Current Events Archives - Page 6 of 8

Florida: Design Professionals Receive Limited Statutory Immunity

By Lynda

Where does professional liability end and personal liability begin? For design professionals, the line can sometimes be fuzzy, especially with regard to personal injury claims.

Now, Florida’s lawmakers have taken steps to limit liability in for design professionals in these cases.

According to a recent announcement by the legal firm of Smith, Currie & Hancock LLP:

“On April 24, 2013 Governor Scott signed Senate Bill 286 into law creating section 558.0035, Florida Statutes. This new law grants individual design professionals employed by a business entity or an agent of the entity immunity from liability for economic damages resulting from negligence occurring within the course and scope of a professional services contract under the following conditions: (a) the contract is made between the business entity and a claimant or another entity for the provision of services to the claimant; (b) the contract does not name an individual employee or agent as a party to the contract; (c) the contract prominently states that an individual employee or agent may not be held individually liable for negligence; (d) the business entity maintains any professional liability insurance required under the contract; and (e) any damages are solely economic in nature and do not extend to persons or property not subject to the contract. The law takes effect on July 1, 2013 and does not state that it is retroactive…

This new law erodes Florida’s common law which has allowed professional negligence claims against an individual design professional based on the professional’s violation of her duty of care to those who may be foreseeably injured. Florida’s common-law imposes a duty of care on all individual professionals that exceeds the duty of care of the general public. Professionals, such as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and design professionals, have always been held to a higher standard of care and associated individual liability for professional negligence. This new law will afford design professionals protections that other professionals do not enjoy.”

For the full, detailed announcement, visit the Smith, Currie & Hancock website.

Shout-Out Credit:

Meade Collinsworth
Collinsworth, Alter, Fowler & French, LLC of Miami Lakes , FL
Email: mcollinsworth@caffllc.com / Phone: 305-822-7800

Could Texting While Driving Lead to Professional Liability Claims?

By Lynda

Tom Cochrane’s Life is a Highway has got you head-dancing in the fast-lane. Your hands are at a perfect ten-and-two. Your seat belt is secured. The signs say you’re two miles from the exit which will take you to your next appointment. It’s a good day.

Then your cell phone buzzes in the cup holder. The screen is obscured by the parking break. It buzzes again. Information is coming in and you’re missing it! Granted, it’s probably just a photo of your cat, Honey Booboo, wearing a Christmas sweater. But in case it’s your boss, you reach for the phone… even though it’s illegal to operate a cell phone in your vehicle in most states.

“According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study, distracted driving led to motor vehicle accidents that killed almost 5,500 people and injured close to 450,000 more during 2009. The 2010 study attributed about one-fifth of the accidents directly to cell phone use.” But did you know that, if the call/texts coming into your phone at this moment turn out to be work-related, any subsequent accident could leave you and your firm vulnerable to a Professional Liability claim? Continue reading “Could Texting While Driving Lead to Professional Liability Claims?”

A Good Time to be An Architect

By Lynda

Is it finally a good time to be an architect? We saw this question posed recently by ChicagoBusiness.com and, like many of you, we were excited to know the answer.

“I think there’s optimism—a very guarded optimism, given where we’ve been over the past four or five years,” says Scott Sarver, principal at Chicago-based SMDP LLC, which hopes to latch on to the better economy here, boosting its billings from domestic projects to 50 percent this year from 25 percent in 2012.

Among industry giants, San Francisco-based Gensler plans to add 50 professionals here through next year, to 273, says Nila Leiserowitz, a managing director in the Chicago office.

The pool of new architects is rising, too. Architecture schools awarded 10,252 degrees in the 2011-12 academic year, up 13 percent from 9,073 degrees in 2008-09, according to the National Architectural Accrediting Board.

Things a looking up. And if the “industry giants” are hiring to meet the increase in project opportunities, it’s also probable that seasoned professionals will take this chance to open their own shops. We hope so! Continue reading “A Good Time to be An Architect”

Online CE Series for Architects: Growing a Small Firm

By Lynda

One way a/e ProNet supports the design community is by promoting continuing education for Architects and Engineers.

Growing a Small Firm Marketing — Mark Cavagnero, FAIA, discussing marketing strategies specific to small, growing firms with panelists Cass Calder Smith, AIA, and Melissa Werner from CCS Architecture, Sam Fajner from TEECOM and Sylvia Kwan, FAIA, from Kwan Henmi Architecture Planning, Inc.

aecKnowledge, in collaboration with AIA San Francisco and Mark Cavagnero, FAIA, has created an exciting new online series called “Growing a Small Firm”. This set of talks provides targeted advice to design professionals who have recently branched out on their own or are considering starting their own firms. Each panel discussion, filmed live at AIA San Francisco and moderated by Mark Cavagnero, features some of the Bay Area’s leading design professionals, contractors and owners generously sharing valuable insights gained from decades of experience. Among the topics:

Developing effective marketing and diversification strategies
Developing a clear, distinctive identity
Pursuing public design opportunities
Cultivating repeat clients
Teaming with larger firms
Elevating the role of women
Collaborating with other design and construction professionals
Forming partnerships with other small firm
Managing a small firm (while staying sane)
Leveraging online media and social networking

Click here to access the first in this series, Growing a Small Firm – Marketing.

This course delivers targeted advice on marketing and business development and captures decades of insights into how best to meet potential clients, expand a firm’s portfolio, implement a vibrant marketing program on a limited budget, create an identity that resonates with prospective clients, and successfully collaborate with larger firms and allied professionals in the pursuit of widely sought-after commissions.

Architecture Billing Index (ABI) Shows Improvement

By Lynda

A steadily improving economy is spurring on construction activity in most regions of the county, and stimulating speculative development.

The following is an excerpt from the AIArchitect Blog post on the annual Architectural Billings Index report for 2012:

Final ABI for 2012 Caps Strongest Year Since 2007

“Architecture firms continued to report improving business conditions in December, with an Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 52.0. (Any score above 50 represents billings growth). While the pace of billings growth slowed slightly from November, it is still the fifth consecutive month of growth, which means eight months of 2012 showed improving business conditions, the most in one calendar year since 2007. Inquiries into new projects remained strong, and firm backlogs for the fourth quarter inched up slightly from the third quarter to an average of 4.5 months.

Business conditions continued to improve at firms in all regions of the country in December with the exception of firms in the West, which continued to struggle to recover from nearly five years of declining billings. Firms located in the Midwest reported particularly strong firm billings last month after suffering a period of softness in the middle of the year. And for the third consecutive month, firms of all specializations reported experiencing increasing firm billings. The pace of growth has slowed significantly from the middle of the year for firms with a residential specialization, but continues to improve for firms with a commercial/industrial specialization.”

You know all this good news makes you want to read on… and you can! Visit the AIArchitect blog for the rest of it.”

Shout-Out Credit:

Leslie Pancoast, CIC, RPLU
Past President of a/e ProNet
Managing Partner of IOA Insurance Services – Pleasanton, CA
Email: Leslie.Pancoast@ioausa.com / Phone: 925-416-7862

New President Named at a/e ProNet’s Spring Meeting

By Lynda

Last weekend, a/e ProNet held its annual meeting in San Diego, California. Members from across the country came together to discuss industry trends and best practices.

The meeting also marked the end of Leslie Pancoast‘s two-year term as President of a/e ProNet. She is succeeded by Jeff Todd, President of IMCI.

Jeff grew up in Annapolis, Maryland and after he graduated from High School moved to Charlotte, NC. He attended Wingate College in Wingate, NC where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1994. Jeff joined IMCI in January of 1994 and specializes in professional liability insurance for Architects and Engineers. He is a licensed property & liability insurance agent and is currently working on his Certified Risk Management and Registered Professional Liability Underwriter designations. Jeff is a member of the Board of Directors for a/e ProNet, and formerly of the Board of Visitors for Wingate University and Phoenix Montessori Academy. He and his wife Cindy reside in Cleveland, NC and have four children, Blake, Mackenzie, Parker and Kendall.

Group picture time! (Don’t forget that you can find an a/e ProNet broker anytime on our website.)

First Row: Valarie Nunez of Marquis Agency; Mayensi Chavez of Assurance, Ltd.; Cindy King of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Diane Hoskins of Wortham Insurance & Risk Management; Melissa Roberts of Euclid Insurance Agencies; Debbie Christen of Marquis Agency

Second Row: Rich Standing of Prosurance/Redeker Group; Mike Welbel of M G Welbel & Associates; Terry Lee of PDI; Karen McCabe of IMCI; Lynn Campbell of Assurance, Ltd.; Wendy Arnold of Johnson Insurance; Tom Warner of Walker & Associates; Marsha Bastian of Heffernan Professional Practice Insurance Brokers; Alicia Igram of IOA Insurance Services

Third Row: Leslie Pancoast of IOA Insurance Services; Dave Johnston of a/e ProNet; Jeff Steen of IOA Insurance Services; Jeff Todd of IMCI; Meade Collinsworth of Collinsworth, Alter, Fowler & French, LLC; Mark Jackson of Lykes Insurance; Rob Supple of IOA Insurance Services; John Tenuto of IOA Insurance Services; Kyle Damalouji of Klein Agency; Earleen Thomas of Cornerstone Specialty Insurance Services

Fourth Row: Eric Alderson of ProMark Associated Agencies; Steve Wilder of M G Welbel & Associates; Karen Erger of Lockton Companies; Eric Moore of Moore Insurance Services; Bob Coleman of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Brett Coleman of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Greg Kumm, Jr. of Prosurance/Redeker Group; John Feeney of Heffernan Professional Practice Brokers; Will Leaf of Cobb Strecker Dunphy & Zimmerman; Jeff Gerrick of Professional Underwriters, Inc.; Tom Coghlan of Design Insurance Agency

a/e ProNet Clients Among Newly Minted AIA College of Fellows List

By Lynda

The American Institute of Architects recently announced that its 2013 Jury of Fellows elevated 122 AIA members to its prestigious College of Fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the profession. Subsequently, we are proud to announce that several a/e ProNet members have clients on this illustrious list!

Kurt Schindler of ELS Architecture (Berkeley, CA)

Martin A. Diaz-Yabor of Martin A. D. Yabor & Associates, Inc. (Miami, FL)

Kenneth D. Levien of Levien & Company (New York, NY)

Terrence O’Neal of Terrence O’Neal Architect, LLC (New York, NY)

Claire Weisz of WXY architecture + urban design (New York, NY)

Glenn Keyes of Glenn Keyes Architects (Charleston, SC)

Turan Duda with Duda/Paine Architects (Durham, NC)

Clive Wilkinson of Clive Wilkinson Architects (Los Angeles, CA)

William J. Worthen of UrbanFabrick (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)

Congratulations, lady and gentleman, on this well-deserved honor.

The 2013 Fellows will be honored at an investiture ceremony at the 2013 National AIA Convention and Design Exposition in Denver.

When Green is Risky and LEED is Embarrassing…

By Lynda

Remember when Architects and Engineers were still pondering the sustainability of the sustainability fad? In 2009, posts like LEED Accreditation – Fad or Necessity? from the Civil Engineering Central Blog and Is LEED a Load? from the Archinect Discussion Forum were popping up all over the place. Four years later, the industry may have a better grasp on what green means, but some of those original fears and worries may also have a right to remain. This week’s installment of Friday Finds by a/e ProNet includes a pair of articles commenting on the current status of LEED and Green Design.

As Important As It Is, LEED Can Be So Embarrassing — via TheAtlanticCities.com

TrentBell_LEEDphoto — The New American Home 2013 by Trent Bell via The Atlantic Cities

“But, man, there are a lot of warts in this system.”

LEED has been criticized for:

Being insufficiently demanding of its applicants. Shoot high enough to seem relevant, but low enough that designers will see the standards as achievable and worth trying for.

USGBC, although a non-profit, needs revenues to keep the system going. “If difficulties in the standards or the process of application are too demanding, fewer potential applicants will be willing to pay the costs of documentation and formal review.”

Has “become pro forma, more about earning points than achieving actual environmental performance.”

“I recount this long-winded intro because my friend Lloyd Alter of the environmental website Treehugger has just written a terrific story about a new, supposedly super-green house being touted as “the new face of efficiency” even though it’s really a gigantic luxury house placed in a location where residents have no choice but to drive long distances to do anything. This is ultra-green? Sadly, LEED seems to think so.”

Designers’ Risk: The Dark Side of Going Green — via The Illinois Construction Law Blog

“The language and presumptions of sustainable “green” design are changing a significant portion of the landscape for all stakeholders in the construction and building-related industries. “Green” building impacts everything from the selection of carpeting and window treatments to how far the materials have to be shipped to the project before installation. And with ever evolving sustainable design standards and building codes (e.g. the International Green Construction Code), it is important that designers understand how “green” projects affect their risk. “

Here’s hoping the continued dialogue on these issues will lead to a better understanding and implementation of LEED.

Chinese Architecture Today: The Instant Skyscraper & Copyright Infringement

By Lynda

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hdpf-MQM9vY&w=560&h=315]

In this video, you can watch the construction of a 30-story apartment building in less than 3 minutes. That’s the beauty of time-lapse technology. But the reality is also super fast. The apartment building, comprised of 30 floors built in sections, “each measuring 15.6 by 3.9 meters, with a depth of 45 centimeters,” was built from the ground up in just 15 days.

“Zhang Yue, founder and chairman of Broad Sustainable Building, is not a particularly humble man,” writes Lauren Hilgers in her recent piece for Wired magazine. “A humble man would not have erected, on his firm’s corporate campus in the Chinese province of Hunan, a classical palace and a 130-foot replica of an Egyptian pyramid. A humble man, for that matter, would not have redirected Broad from its core business—manufacturing industrial air-conditioning units—to invent a new method of building skyscrapers. And a humble man certainly wouldn’t be putting up those skyscrapers at a pace never achieved in history.”

The efficiency made possible by this copy-paste style of construction could change the way whole cities are designed in China, the country with the highest population in the world. But what impact will it have elsewhere? And what are the risks of such speedy construction?

In October 2012, Evan Osnos wrote Boss Rail, an article for the New Yorker magazine which revealed the flaws in China’s recent high-speed rail boom.

“In 2003, China’s Minister of Railways, Liu Zhijun, took charge of plans to build seventy-five hundred miles of high-speed railway—more than could be found in the rest of the world combined… With a total investment of more than two hundred and fifty billion dollars, the undertaking was to be the world’s most expensive public-works project since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System, in the nineteen-fifties. To complete the first route by 2008, Minister Liu, whose ambition and flamboyance earned him the nickname Great Leap Liu, drove his crews and engineers to work in shifts around the clock, laying track, revising blueprints, and boring tunnels… When the first high-speed line débuted with a test run in June, 2008, it was seventy-five per cent over budget and relied heavily on German designs.”

On July 23, 2011, lightning struck a signal box outside the city of Wenzhou, and gave one of the high-speed trains a green light rather than a red on. The resulting crash killed 40 people and injured 192. It was this tragedy that forced China to take a closer look at what turned out to be a highly pressurized process, hobbled by the corruption of government officials, as well as the illegal practices of wealthy citizens.

Sacrificing oversight and transparency for speed is a concern, especially since China is already in the architecture world’s line of fire these days due to frequent accusations of copyright infringement (Creative China, Cutting and Pasting?). In a recent example, the New York Daily News wrote, “Already famed for fake designer bags and pirated DVDs, imitation in China may have reached new heights with a set of towers that strongly resemble ones designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid.”

But Hadid might be the first to remind her counterparts that the existence of China’s specific market, even taking into account the political structure and shaded history, is beneficial. She has worked extensively in China, crediting the country as a major influence on her evolution and success as an artist. In a November 2012 piece published by Newsweek, author Melinda Liu quotes Hadid as saying, “Every country has its local requirements. In China, the requirement is to be big. Where else can you get this scale? That’s its Chineseness.”

Whether this latest exercise in speed and efficiency will be primarily positive for the world of architects, engineers, and builders remains to be seen.