EVENT RECAP: Design & Construction
July 8, 2020
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24, 2020 | ZOOM MEETING
BRIAN BARRINGER, RYAN JENETTE, STEVE BURKE, CONSIGLI CONSTRUCTION
DAVID BOIS, ARROWSTREET
On Wednesday, June 24, Rick Dimino, President and CEO of A Better City, welcomed representatives of our members Consigli Construction and Arrowstreet to discuss implications of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on design and construction. Twenty-seven participants joined in the Zoom session.
Brian Barringer said that he and his colleagues have been offering information meetings to their clients describing work in progress in adapting to the implications of the pandemic. He introduced members of the team and described their roles. Mr. Barringer said that in 2019, Consigli had projects valued at $1.9 billion underway. Arrowstreet has a wide-ranging practice that includes mixed-use, life science, and school projects as well as research in design. Mr. Barringer said that this is a rapidly changing world, and he will report on feedback from projects between Maine and DC.
David Bois discussed healthy buildings and the Passive House program that focuses on resilience, energy, and health, and on improving the building envelope with implications for interior spaces. Considerations include:
- Increased 100% fresh air tempered with exhaust air in heat exchange.
- Increased air filtration.
- Compartmentalization with critical air linkages.
- Displacement ventilation.
- Overcoming limitations of existing buildings.
Steve Burke discussed Indoor Air Quality measures including energy recovery and a list of other IAQ measures. Monitoring of air quality may become the responsibility of tenants, and owners will need to monitor common spaces too. There are many sources for guidance including professional organizations such as AIA, IFMA, BOMA, NAIOP, technical and construction organizations such as ASHRAE, Associated General Contractors, and public health sources such as the Harvard School of Public Health, the CDC, and WHO. Standards are evolving with science.
Ryan Jenette discussed supply chain and subcontractor impacts and costs. At the outset of the pandemic, products in the international supply chain were often hard to get, but today, with proactive management, there are more locally available products for the construction industry. Construction costs are complicated, with different effects on the owner, construction managers, and subcontractors. Sources of cost impacts include labor premiums due to social distancing, schedule impacts, and loss of production. And assignment of costs will vary for projects not in construction and those underway. Construction managers need to work with the subcontractors to determine potential risk and set upside costs upfront. Subcontractors should identify and break out costs due to COVID and other costs.
Mr. Jenette described a survey of 300 subcontractors on where the construction market is headed. The opinion was that supply issues have passed, but due to shrinking backlogs, subs need more work. Regarding COVID costs, 1/3 see a labor premium increasing costs by three to five percent, 1/3 see no cost impacts, and 1/3 don’t know the impacts yet. Half the subs surveyed will not pass additional costs onto the owner in order to add to the backlog. Labor is available, but lower paid workers may be deciding to continue collecting unemployment for a while, with more experienced journeymen on the jobs adding to costs.
Mr. Bois introduced the topic of building in the future, foreseeing the acceleration of recent trends. He said that disease has informed design for years, for example, Nineteenth-Century cholera epidemics hastened the introduction of sewers in cities. Two trends being accelerated are 1) the death of open plan office layouts, and 2) smaller housing units, but with accommodation for work from home. Offices will see wider corridors, changed common areas, a decline in co-work spaces, and air entering rooms low, and exhausting high.
A significant trend is likely to be increased pre-fabrication of building components with more control of details, quality, less labor, and less waste in components fabricated off-site. First costs will not be the sole driver of costs, and health and wellness will be an increasingly important consideration. Before embarking on system retrofits, it is important to seek multiple opinions on systems. An industrial hygienist can be helpful in decision making on systems.
Mr. Burke concurred that it is important to get trusted advice as costs and effectiveness of strategies will vary. Mr. Jenette said that factors other than money may determine how much pre-fabrication to incorporate on the construction site. Bathrooms that can be assembled off-site and installed, and repetitive façade elements reducing field labor on-site can benefit. Mr. Bois added that pre-fabrication can be tailored to clients’ needs and do not need to mean selecting items off the shelf.
Mr. Dimino led the question period with a comment about safety on site. Mr. Jenette said that Consigli uses 300 to 400 of its own forces in the field and understands the need to protect their own people. On-site, the construction managers see how to execute the safety plan efficiently with check-ins, PPE, leveraging technology to help, using the tools that they have. Self-certification reports are part of the process. Mr. Bois said that architects can visit projects to walk the site during off-hours, and virtual reviews and inspections are possible. The guidance that has been adopted by the state provides very executable plans, and collectively the construction industry has stepped up to meet the challenges.
Mr. Dimino asked about retrofitting existing buildings. Mr. Bois said that the first step is to evaluate what exists for ventilation and mechanical equipment. There is not a one size fits all ventilation solution. Mr. Burke said that updates of mechanical systems and the building envelope need to go hand in hand. Multiple options should be studied to see what makes sense. Mr. Bois said that analysis should start with an audit. He said that wellness certification is expensive, but the market is likely to demand it in the future in parallel to sustainability certification.
Mr. Barringer said that owners may see what sets a building apart from others. Mr. Bois said that we are seeing a paradigm shift where buildings are seen as important for personal health, and the industry is responding to that shift as well.
Mr. Dimino thanked the speakers and closed with the observation that it is a wonderful thing that firms are being pro-active in providing for emerging needs.
