Rice University's Facilities Engineering and Planning department is a comprehensive maintenance, project management, and utility operation that encompasses Maintenance, Custodial, Grounds, Engineering, Business Support, Project Management and the Central Plant. Our team members provide service to four million square feet of facilities and 285 acres of grounds that include 4,000 catalogued trees and over seventy buildings. These efforts are accomplished through a skilled and licensed staff of approximately 240 full-time Rice employees with assistance from temporary employees, consultants and contractors.

The office, shop spaces, and utility plant for FE&P are housed in four primary buildings on the northern edge of the Rice campus. The main office area is located in the Facilities Engineering and Planning Administration building at Entrance 22 on Rice Boulevard.  More information on location and parking are available on our  Location Information page.

A unique landmark in the FE&P area of campus is the Central Plant Campanile tower which serves as the exhaust stack for the utility plant turbines and boilers. The combined Central Plant/Mechanical Lab building is the second oldest building on campus. During the original planning and construction, the designers wanted to create the more pleasing appearance of a clock tower for such a prominent but necessary feature. So even to this day, the Campanile tower fulfills both its functions as a smoke stack and a campus landmark.