Pilot Program Brings Greater Efficiency to NY Construction Projects

Design-build, a more efficient method for construction, has been introduced to New York City.

Alison Landry, appointed associate commissioner of alternative delivery in New York City’s Department of Design and Construction, made the announcement several months ago.

She introduced a pilot program that now encompasses seven public buildings and three infrastructure projects, with an additional eight projects in the pipeline, first reported by Industry Dive.

Landry said design-build is an upgrade from the “incredibly limiting and ineffective lowest bidder system that the city has been forced by state law to use for more than a century.

“The way the city delivers complex capital projects is inefficient — it takes too long and it’s not how projects are built in the private sector or even at the state government level,” she told Industry Dive.

She said that contractors do not need design-build experience to be eligible for the program. Contractors and designers also don’t need to have prior experience working together to pursue new work together.

Cost Certainty, Schedule Certainty a Trademark

Rose Williams, head of client solutions, Americas at Unispace, tells GlobeSt.com that her company’s process has a number of value-adds in comparison to a traditional construction timeline:

“We operate every project with a unique cost certainty, which means designing to the client’s budget from the outset is the first step in our process,” Williams said.

“This is supported by continuous iterative budgeting, throughout the design phase. This mitigates the need for value engineering, which is common in the traditional construction process, that causes schedule delays, and affects the overall design of the product.”

Additionally, Williams said Unispace’s integrated teams allow for schedule certainty from the outset.

“Our early engagement of pre-construction and construction teams allows for the on-site due diligence and certainty on schedule timeframes,” she said.

Single Point of Contact Improves Deliverability

Unispace also provides clients with a one single point of contact and accountability. “When engaging with us, the days of the client having a confusing communication path with multiple partners/risking the loss or transfer of information are over,” Williams said.

“We are also able to provide early procurement. With all disciplines in-house, we speed up the process without impacting design, level of quality or cost for our clients. We identify long-lead materials with our multi-disciplinary team beginning from the test fit phase.”

She said this is completed with its live materials/long lead tracker, based on weekly updates from vendors and sub-trades on material/product availability.

“Through our early engagement with a minimum of three sub-trades per trade package, we are able to engage earlier for pricing on these long-lead items,” Williams said.

Design-Build Model Used Globally

Williams said that Unispace currently has several opportunities in NYC across the life sciences, financial, technology, media and legal industries. The company has successfully completed projects with his model elsewhere over the past 15 years, she said.

Williams said that design-build is a common approach to design and construction throughout a number of markets, and Unispace operates in many, actively, including the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, America & Asia.

Construction Costs Trends are Fluid

Speaking to construction materials costs, Williams said the market is “continuously changing, so it’s difficult to predict how construction costs, labor availability and material lead times will change and exactly when.

“A lot of time is spent trying to decipher previous quarter trends to predict future outcomes, but it is all subject to change and opinion, as we have no benchmarking to compare this current economic climate to.

“We’re lucky that we are involved end-to-end with all projects, which gives us clearer visibility on what could happen, and when. Right now, it looks like the trend in construction costs increasing will continue over the next 12 months.

“However, we’re hopeful we will see some stability on supply and demand pressures as we progress into 2024 and beyond.”