essential infrastructure,” according to a campus construction update from the University.
The Lasuen Escondido Circulation Improvements (LECI) project and the Graduate School of Education (GSE) Renovation and New Building project are both slated for completion in 2025. Other major ongoing projects include the construction of the Data Science and Computation Complex, the future home for Stanford data science researchers and students, and the George P. Schultz Building at Hoover, which will house offices for Hoover fellows and research support staff.
These projects have caused sizable detours, sparking criticism among students.
According to Rapport, the current number of construction projects is not abnormal. “Although some of the current construction projects on campus may be more visible because of their proximity to the normal commute patterns of students, the number of active projects are not out of the ordinary,” she wrote.
The LBRE website data reveals that years like 2012 had significantly more active construction projects compared to the present.
Although construction has caused many detours for students during the winter quarter, Rapport wrote that many projects are scheduled to commence and complete during breaks, when students are away.
“The goal of every project is to minimize disruption to the greatest degree possible,” Rapport wrote.