Year: 2012

Sheep, Voldemort, Paul McCartney & Civil Engineers: London’s Opening Ceremonies

By Lynda

Pretty cool that the hardhat-wearing men and women who designed and built the infrastructure of the thirtieth Olympic games received a shout-out last night during the opening ceremonies. They deserved some applause! Just ask ICE president Richard Coackley:

Olympic Stadium - London 2012 Olympics: Who will light the torch at the Opening Ceremony?

Photo: AFP

“Our day-to-day lives depend on the infrastructure around us that is designed, built and maintained by civil engineers – from roads, railways and bridges to energy, water and waste networks. It forms the backbone of society and the economy. But unfortunately it is often only when things go wrong that the work of civil engineers is thrust into the media spotlight.

“The London 2012 Games have changed this – showcasing and celebrating the work of these often ‘unsung heroes’ while at the same time helping the public understand more about what civil engineers do and what a diverse and exciting career it is.

“If anything could excite and inspire young people to pursue civil engineering as a career it’s the Olympic and Paralympic Games – a true feat of engineering in every sense.”

— ICE president Richard Coackley —

Read the rest of London Olympics 2012: Opening ceremony to ‘reinvigorate careers in engineering’ in The Telegraph.

Construction Observation: Important Risk Management Service

By Lynda

Construction observation is a powerful weapon for architects and engineers (A/E) in their risk management arsenal. Certain clients understand the benefits when A/E firms offer construction phase services. However, driven by slow economic conditions, many clients are asking firms to do more, with less, including reducing or eliminating construction phase services. Other clients decide they will administer the construction contract themselves or decide to use a third party instead of the A/E firm.

Clients have also held the A/E to a higher standard of care when providing construction observation services. How do these actions affect A/E firms? It significantly increases the A/E’s risk and liability exposures.

Construction Phase Risks

Details in design documents cannot anticipate every contingency that may occur during the construction phase. If the A/E firm of record is not retained to provide clarification of the plans and specifications the risk of misinterpretation of the contract documents increases.  Bad decisions can lead to project confusion, delays, increased costs, disputes and claims between the owner and the A/E.

The exposure of the A/E is increased due to certain owners and contractors asserting that the designer has a similar responsibility of the contractor for discovering all defects on the project. Based on this distortion and unrealistic expectation of construction observation services, owners and contractors have stated the A/E should be a guarantor of the contractor’s work. These expectations dramatically increase the A/E’s standard of care and risks associated with construction phase services. Court decisions have ruled in Owners’ favor holding that the A/E has a duty to guard the owner against all non-conforming work on the project, although much of that work was completed when the firm was not present on-site. Members of the plaintiff’s bar continue efforts to hold the A/E accountable for this higher standard of care for construction phase services. Continue reading “Construction Observation: Important Risk Management Service”

London’s Olympic Architecture: Natural Ventilation Systems, Gag Orders, and Extreme Dancing

By Lynda

One week from today, a cast of 15,000 will partake in the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics in London. Events will be held in a wide variety of structures, both permanent and newly constructed. Depending on which media outlet you consult, some Londoners are proud of the variety of eclectic stadiums which have popped up across the city, while others are displeased with the way these venues have changed the look and feel of their city.

If nothing else, the architectural boom following the winning bid for any Olympics is worth admiring. Firms from all over the globe compete for their designs to be featured in the world’s most-watched sporting event. Interestingly, along with being the first “digital Olympics,” these games are also the most-notoriously privacy-restricted in history: from strict contracts regarding media coverage to bans on private citizens posting photos of the events on social media sites to gag-orders on the architects and engineers who designed and built the stadiums.

The following are a few fun articles about the London Olympic buildings and their creators, inspirations, receptions, and detractors:

Olympics 2012: Innovations going for the gold (Washington Post)

“Innovation goes beyond the athletes to include the venue as well. London 2012’s emphasis on showcasing sustainable green venues for its sporting events may challenge us to re-think public architecture in new ways, just as Beijing’s Bird Nest challenged us to re-think the design of buildings. Who needs air conditioning when you have buildings that use a 100 percent natural ventilation system? (Alright, if you’ve spent any time in the Washington, D.C. area this summer, you might be skeptical about any building that’s air-conditioning free.). Or how about buildings made from recycled construction debris? The London 2012 vision is to re-claim former industrial wasteland in the city by transforming it into a green park area.” Continue reading “London’s Olympic Architecture: Natural Ventilation Systems, Gag Orders, and Extreme Dancing”

South Coast Architects wins 2012 Gold Nugget Award

By Lynda

Congratulations to a/e ProNet client South Coast Architects of Newport Beach, CA on their Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Custom Home over 10,000 sq. ft.

The winning design was the McKeever Residence (La Quinta, CA). South Coast Architects shares this acknowledgement with the Builder (Discovery), the Land Planner (SJA Landscape Architects), and the Interior Designer (McKeever & Company)

Judges’ Statement:

This home was built to evoke an ancient Roman village evolving through time. The Signature of this home is expansive courtyard that allows for interaction and indoor/ outdoor living from the majority of rooms in the home. These include the great room, dining area, kitchen, entry foyer, owner’s bedroom suite and second floor game room and guest suite. The home is uncompromising, both in its classic Italian architecture with Tuscan farmhouse influence and functional considerations to desert/golf lifestyle. A defined, three-level tower anchors the courtyard along with an inspiring, multiple-arched open air bridge flanked by two exterior stair cases linking the two distinct wings of this home. The classic designed pool becomes the central focal point of the courtyard. The result of the interaction of rooms with the courtyard creates the feeling of an ancient Italian village where the central courtyard becomes the gathering place. But this is only half the story, once you enter the home you are greeted by a breathtaking view of the golf course and picturesque desert mountains beyond the courtyard. The homes central living area is
uncompromising in its indoor/outdoor lifestyle, accentuated by a series of disappearing doors. With the drama of the courtyard, the indoor/outdoor living provided by the floor plan, the attention to uncompromising architectural detailing, this home has optimized golf/desert lifestyle living with a old world philosophy.

The 49th annual Gold Nugget Awards were handed out at the Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) late last month at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The conference,  according to the organization’s website, is a “gathering of America’s most prominent residential builders, developers, architects,” etc. The Gold Nugget Awards “honor creative achievements in architectural design and land use planning for residential, commercial and industrial projects.” You can download the full booklet of 2012 Gold Nugget Award winners at the PCBC website.

Responding to an RFP: Risk Management Tools to Guide the Bidding Process

By Lynda

Competition among design professionals can be fierce, so it is critical to be as prepared as possible when trying to win new projects, especially those that are put out for bid.  Just as you have project quality control procedures to review a design, you also should have a similar process for responding to an RFP (Request for Proposal) to assess the appropriateness of the project for your firm, to minimize risk and to insure profitability.

When first considering whether to bid on a project, ask these questions:

  • Does our firm have experience with the project type?
  • Is our staff capable of handling a project of this size and scope?
  • Do we have confidence in our design team, including sub-consultants?
  • Can we turn in a successful project and make a profit?

Once you decide to respond to the RFP, you will take many steps to ensure your firm has a good chance at being awarded the project. You will choose a project manager and team that have the most experience with the project type. You’ll take great care in selecting your sub-consultants. You’ll follow your customary quality control procedures and review every aspect of the design phase; the costs of construction, the construction schedule and most importantly, your fees.

So, what could possibly go wrong when responding to an RFP? The answer may lie within the RFP itself.

Project Owners and Project Expectations

When you assemble your project team, you need to call upon the staff members who are best suited to understand the project and the terms spelled out in the RFP.  Your team should be asking the following questions.  Who is the project owner? Is it a government entity? A school district? Is the project publicly funded? Is the project owner a developer? If it is an LLC, who are the parties that comprise it?  Understanding who the project owner is as well as the expectations set forth in the RFP is as important as delivering the winning bid. Continue reading “Responding to an RFP: Risk Management Tools to Guide the Bidding Process”

Some Civil Engineering Optimism in Napa, CA

By Lynda

ProNet Client Project Profile

Who else is sick of hearing about the world’s crippling recession? The last couple of years have been especially tough on the construction industry, as well as on the various industries surrounding it. But design professionals are eager to see the light at the end of this thoroughly designed, planned, surveyed, engineered, and constructed tunnel.

So here’s some light! a/e ProNet client Chaudhary & Associates, a California civil engineering firm that’s determined to grow through and out of this tough time, received a glowing mention in the North Bay Business Journal last week. The following is an excerpt from the NBBJ article:

Napa-based civil engineering, surveying and construction inspection services firm Chaudhary & Associates (www.chaudhary.com) is bouncing back from the huge slowdown in private construction projects in the past few years, thanks to big public works projects rolling forward, according to President Arvin Chaudhary.

The firm currently employs 25, up from about 15 a year and a half ago and 49 at the peak of construction activity. In May, the firm moved to 211 Gateway Dr. W., in a same-sized office — 7,200 square feet — for about half the rent.

Targets for more business are a contract in Merced County that could call for four or five more employees and pieces of the $1.5 billion first and followup contracts for the planned California high-speed train project. Design-bid contractor proposals are due this fall for work next year. The company has been involved in major public works projects such as the Bay Bridge retrofit.

Yet with the state government fiscal crisis, Department of Transportation contracts for construction inspection and other services increasingly are less fruitful than anticipated, Mr. Chaudhary said. Overstaffing at Caltrans is resulting in retraining efforts and less of a need for consultants to fill roles on projects, as staff designers have been moving into field inspections, a role firms such as Chaudhary would handle.

The worry in civil engineering is that this move of Caltrans designers into the field will lead to a dearth of projects moving to construction in a few years, Mr. Chaudhary said. Continue reading “Some Civil Engineering Optimism in Napa, CA”

ProNet Client Project Profile: A Hospital for Haiti

By Lynda

Chicago architect and a/e ProNet client Ann Clark of Ann Clark Architects believes the “most important aspect of every project is getting a group of seemingly unrelated parties to reach an end goal together in the most harmonious and effective manner.” This belief is undoubtedly one of main reasons she was able to succeed in this particularly daunting project: designing a 180,000 s.f., 320-bed teaching hospital in Mirebalais, Haiti. All this in spite of inclement weather, difficulty obtaining sound construction materials, a dearth of skilled labor in-country, and her own physical distance from the job site.

With the support of Boston-based charity Partners in Health, Clark began the project in 2008 with a much more humble and abbreviated design. But that was before a deadly earthquake in 2010 raised the stakes in Haiti, increasing the need for a much larger and more advanced structure in which to care for the needs of a destitute people. In the wake of a natural disaster, we admire the optimism and tenacity of the Haitian people, as well as the dedication and talent of Ms. Clark and her staff.

We want to congratulate Ms. Clark and everyone else who partnered to build this beautiful new hospital in Haiti. To understand the scope of this challenge, we recommend reading The Chicago Tribune’s recent profile of Ms. Clark and the hospital project. The following is an excerpt from the article titled Chicago architect designs a beacon for health care in Haiti:

On Jan. 12, 2009, one year to the day before the earthquake, Clark flew to Haiti for the first time.

Partners in Health dispatched a driver and SUV to pick her up at the chaotic Port-au-Prince airport. After escaping the capital’s open sewers, dust and trash, Clark rode past huts, one-room concrete-block homes, grazing goats, broken-down cars and gravel soccer fields.

The epicenter of Partners in Health’s work is Cange, the site of Farmer’s first clinic. Over decades the clinic had mushroomed into a maze of more than a dozen concrete and stone buildings perched on a steep hill wholly unsuitable for medical care. To get from the emergency room to the tuberculosis ward, for instance, one must ascend a steep ramp and dozens of stone and concrete steps.

Clark’s first stop was Lacolline, then the newest of Partners in Health’s clinics. It had been built with $640,000. Farmer didn’t involve an architect until two years after the building opened — “just so we had documentation and could share the plans with others,” he said.

Walking into the waiting area there, Clark saw women wearing dresses and men in dusty pants or jeans. Everyone’s shoes were beaten up. Clark was immediately struck by how close the people sat next to each other in the waiting area and how sandwiched they were in line at the pharmacy window.

And people walked everywhere, even in rural areas. Clark marveled at how women balanced jugs of water and baskets of supplies atop their heads. She wondered how far these women had walked, and how far they had to go. And she noticed they were often smiling. Given their ragged clothing and signs of malnutrition — poverty unlike anything she had ever witnessed — she wondered what Haitians had to smile about. Continue reading “ProNet Client Project Profile: A Hospital for Haiti”

The Impact of Sub Consultants in the Design Build Process

By Lynda

The Perspective of the Fire Protection Engineer 

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a collaborative alliance of people, systems, business structures and practices into a process that harnesses the talents and insights of all participants. Its aim is to optimize project results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste and maximize efficiency through all phases of design, fabrication, and construction. The most popular method of IPD is Design-Build, one of the most significant trends in design and construction in the U.S. today.

The Design-Build Team works under a single contract with the project owner to provide design and construction services: one entity, one contract, one unified flow of work from initial concept through completion. It consists of many players, including the General Contractor, Architect, Engineering Consultants, and a variety of sub contractors. Collectively, the team has the knowledge and expertise to complete a project from start to finish and each team member is equally important in the outcome of the project.

The role of the specialty sub-consultant is no different. For example, the Fire Protection Engineer (FPE) is a critical member of the Design-Build Team, and provides comprehensive input and guidance on all aspects of fire and life safety for the project. This includes, but is not limited to, building code analysis, water supply, smoke control, fire department access, exiting, and an analysis of the active and passive fire protection systems.

From an FPE’s perspective, the design-build process can be broken down into four separate and distinct phases: the teaming phase, the pre-proposal phase, post-award phase, and the construction phase.

Teaming Phase

The client should understand the value of the FPE in the teaming phase and that communicating with the key individuals responsible for selecting the team is a priority. Generally, the people responsible for selecting team members are the general contractor’s project manager, project estimator or the project architect. They may or may not be familiar with the value that the FPE provides so it is important to reaffirm the FPE’s role. Other disciplines can contribute to fire protection and life safety, but none of them take the total fire protection and life safety perspective that an FPE does. Continue reading “The Impact of Sub Consultants in the Design Build Process”

Is there such a thing as a Standard Contract?

By Lynda

The most common refrain I hear when talking to clients about Contract Review and Administration is: “I only sign a standard contract.”

Most clients feel there is no reason for contracts to be reviewed prior to signing, because they only sign a standard contract. Unfortunately, the only standard contract I ever see is one in which an owner or client uses and wants their consultants and contractors to sign. Ironically, one of the few things that makes any contract a “standard contract”…is the omni-present and onerous broad hold harmless/indemnity and defense clause.

Contract Review and Administration is probably one of the most important aspects of a prudent risk management and loss prevention program. A contract that any Contractor or Consultant signs should identify their rights and responsibilities to the owner and third parties. All of this should be determined at the “request-for-proposal” stage. If done here…it allows the Contractor or Consultant to identify, evaluate and treat the risks in the Owner or Client standard contract. Please remember that no one is putting a gun to the Contractor’s or Consultant’s head when he or she signs the contract; so it’s absolutely essential that the Contractor or Consultant knows what he is signing and what his rights and responsibilities are when negotiating for future work.

The prudent Contractor or Consultant should discuss all contracts with their counsel and agent before signing. Some general practice tips to consider when reviewing contracts are:

  • Scope of services: Think about whether the contract is exactly what you thought is was going to be in terms of encompassing more or less services, added responsibilities or services outside your area of expertise. It is also wise to describe things you are not doing to reduce the potential for misunderstandings.
  • Change orders: Find out if the Owner is allowed to change the scope of work once under way, and, if so, under what conditions. For instance, look at what input or options you have and what time frame you have to consider this.
  • Warranties and Guarantees and Performance Standards: First, you have to know if there are any. Try not to assume any and don’t agree to unreasonable ones…if you must assume any! Don’t forget that all professional liability policies exclude the assumption of liability policies which turns out to be a warranty or guarantee or performance guarantees.
  • Compliance with all laws, regulations, etc.: These responsibilities can be difficult to live up to since no one knows what all the laws, regulations, ordinances, rules, etc. are, much less how to comply with all of them. Continue reading “Is there such a thing as a Standard Contract?”