Yale updates its general requirements, stormwater management, and fire alarm standards

Yale’s design standards for capital projects have been updated and are now available to project teams. These new and revised standards are intended to assist design architects and engineers in maintaining consistency on a particular project and continuity with existing university facilities, systems, and equipment.

The fall 2025 update includes new Division 1 standards, revised stormwater management standards, a revised fire alarm standard and an administrative update to the concrete standard.

An updated table of contents [1] and introduction and general guidelines provide an overview of changes and coordination with the sections below.

Division 01: General Requirements

These new sections determine how the project is managed and executed according to Yale-specific procedures. New and revised standards consolidate content from multiple sources and address Closeout Procedures, Operations and Maintenance, and Demonstration and Training. Requirements have been developed through collaboration between Facilities Project Delivery, Engineering, Contract Administration, Program Support and Technical Services, and in consultation with construction management companies and consultant firms.

New standards

01 77 00 Closeout Procedures [2]: This provides administrative and procedural requirements for contract closeout and includes content related to substantial completion, final completion, project warranties and final cleaning.
01 79 00 Demonstration and Training [3]: This describes the comprehensive training program, including new requirements for video recording of live demonstrations, manufacturer training videos, a revised outline of training content and new evaluation criteria for participant mastery of training modules.

Revised standards

01 78 23 Operations and Maintenance Data [4]: This provides administrative and procedural requirements for submission of operations and maintenance manuals and includes a new standardized project documentation turnover guideline as well as a new requirement for initial and final manual submissions.

Division 03: Concrete

03 00 00 Concrete [5]: This revised standard is administrative with no new requirements.

Division 28: Electronic Safety and Security

28 00 00 Fire Alarm [6]: This revised standard updates preferred manufacturers and suppliers.

Division 32: Exterior Improvements

32 01 01 Exterior Improvements Design [7]: This revised standard coordinates content with new stormwater management requirements.

Division 33: Utilities

33 46 00 Stormwater Management [8]: This revised standard for stormwater management includes criteria and enhanced requirements beyond municipal ordinances. It considers future predicted storm events and sets a standard for the design of site and building systems that are resilient to the predicted impacts.

In alignment with the principles described in the Yale Sustainable Stormwater Management Plan [9], it prioritizes restoration of watershed function through low-impact development (LID) strategies. The revised standard identifies flood prone areas on the central [10], medical [11]and west [12]campuses and requires consultant evaluation of potential vulnerabilities assuming the City of New Haven drain or combined sewer main is surcharged. Consultants are also required to consider increasing the current NOAA 100-year storm event by 20% and/or simulating recent extreme events such as Hurricane Ida to evaluate and address potential flood impacts. Additionally, design considerations to improve maintenance and operations of systems is provided.