Member Spotlight: Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Firms During COVID-19

June 18, 2020

Written by Stephanie Eggers, Fellow | Part 1 of 2 Highlights

A Better City members continue to step up during these challenging times to help keep businesses and individuals afloat through the economic shutdown. This week’s spotlight focuses on the work of finance and banking institutions that are actively engaged in work to help clients navigate the economic downturn brought on by COVID-19 as well as provide public relief through online resources and donations to several funds related to COVID-19.

PUTTING COMMUNITY FIRST

Our members recognize the unique opportunities they have to make a positive impact in the community during the fight against COVID-19 to ensure local frontline workers are properly protected and begin thinking of how to safely reopen workplaces for those currently at home.

  • AECOM has gained attention in the news for helping in numerous projects that support community relief including establishing temporary medical facilities in Colorado, New York, and Glasgow to support the COVID-19 response. They also supported the construction of non-acute care facilities for patients with symptoms in Rhode Island that helps protect residents. Within the company, executives at AECOM took a 20% pay cut to mitigate the economic impacts of the crisis.1
  • Arup worked to develop CareBox in the Northeast, a system designed to help hospitals and clinics rapidly expand critical care capacity that helps in quickly reacting to new waves of infection. Outside the U.S., they have partnered with proper NGOs and charities to help bring necessary healthcare support to a struggling community in Bangladesh, are using their AI building management technology in China for temperature checks as people returning to work enter office buildings, and have joined a team in the UK to produce new medical shields to better protect doctors.2
  • Consigli Construction3 and Suffolk Construction4 have both been able to donate PPE to local hospitals, including N95 masks from Suffolk Construction, donated to Mass General, Boston Children’s, Beth Israel, and UMass Memorial Hospital. Consigli Construction has also taken the opportunity to partner with local businesses to produce more PPE, including masks and hand sanitizer, for job sites and support local restaurants in feeding frontline workers. Both Consigli Construction and Suffolk Construction supported the building of temporary care spaces, specifically transforming the Boston Convention Center into a temporary hospital at the peak of the outbreak.
  • Gensler5, Perkins + Will6, and Stantec all have online publications related to how the world can move forward from the pandemic. This includes collections on ideas, tips, thoughts, and strategies on how design can impact public health, including building retrofits and changes to transportation. This encompasses ideas of how we will return to schools, the workplace, restaurants, and large entertainment centers. Stantec also considers the relationship between the environment and the pandemic as we emerge from stay-at-home measures.7
  • Haley Aldrich has expert guidance published on challenges clients and other organizations may encounter in running projects and how to avoid disruptions, added costs, or safety risks that are available for public viewing.8

ADAPTING OPERATIONS TO PROTECT EMPLOYEES AND CLIENTS DURING COVID-19

While most employees at our various member architecture, engineering, and construction firms have adopted a work from home scheme, job sites have tried to remain operational with new safety standards to reduce impacts of shutdowns on project delivery.

  • Consigli Construction, Skanska9 10, Suffolk Construction11, Turner Construction Company12, and VHB have continued operations on job sites for those that cannot work from home with new safety protocols including additional hand washing and hand sanitizer stations, health checks for employees before they enter a job site, increased disinfection at sites, staggered work hours, limiting the number of people allowed on-site as much as possible, enforced physical distancing, PPE policies, and signage to communicate all new protocols and information on COVID-19.
  • AECOM, Arup, Dyer Brown, Perkins + Will, Skanska, Suffolk Construction, Turner Construction Company, and VHB have all taken measures to reduce in-person meetings and boost operations in a remote setting. Dyer Brown is heavily investigating and piloting platforms to provide more powerful capabilities for collaboration in a remote setting, both for internal operations and for relationships with clients.13 Perkins + Will has a firmwide preparedness plan that uses robust technology platforms for seamless project delivery.14 VHB has provided employees with tools and equipment to remain productive while working from home, implemented virtual desktop capabilities to increase capacity and access to applications, and provided extensive technical support for remote working.15 AECOM, Arup, and Skanska implemented a travel ban for all employees and transitioned to digital meetings alongside Turner Construction Company.16
  • Consigli Construction and Turner Construction Company have formed a COVID-19 response or action team to monitor state requirements and guidelines for operations to support teams and sharing information that can aid in the continuity of operations.

PLANS FOR REOPENING

As the trend of COVID-19 cases continues in a positive direction and we move further into reopening plans, architecture, engineering, and construction firms are considering how they can resume in-person operations and create a more resilient future for the workplace.

  • AECOM17, Arup, Perkins + Will18, and Stantec19 have all worked on developing plans for a phased approach to returning to the workplace. Arup has expanded their Operational Readiness and Transition framework to apply to the current situation and Stantec has their own Workplace Transformation Guidebook that provide a way for clients to return to the workplace and include important considerations individuals have within their workplace. AECOM has paid special attention to both technical and non-technical requirements for reopening the workplace to make sure buildings are properly maintained and keep employees safe. These firms are working with their clients to develop and implement these plans.
  • Arup and Suffolk Construction have focused on not only adopting industry-leading protocols to incorporate physical distancing and other precautions to prevent the spread but also no how to improve the resiliency of offices in the future to exist in the “new normal” and respond to future crisis.20
  • Dyer Brown has adopted a holistic approach to reopening workplaces with signage and graphics that provide a welcoming and informative environment. They have also been surveying employees to gauge productivity in working from home schemes and interest in returning the workplace before advising clients on how they can adopt similar programs. They are using their expertise to find innovative ways to navigate spaces post-pandemic and create a new, healthier workplace.21

We see our member architecture, engineering, and construction firms leveraging their place in the community to protect frontline workers and do their part in supporting relief efforts from the local level all the way to a global effort. They are also using their expertise to keep job sites running, minimizing disruptions to time-sensitive projects while taking necessary measures to protect those that cannot work from home and provide a safe workplace for essential workers. As we move into progressive reopening phases, these firms will certainly have unique expertise on how individuals and companies can navigate the new normal.

SOURCES:
  1. https://publications.aecom.com/coronavirus-resilience/?utm_source=web&utm_medium=homepage_carouse&utm_campaign=covid19&_ga=2.189120619.1744192512.1586965483-202277739.1586965483
  2. https://www.arup.com/covid-19
  3. https://www.consigli.com/covid-19-management-plan/
  4. https://www.suffolk.com/covid-19
  5. https://www.gensler.com/design-responds-to-a-changing-world
  6. https://perkinswill.com/?s=covid
  7. https://www.stantec.com/en/ideas/topic/covid-19
  8. https://info.haleyaldrich.com/covid-19?tabid=56&portalid=0&mid=660
  9. https://group.skanska.com/media/articles/we-all-have-a-role-to-play-in-ensuring-people-s-safety-and-wellbeing/
  10. https://www.usa.skanska.com/who-we-are/media/constructive-thinking/skanska-usa-s-response-to-covid-19/
  11. https://www.suffolk.com/covid-19
  12. https://www.turnerconstruction.com/covid-19
  13. https://dyerbrown.com/blog/covid-19-navigating-the-uncharted-path-ahead
  14. https://perkinswill.com
  15. https://www.vhb.com/news/COVID-19-VHB-Client-Service-Project-and-Field-Work-Operations/
  16. https://www.turnerconstruction.com/covid-19
  17. https://publications.aecom.com/coronavirus-resilience/report/return_to_work-mothballing_and_bringing_buildings_back%20to_life
  18. https://perkinswill.com/road-map-for-return/
  19. https://www.stantec.com/en/ideas/topic/covid-19/getting-back-to-business
  20. https://www.suffolk.com/covid-19#re-occupancy-services
  21. https://dyerbrown.com/blog/signs-of-a-new-normal-egd-critical-role

 

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