OWNER / ARCHITECT-ENGINEER-CONSTRUCTOR (O/AEC) TASKFORCE

-   Phil Bona’s Take on it.

Taskforce Short Term Goal:

            Develop Problem Statement and Strategies

Industry Forces:

The Marketplace

Science and technology, information management, enhancing service and product value, design and construction value, manufacturing and assembly, collaboration and communication, and sustainable smart buildings.

The AIA Organization

The professional culture of the AIA/AIACC, the relevance of professional organizations, education, training and certification, practice evolution and

Using the Wheel Already Invented

Re-Introduce the Collaborative Process developed by the Collaborative Process Institute in 1997 in California.  All the goals and words are there.

Suggested Taskforce Mission Statement:     

To revolutionize the building industry by establishing true collaboration as the cornerstone of the building process for all client, architect, engineer, and constructor (C/AEC) partners and utilizing state of the art research and technology help all participants achieve extraordinary outcomes.

Suggested Tenets:

• Integrity and trust are essential for true collaboration
• The long term implications of one’s action is of greater concern than the short term results.
• Teams make better choices than individuals
• In building a team, pre-qualify firms and select people with recognized skill sets.
• True creativity is the result of discovering and exploiting the best options
• Change is inevitable; be prepared at all levels and seek out the opportunity in it.
• The basis for decision-making should be facts and reason, not conventional wisdom and emotions.

Suggested Goals and Objectives:

• Embrace the Collaborative Process as a congruent, self-reinforcing set of business structures and systems based on:

1.      High Performance Teams

2.      Optimization and Performance Measurement

3.      Communication

4.      Incentives and Risk-Sharing

5.      Problem Solving and Decision-Making

Suggested Goals and Objectives:     -     continued

• Improve the health all components of the industry through trust and collaboaration among design and construction industry partners.
• Understand the relationship between collaboration and new or improved proceses and better communication.
  Engage clients more integrally throughout the design and construction process. Encouraged larger clients to serve as transformational agents within the AEC industry.

Suggestions for the Architect’s Role

• Truly be a Client’s trusted advisor
• Owner’s advocate as project representative or construction manager
  Lead the discussion to clearly define the problem with other members of the industry.
  Call for major change by renaming industry C/AEC.
• Publicly promote our ideals for today’s environment.
• Redefine the design process to embrace technology and good business practices to assure success for all participants.
  Lead the industry in reducing liability and risk in the design and construction process and then reallocate it fairly among all participants.
  Retool the building process to assure greater predictability.
• Responsibly manage design and construction cost.
• Develop smarter buildings
• Think and act beyond the traditional role of the architect.
• Take a greater role in creating and advocating public policy

Next Steps

C/AEC – Dialogue  -  Taskforce Members to contact strategic industry partners to “Get our vision and message out” through advocacy in 2005 and 2006.

C/AEC – Industry Forum -  Plan for a late fall 2005 or spring 2006 statewide event

THEME:      “Our Vision for Change through True Collaboration in the Construction Industry”

                        (Good for the Built Environment; Good for Business; Good for America)

                                                                        or

                        “Think Smarter – Design Smarter – Build Smarter”

PRELUDE:

There are many good reasons for the building industry, as a whole, to pause and consider re-tooling and re-assembling all the parts, pieces, and people into one industry-wide collaborative, cooperative relationship and set of principals that is based on successful communication, information technology, and proven good business practices.

PARTICIPANTS

Architects:                  AIA, SARA, etc.

Engineers:                 SEA, CELSOC, etc.

Constructors:             AGC, Trade Unions, etc.

Industry Partners:      McGraw Hill, XL, CNA/Shinnerer, ABA (Attnys – Gerry Weisbach), etc.

Technology Partners: NCS, IAI, IFCs

Owners:                      BOMA, etc.

PRESENT THE ISSUES

What are the problems? 

• Mistrust among industry participants;
• Constant struggle for power and control of the design/construction process between participants;
• Lack of perceived value of participant skill sets;
• Existing confrontational Project Delivery Methods;
• Industry-wide shortcomings of actual participant skill sets;
• Lack of confidence in design data;
• Inconsistent criteria by building officials/plancheckers;
• Lack of accountability (always someone else’s fault);
• Lack of pride of ownership at all levels of participants;
• Too much fluctuation in labor and materials costs;
• Impact of 20th Century cultural litigiousness;
• Too much risk for building owners;
• Too much risk for design professionals;
• Variable availability of construction materials;
• Project inspectors/full time quality control only for public projects.

FIND THE SOLUTIONS TOGETHER

How do we adjust the path towards a preferred collaborative future - Interoperability?

Need to work together as one industry full of pride and mutual respect;

Need to re-define and validate success for each participant;

Need to validate importance of industry to America;

Need to rejuvenate and expand education through unions and K-14 schools;

Need to make project information (data) more accurate and available to all participants;

Need to eliminate litigious basis of industry;

Need to find lucrative positive rolls for attorneys and insurance companies in the process;

Need to embrace the future of technology (BIM) and the information age.