AGENDA #3b
TO: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
FROM: Bruce Heflin, Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Report on Proposed Position for Construction Management
DATE: May 30, 2001
In previous budget working sessions the Town Manager recommended the creation of a new Construction Project Manager position to manage the execution of the major renovation and construction projects funded in the Town’s Capital Improvement Program budget. (Please see the attached original agenda item.) This budget working paper responds to the Council’s request to investigate the possibility of creating a Town Architect position.
As part of the research into this question, we have sought input from various members of the Town staff who have historically performed project management duties and we have discussed the question with some architectural professionals with experience on Town projects. Our findings are summarized below.
It is the consensus of the staff that having a licensed architect on the Town staff would enhance our capability to do some small renovation projects without the assistance of outside architectural and engineering firms; however, major renovations and new construction would still require us to contract for these services.
When an architectural firm undertakes a new construction project, an individual is designated as the project architect; however, the work on the project is distributed among the entire staff of the firm, including the principal architects, staff architects, architectural interns, draftsmen, technical writers and administrative assistants. Engineering aspects of the design are normally subcontracted to various specialty-engineering firms, including mechanical engineers for the plumbing, electrical, heating/air conditioning and civil engineering firms for the site work and structural engineering design. Other subcontractors could include landscape architects and interior design specialists. The number of specialties involved and the number of labor hours required make it impractical for any one person to undertake the majority of the work. A staff architect employed by the Town could act as the owner’s representative in managing the efforts of the project architect; however, it would not be reasonable to expect a Town Architect to undertake the design and specification of construction projects or major renovation projects without a considerable amount of outside support. Additionally, we believe that a Town Architect would not be in a favorable position to hire specialists for small parts of a job compared to large architectural and engineering firms that routinely do a large volume of business with such specialty firms.
The execution of municipal construction projects is typically administered by a project team that includes, at a minimum, the project architect, the owner’s representative (Town Project Manager), and the construction contractor’s project superintendent/manager. This group may be expanded to include other prime contractors, subcontractors, engineering and design consultants and representatives of the Town department that will ultimately occupy the facility. Historically, the role of owner’s representative for the Town has been filled by someone form the affected department or, when the department lacks sufficient staff expertise, the Public Works Department or the Engineering Department. Some examples of recent project manager assignments are as follows:
Town Hall Expansion: Assistant Manager, Sonna Loewenthal
Library: Library Director, Kathy Thompson
Parking Deck: Town Engineer, George Small
Fire Station # 5: Fire Chief, Dan Jones
Solid Waste Admin: Internal Services Superintendent, Bill Terry
Fire Training Facilities Renovations: Internal Services Superintendent, Bill Terry
Hargraves Solar Roof Panels: Internal Services Superintendent, Bill Terry
Historically, we have achieved good results on construction and renovation projects by assigning project manger duties to existing Town staff members; however, there is a price to pay for diverting existing in-house resources for this additional duty. Project management duties for a major construction or renovation project can be a full-time job. When we ask key staff members to undertake this task, neither their regular duties nor their construction management duties receives the full-time attention that they deserve. The result is that important Town business is deferred, delegated or goes undone and the execution of the project is less efficient and cost effective than we would like.
The amount of construction and renovation work that is forecast in the Town’s Capital Improvement Program budget over the next 10 years and beyond is significantly more than we have seen in the recent past. We believe that the successful execution of this work plan will require a full-time in-house project management capability.
Based on our research, we believe that suitable candidates for the Construction Management position could come from several career tracks, including architects with project management experience, engineers with construction project management experience or individuals who have worked as project superintendents for construction contractors. The recruitment for this position would be designed to attract a broad range of candidates from these career tracks.
We believe that the creation of a Project Manager position is essential to the success of the Town’s Capital Improvements Program over the next decade and beyond. Suitable candidates for this position could come from several career tracks, including construction project superintendents, civil engineers with project management experience or architects with project management experience. We recommend that the Council provide the necessary funds for this position in the fiscal 2001/2002 budget.
ATTACHMENT
1. Proposed Position for Construction Management dated April 23, 2001 (p. 4).