Make grounded, data-informed decisions

Areas of Expertise

Resource Prioritization

Space Utilization Analysis

Capital Planning

Project Management & Process Design

Strategic Planning

Stakeholder Engagement

Ballast Consulting is a women-owned firm founded by Maggie Dolan, who, during ten+ years in state higher education administration and consulting, has collaborated with over 65 higher education institutions on master plans, capital budgets, building programs, and space utilization assessments.

Planning Philosophy

Maggie believes that campus planning should develop defensible priorities that maximize the impact of each dollar spent.

Institutions can’t know what they need unless they understand how they use what they currently have, making space planning the foundation for any architectural project.

Maggie’s space utilization analysis eschews abstract square footage targets, instead quantifying specific patterns of activity. This approach challenges assumptions about existing capacity and sees under-used spaces as opportunities for reinvention.

At times, Maggie’s project solutions have cost 50 percent less than original “we need a new building” proposals without compromising project intent or alienating campus personnel. Instead, her collaborative process invites stakeholders to understand the data, wrestle with resource constraints, and shape the project’s final direction.