DPR Construction recently celebrated the topping out of the new HRI Properties dual-branded Hyatt Place and Hyatt House project. Located adjacent to the historic Tampa Old City Hall building, the 364,000 sq.-ft. design-build space will feature 345 hotel rooms, 4,800 sq.-ft. of meeting space, an outdoor rooftop pool, 3,000 sq.-ft. of ground-floor retail space and 220 parking spots, 127 that will be reserved for public use.

To mark the topping out of the HRI Hyatt House and Hyatt Place project, the team signed their names to the building’s final steel beam and watched as a crane elevated it 17 stories into place.

“There is nothing more rewarding than watching the months and months of hard work and planning culminate into a single event signifying the hard work and dedication of all the craft workers who enabled this milestone. We’re all glad to witness the last piece of signed steel soar overhead and into place,” said DPR’s Project Executive, Barry Cole.

The project’s downtown location and dense workspace added a layer of complexity. “Working in a downtown site is always fun! New challenges to tackle can emerge on an almost hourly basis,” said DPR Project Superintendent, John Donovan. Working within a tight footprint, the project team was able to coordinate traffic flow efforts to reduce any potential effects on neighboring businesses while continuing to maintain on-site safety.

“Anytime you’re working in a tight downtown site, there is nothing more rewarding than playing what feels like a real-life game of Tetris. We jockey full-size trucks and equipment around the project like a finely orchestrated dance,” said DPR Project Manager, Jason Page.

DPR self-performed the first-floor drywall and hard lid ceilings, three elevator lobbies, doors, and specialties. Self-perform crews also handled the installation of prefabricated exterior panels. The building’s exterior panels were prefabricated offsite utilizing Digital Building Components’ (DBC) robotic technology. The DBC panels are created in a controlled environment, rather than in the field, to ensure their quality. In a four-month span, the team installed 516 exterior panels, averaging about 12 panels per installation shift, a significant schedule savings compared to traditional exterior framing and Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS) installation.

By using DBC, in addition to the schedule, a labor efficiency was also created. The project had a six-worker crew for the entire panel installation, compared to an average EIFS application which has roughly 50+ workers on the exterior of a building. DBC also promotes cleaner and safer installations by eliminating debris from an EIFS process and also by bypassing the need for mast climbers.

In addition to attracting new business and leisure visitors to the Tampa Bay area, upon its completion, the hotel will provide approximately 70 new employment opportunities. “As we work to recover from the COVID-19 crisis and get our economy back on its feet, we are so excited to celebrate new developments like the HRI Downtown Hyatt House and Hyatt Place Project. DPR Construction has been steadfast in their commitment to keeping our city moving forward safely in the midst of this pandemic. This project will help elevate our tourism industry as we reopen slowly and look forward to welcoming visitors back to our beautiful city in the future,” said Tampa Mayor Jane Castor.

The Miller Hull Partnership recently received Living Building Challenge Petal Certification for the renovation of its San Diego studio. Built by DPR Construction, the 4,600-square-foot tenant improvement included upgrades to the open office, conference rooms and model shop.

“Through efficient building systems and responsible sourcing, Miller Hull was able to reach their sustainability goals and raise the bar for modern green projects,” said DPR project manager John Kay. “Because the Living Building Challenge is based on a building’s performance rather than projections, we’re demonstrating that these ambitious standards can be realized in a commercial tenant improvement.”

To meet energy conservation goals and achieve net positive energy, the building features a 24-kilowatt photovoltaic solar array on the roof and was designed to take advantage of natural lighting in the sunny Southern California climate. In the first year of operations, the studio produced 30 percent more energy than it used. Fresh air can be accessed from almost anywhere in the space through manually operated, full-height windows. There is no artificial air conditioning in the building.

Salvaged and Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood as well as locally sourced materials helped the project reach the Materials Petal. The project team also prioritized manufacturer transparency and products without materials or chemicals of concern.

It took vigilance and an integrated approach to attain the net positive waste standard during the construction phase. “We challenged conventional waste management practices and reinforced the importance of rigor with the diversion work,” said Kay. “The so-called ‘waste’ became a valuable resource. The interior wall paneling removed during demolition was reused for bracing and protection during construction. Excavated soil was repurposed for offsite gardening and landscaping.”

The Miller Hull San Diego studio is the first project certified under the fourth version of the Living Building Challenge, which continues to set visionary but attainable building goals, while focusing on the relationship between impact and effort in the design and construction industry. It is also the first Living Building Challenge certified project in San Diego County.

Presented by the International Living Future Institute, Petal Certification falls under the larger Living Building Challenge program and is awarded to projects that achieve at least three complete “Petals,” or performance categories. The San Diego studio successfully pursued six of the seven Petals including place, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity, and beauty.

Even as the pandemic requires constant vigilance from site teams, DPR Construction’s Jacksonville team continues to raise industry standards with a bridge placement at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville and Wolfson Children’s Hospital. At 110 tons and 85 feet long, the prefabricated pedestrian bridge was successfully lifted and installed by the project team. The bridge will provide visitors, patients,and team members with access to garage parking and a safer path to cross the street and enter the future Baptist Jacksonville Entry Building/Wolfson Children’s Critical Care Tower.

Directed by remote control, the project team utilized a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) to move the bridge down the street. “The bridge along with the overall hospital project is one of the largest self-perform concrete projects in the region,” said Matt Bishop, DPR project executive.

Following the bridge placement, the project team secured an additional milestone with the arrival and installation of a 1,800-ton chiller.

Due to the existing size of the building’s central energy plant (CEP), the chiller was disassembled in a day inside a climate-controlled warehouse space near the project site.“We factored in several key elements during the chiller disassembly phase to ensure for a seamless reassembly process,” said Scott Gibbs, DPR superintendent.

The project team followed strategic technical steps including:

• Cleaning of the refrigerant lines in the warehouse to eliminate a day of purging
• Advanced preparation of refrigerant line fittings
• Storing refrigerant in the vacuum pump until recharging the system onsite
• Sealing all parts of the assembly to prevent Trane from testing fluids in the system
• Prefabrication of all of the linkages for the compressors
• Preassembly of orifices and gaskets on economizer base and refrigerant oil separator
• Pre-alignment of the motor on the compressor
• Prefabrication of the rupture disk and flex

With the chiller components separated and ready for mobilization, the team along with project trade partners built a custom compressor roller for use at the project site to slide the chiller parts inside the narrow space of the existing CEP of the building. “Based on the BIM model, we were able to determine travel paths and swing radius specs to transport the chiller elements on the specialized transport dollies,” said Gibbs.

The team successfully transported, reassembled, and installed the chiller inside of the project space in under 48 hours.

The project is slated to be complete by the end of 2021.

On March 16, officials in California’s Bay Area announced a Shelter-in-Place (SIP) order for six Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara. Many DPR Construction projects stopped work to abide by this order to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 infections. But that wasn’t the end of the story. Safely winding down a project is one thing. Getting things back online with new protocols in the face of a pandemic is another. DPR’s Bay Area project teams quickly got to work on what they knew would be the next step: restarting these projects as safely as possible.

Teams were set up to formulate return to work plans, for both offices and jobsites, so projects could come back online with enhanced COVID-19 safety protocols. One such project that was paused due to the SIP order was the 283,000-sq.-ft. UCSF Block 23A Neurosciences Research Building in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood. The project is in an urban setting, in the middle of a city block, a stone’s throw away from the Chase Center and AT&T Park. DPR’s self-perform scopes include concrete, drywall, ceilings, firestopping and fire safing.

Jack Poindexter, who serves as project executive on the UCSF job, summed up the challenges. “This project is massive. It’s a complex project with a lot of workers on-site—well over 300 on a given day.” The team knew they needed to build a plan to return to work, but being able to do it safely and with a high degree of excellence was paramount in their minds. “Our goal was to protect their jobs, but we also had to protect their health, and treat a potential restart with a level of seriousness that we would treat any other high hazard activity on a construction site.”

The final result was akin to a project procedures manual on a large job. The team, who met daily via virtual conferences, considered all possible angles: How to get people in. How to check that they’re healthy. How to get them into the building in the most efficient manner. How to move materials to and around the site. How to keep people safe in the field and in the trailer. What types of PPE would be required? What should working hours be? How to bring people back into the site while orienting them to new logistics and procedures. The team collected myriad ideas and came up with a final get back to work plan that UCSF not only approved but praised.

First and foremost was the question of how to spread people out for social distancing purposes. A team of DPR employees, including superintendents and craft team members who could advise on the practicalities of the field and come up with workable solutions, decided to spread workers out across shifts. The core crews were split into two shifts, while a third shift was added to handle material deliveries and some on-site work.

The next step was to stagger the start times of subcontractors, even within the same shift. With a pre-screening process, including temperature scans, in place to ensure that every person who enters the site is healthy, this cuts down on people queuing up for screening at the same time. And those who do wait in line for screening prior to entry stand at designated places on the pavement, helping them maintain a 6-foot distance from each other while waiting to enter the gate. The team even added a second gate, allowing two people to be screened at once at separate entry points. Those conducting temperature scans are protected in booths, behind plexiglass--not only on the construction site itself, but also in jobsite trailers.

The team also changed logistics once inside the site, even down to the use of the stairs in the building. One staircase is designated for going up, while another is designated for those going down. This minimizes the number of people potentially passing each other in close contact. Teams also began working in designated zones of the building so that certain crews can be isolated from others. For Poindexter, DPR’s self-perform crews not only helped make this possible, but helped make it a success.

“When we shut down, we were right in the middle of drywall, and we have a tremendous amount of our drywall and ceiling folks on-site. What’s great is getting them back to work, but also, they’re our people. It’s so much easier to control the safety and performance of a project when you’ve got DPR personnel executing it. These protocols are new to everybody, so making sure we’re all doing them well is a whole new hurdle for us. Having more DPR personnel on-site is a really big benefit for us.”

The UCSF Block 23A project was able to restart successfully due to the careful analysis, planning and execution of those plans by DPR employees and the cooperation of every subcontractor and the client, itself. But, the importance of the learning element is not lost on anyone. The crisis has given everyone the opportunity to become better planners, with a multitude of lessons learned from both planning and scheduling standpoints.

Said Poindexter: “We’ve learned a ton. We’ve focused on it in a way that folks at DPR always do. We rise to the occasion. Every time, we rally around these issues, solve the problems, learn from them, and are better in the future. That effort is well worth it. We will end up in a stronger position as better builders in the long run.”

UCSF Block 23A welcomed more than 300 people back to work the week of May 4. Safely.

DPR Construction played a key role in the extensive efforts of WRNS Studio's Seattle office to achieve Living Building Challenge Materials Petal certification, which would be a first for DPR’s Northwest region. WRNS desired a higher standard of sustainability with the project, a concept that aligns with DPR’s sustainability goals.

“It was important to WRNS that our team conduct a full evaluation and analysis of the requirements of LEED, WELL and the Living Building Challenge for this tenant improvement project. DPR priced all potential credits and opportunities to find a best value solution. Upon final review, it was agreed upon that we would only achieve LBC Certification,” said Cameron Thomas, DPR’s project engineer for the job.

After the analysis, it was determined that the best value for WRNS and WRNS employees came from pursuing the LBC Materials Petal certification. However, in addition, WRNS decided to pick and choose from some of the best value items for WELL and LEED, especially when it came to upgrading some of the HVAC performance and light fixtures.

The 5,500-sq.-ft. office, with views of Elliott Bay, was completed in 2018. The detailed process of Petal certification took shape during the project, with the entire process of documentation taking 15 months.

To achieve LBC Materials Petal certification, the DPR team had to approach mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) work differently due to the LBC’s Red List of disapproved products and materials. When mass produced, these materials can pollute the environment, have negative side effects on workers or contain unsustainable components. As a result, the team also needed to reassess their approach to the HVAC work, helping it function more efficiently with the already-existing core equipment. Additionally, high-end and Red List-compliant LED lighting fixtures were installed.

“Hitting this goal took strong teamwork,” Thomas said. “We collaborated with several key trade partners for mechanical and electrical needs. As one coherent team, we were able to evaluate all the systems on how well they would achieve the available credits to win certification.”

Material vetting, final selections and purchasing were all key phases of this project, requiring careful research and documentation from DPR, as LBC submission includes disclosure of all the materials and components used. In order to request those specific pieces of information, DPR relied on trade partners and manufacturers to be knowledgeable about what materials and components make up each individual product being used in construction.

While it is common practice to get disclosure information for some materials, obtaining this information about every single material on-site set a new bar. However, knowing that failure to meet this “zero tolerance” aspect would have stripped WRNS of their certification, the team rose to the challenge.

“In any other project, a request like this would be well beyond normal practice, but DPR believed in the customer’s vision for the project. Both the design and construction teams faced a high learning curve when searching for the right materials and required information for the submittal, but we’re able to share the knowledge that we gained across our business now,” said Thomas.

When a plane takes off, it looks like a graceful motion of the plane lifting from the ground and gradually rising out of sight. What isn’t seen is the work pilots do to adjust to even small factors ranging from weight, wind and even more. Construction, too, can look like every piece is moving just right at every moment.

Like pilots, many on the team work behind the scenes to make sure execution goes as planned. MEP professionals play a special role in this, leveraging technical building expertise with designers and other project partners to make sure what’s in the drawings becomes a reality in the field. Sometimes, that means collaboration to iron out the finer details of a design.

This edition of If These Walls Could Talk… looks at how MEP pros can make great things happen in design management to deliver quality.

"The only thing to expect is the unexpected"has become the go-to line. Life looks differently today than it did six months ago, much less 30 years ago when DPR Construction was founded. But celebrating an anniversary on the heels of a global inflection point is fitting for a company that has aimed to disrupt the industry since its inception.

“Looking back on what DPR has weathered is helping us move forward to achieve our mission of being a most admired company,” said George Pfeffer, member of DPR’s Management Committee. “If you focus on taking care of people and developing a strong organization to support them, you can continue to deliver great results.”

Starting a construction company in the fluctuating market of 1990 might've been buoyed by the pure confidence of founders Doug Woods, Peter Nosler and Ron Davidowski (the D, P and R), but navigating multiple ups and downs since can be chalked up to more than tenacity; something is working here. The last three decades have taught DPR more than a few lessons that continue to shape its business, culture and people.

Doing Things Differently

“When we started DPR, we wanted to be a customer-focused organization," said Woods. "We’re a negotiating general contractor that takes care of our customers. To do that, we need great people, who are happy and willing to work hard. That’s one of the things that started us, making us different from the very beginning.”

DPR's first decade in business, what it now calls the “Decade of Development” (1990-2000), focused on building an entrepreneurial and innovative culture and empowering employees. It paid off with great success and accolades. DPR harnessed the rising semiconductor industry that was powering 1990s globalization to quickly establish itself as a competitive contractor. Its first semiconductor fabrication facility was awarded in 1994; a $43 million wafer fabrication project for Rockwell International completed in just six months. By the end of the decade, DPR had upwards of $2 billion in revenue and was quickly expanding operations across the country.

The next two decades marked a critical shift in DPR's approach to winning work and taking care of people. The dot.com bust and financial crisis bookending the 2000s necessitated strategic evaluations for taking on new work; spurred greater understanding of DPR's core customer markets; and underlined the importance of supporting the community. There were some hard pills to swallow: revenue shrinkage, office closures and the great recession among them. In reacting to the factors outside of its control, the company learned that a culture of discipline was needed to support its entrepreneurial spirit.

From 2010-2019, DPR shifted its aim from market dominance to positioning itself as a transformative entity in an industry traditionally slow to change. Part of that evolution was internal: instituting leadership transitions and hiring and development practices to provide leadership opportunities for more people. The organization also transformed to a collective "team of teams" approach, resulting in integrated regional business units to help identify and scale areas of excellence.

A Fully Integrated Business

No fewer than four inflection points later, DPR has a bench of experience to draw on as it enters the next 10 years, what it aptly calls its “Decade of Strategic Growth” on its way to Mission 2030. Now ranked among the top 10 general contractors by ENR, and with about 8,000 employees worldwide, DPR has some scale to throw behind its efforts to optimize, innovate and change the world.

“Revenue and size are outcomes, or lagging indicators, of the strategic actions we take,” said Pfeffer. “As we move into our decade of strategic growth, we remain focused on hiring, inspiring, developing and growing the best people, operational excellence and delivering great results every time.”

Increasing alignment within its team of teams has translated to more predictable outcomes for DPR customers and partners. Looking at the integrated project lifecycle end-to-end is leading to an evolution of better workflows. Workflows enabled by technology and data bear out efficiencies in execution through virtual design and construction, increased prefabrication, and the capability to self-perform work.

Taking Care of People

"If you let people do the right things,and do what they're good at,good things will happen,” said Davidowski.

DPR prioritizes a well-rounded, supportive employee experience to enable the delivery of predictable outcomes across its enterprise. It’s a sentiment expressed in the company’s two central beliefs: Respect for the individual and change the world.

“Respect for the individual means that we trust and care about each other and our customers, and how we interact with others,” said Jody Quinton, member of DPR’s Management Committee. "Changing the world boils down to believing that what we do and how we do it truly matters, and that we’re always inspired to make a difference.”

These beliefs create alignment and foster a willingness to keep pushing forward. As the economic and social landscapes continue to evolve, DPR, like many companies, is looking deeper into Global Social Responsibility and its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) practices. These are rooted in the idea that when employees are engaged, seen and heard, they’re more productive. In a company that runs on teamwork, diversity fuels understanding and communication, thereby strengthening trust in each other.

Although far from complete, DPR’s DE&I journey thus far has included recasting partnership agreements to reflect diversity best practices, hiring new leadership to increase diversity in its supply chain, expanding its college recruitment portfolio, and breaking bias training.

“Having a work force that matches the customers we build for and the communities where we build is about social responsibility, but it’s also about getting results,” said Mark Whitson of DPR’s Management Committee. “Having a diverse group of people who feel included and can bring their whole selves to work changes the way we build. Having a diverse set of opinions and a diverse set of backgrounds allows us to make better decisions and explore new ways of doing things.”

Building Raving Fans

Where construction has been mostly focused on the transaction of getting work done at a good price, DPR’s dedication to collaboration both inside and outside its organization might feel against the grain. But that’s why it works.

“From day one we were really determined that every client that we had would be a raving fan,” said Nosler. “Not just in the sense that we did a good job, and that they liked us, but also that they would tell their spouses and their neighbors, ‘Hey, we have this fantastic company that helped us build this wonderful project.’ That’s what we want."

DPR’s model highlights something inherent to the industry: Construction is a people business. By providing a cultural foundation focused on people, aligned by common goals and a commitment to operational excellence, DPR creates an environment that encourages people to be their best selves. Diversifying its business lines and workforce has brought new perspectives and approaches.The efficiencies and innovations gained as a result of a highly collaborative workflow lead to more predictable outcomes on projects. Put that all together, and the result is a blueprint for transforming the industry and delivering great results, every time.

“Everything we do adds up to two simple things: build great projects that create raving fans,” said Mike Humphrey of DPR’s Management Committee.

This article was originally published on the Digital Building Components blog.

Communicating installation sequences for prefabricated systems can be challenging, especially under tight schedules. While digital fabrication can save considerable time compared to traditional building methods, a seamless installation plan is key to achieving that savings.

“In the past, sequences were sent by PDF and required assumptions on details that frequently changed,” said Rudy Trujillo, operations support at Digital Building Components. “Panels were stacked on trucks based on these assumptions. The process wasn't well-defined, and this created jobsite issues when the stacking order differed from the general contractor’s installation plans.”

To deliver the schedule and efficiency benefits of prefab, project teams need an easy and accurate means of communicating the installation sequence.

Digital Building Components, DPR's strategic partner that manufactures custom prefab systems, has an app for that. Using model-based sequencing, Digital Building works with the general contractor to lay out an execution plan that maximizes schedule advantages in the delivery process. Once established, this sequencing plan becomes the basis for tracking digital fabrication delivery and installation. Working with another strategic partner vConstruct, Digital Building developed this app to streamline the communication process while enabling earlier and more detailed installation sequencing.

Using the App

The Digital Building Components iOS app allows project teams to order building components in the sequence they’ll build a project. In the app, project teams work with the current fabrication model. This eliminates the need for assumptions. The user clicks panels in the order they will be installed. The app then relays the information to Digital Building.

Access: The user – typically the installation superintendent – requests access. Once Digital Building has verified the right person is doing the sequence, they are invited to use the app. The user must also have access to the project in Autodesk.

User Input: The user enters the installation rate in linear feet/hour, along with the number of hours worked per day. Using the current fabrication model, the user taps each panel in the order it will be installed.

Visual Display: As each panel is tapped, the app displays a color-coded number corresponding to the order in the sequence. The app calculates how many panels can be installed per day and once that capacity is reached, moves to the next day. When this happens, the panel numbers change colors. For example, all panels that can be installed on Day 1 will have a red number. Once Day 1 is full, the numbers change to blue for Day 2. This allows the project team to see if they can meet the desired schedule based on the entered installation rate. For example, the app may indicate that with the given parameters, the installation will take too long. The user can then make adjustments to complete the work within the desired window.

Completing the Order: When the user is satisfied with the sequence, they send a summary report to Digital Building to complete the process. The sequence data is directly applied to the panel numbers in the digital model and the panels are stacked in the correct order.

Virtual design and construction helped push the project over the goal line at the University of Arizona’s football stadium. DPR Construction recently renovated the Skybox Club, ten Skybox Suites and the university president’s box in the historic Arizona Stadium. The upgrades to the premium open-air seating area near the 50-yard line and presidential suite were designed to completely change the fan experience and create new opportunities for university advancement when play resumes.

The 10,000-sq.-ft. interior renovation on the third floor included upgraded finishes, new fixtures and furnishings, updated ADA accessibility and a new operable window. The scope also included restroom renovations, updates to the concessions support spaces and installation of LED lighting and displays. The improvements are part of a major west-side renovation to the stadium.

DPR’s Special Services Group (SSG) was enlisted to perform the improvements. With a focus on small to mid-size projects, the team has expertise delivering greater value on upgrades, renovations, remodels and reconfigurations. The DPR team also self-performed drywall.

Construction was completed in a three-month time span. DPR project manager Taylor Fulkerson said the combination of the SSG team and self-perform work was key to adhering to the strict timeline.

“DPR’s SSG group focuses on projects that are five million dollars or less. They can mobilize quickly, maintain quality and successfully meet aggressive deadlines,” said Fulkerson. “Self-performing a critical trade allowed us to start work earlier in the field and fast-track the schedule.”

To upgrade the look and feel of the space, DPR texturized exposed concrete walls to match the finishes of framed walls to provide consistency in the space. The new metal panel ceiling required extreme precision for installation because the design required lights to be mounted on the surface. The electricians provided “literal white glove service” to protect the ceiling from scuffs during their work said Fulkerson.

Scoring with Virtual Reality

Satisfied with the third-floor Skybox Club and suite improvements, the university asked if similar renovations on a smaller scale could be completed on the second floor. The client wanted a single suite that could be used as a showroom to solicit donor interest in upgraded accommodations. With an even tighter timeline for this exhibition space, DPR alternatively proposed and built a virtual reality model to help support the fundraising efforts.

“Virtual reality was a game-changer for this small project that required a quick turnaround,” said DPR VDC manager Dustin Ridley. “We were able to deliver a high quality and low-cost solution.” The virtual mockup reduced costs by 90 percent compared to a full-scale suite build-out.

DPR’s technical partner vConstruct used rendering tools and photos from similar stadium suites to map materials to the mockup and create a highly detailed virtual environment. The final product allowed donors to interact with the space exactly as they would in a walk-through. Chairs could be moved, and mini refrigerator doors could be opened during the interactive tour when participants were hooked up to a virtual reality headset.

“The model allows the university to conduct customer interest research and begin planning the additional level of suites,” said Ridley. “With VR, fans can give feedback and the design is a collaborative process.”

DPR’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Leader, Stacee Barkley, shares the company’s journey to becoming a more diverse and inclusive workplace, and how DEI fits into DPR’s overall approach to global social responsibility.

What does DEI mean?

I love the analogy that diversity is being asked to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance, and equity is playing the variety of music that gets each of us on the dance floor. It means recognizing, valuing, embracing and engaging what makes us uniquely individual and therefore immeasurable contributors to the organization. DEI strives to represent the broader external community, and leverage the diversity of perspectives, thoughts and experiences by empowering authenticity and enabling access to the tools and resources to succeed.

How is DEI part of DPR’s commitment to global social responsibility?

DPR’s approach to global social responsibility is broken down into three pillars: People, Planet and Philanthropy. The People pillar has two branches, DEI, which is focused internally on the employee experience, and externally on supplier diversity. When we think about global reach, customer centricities, innovation and talent, DEI underscores the imperative to understand cultural, social-political and economic difference, recognizes that diversity fuels innovation, inspires talent and is a critical success factor to client and community engagement. Knowing and showing that DPR is invested and committed to the diversity, equity and inclusion of its people allows us to fulfill our core beliefs to Respect the Individual and Change the World!

How does DEI fit into DPR?

It really is all about having a workforce that represents the community, and a workplace where people can be their best authentic selves and thrive through whatever their employee lifecycle may be. DPR was founded as a company that was all about helping people achieve everything at their highest potential and giving them the tools to do so in service of our customer. It’s been part of our DNA since the very beginning. Going forward, we are being more intentional, deliberate and strategic in ensuring DEI is embedded into all of our practices.

What are some of the challenges to increasing diversity in DPR’s workforce?

It’s important to recognize that diversity is multifaceted. I like to say it is a kaleidoscope, not monolithic. But when we look at traditional measures of diversity (gender and U.S. ethnicity) we know the industry does not attract a lot of women (as an example) – so we need to be more intentional and focused in our recruiting efforts both in where and how we recruit to demonstrate the value proposition of the construction industry. It also means recognizing and mitigating unconscious biases that may influence decision making in any of our process or practices.

What are DPR’s plans to recruit with more diversity as a focus?

DPR is increasing access to diverse talent by evaluating our campus portfolio for HBCUs and HSIs, diversifying professional association career events, using social media to actively engage diverse communities, using brand imagery that reflects diversity, and leveraging data – pipeline funnel analysis – to manage gaps and opportunities. We’re also actively working on mitigating bias in the acquisition process. Our Respect for the Individual Breaking Bias program has just begun, and our talent acquisition/recruiting teams will be among the first to go through it. DPR is also re-evaluating job descriptions to be language-conscious, revisiting the essentiality of degrees (for certain roles), diversifying interview panels, and using skills-based interview questions.

What is DPR doing about supplier diversity?

We’re very excited that Patrice Gilmore has recently taken the role to lead our national supplier diversity strategy. There is an aligned vision for supplier diversity, we have held initial stakeholder engagement discussions (with more to come), we are looking at data analytics, and will be starting a pilot program in the coming months.

What’s my role in this?

The biggest thing anyone can today is to seek to understand, seek to learn, to be informed, seek to be engaged in conversations which may at first be a little uncomfortable. We should also allow for the grace of patience to be thoughtful, intentional and meaningful. DEI is one pillar of GSR, but it is truly intertwined with everything we do. We’re on a mission to be an admired company, not just a standard bearer in the industry but also an example that stretches beyond construction. We’re on a journey together, we’ll all be better for the experience, and we’re excited to share it with everyone.

Starting where we began:

D – Seek to engage others with different perspectives and experiences, actively connect with someone different from you (i.e. inviting someone to the party).

E – Ask colleagues how they like to be engaged and recognized. What is their best communication style? We all may need something a bit different (i.e. playing different music).

I –Ask for the perspective of those who may be on the phone as opposed to in the room; go round-robin on calls and ask everyone to contribute. If you know you have an introvert on the team let everyone know in advance they will be asked to contribute or follow up with people afterwards to ensure their voice in included (i.e. being asked to dance).

DPR Construction is hard at work on a complex renovation project at The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. The scope of work consists of 52,000 sq.-ft. of interior renovation encompassing labor and delivery and antepartum patient rooms, operating rooms, the addition of new service elevators within the existing facility, demolition of an existing parking structure and construction of a 9-story 732,500 sq.-ft. precast parking garage. Since 1976, the hospital has helped bring 170,000 babies into the world and become one of Texas’s foremost care centers for women and newborns. Located just off The Old Spanish Trail and minutes away from The Texas Medical Center, a dense 2.1-square-mile medical district in south-central Houston, The Woman’s Hospital is one of 13 in HCA Houston Healthcare’s network that together treat more than 1 million patients each year.

Much of the project’s complexity stems from the fact that it is being carried out while the facility remains occupied and fully operational, as well as from the addition of the two elevators in the core of the building. Patrick Gorman, who serves as project manager, says “the addition of two staff elevators in the core of the hospital is by far the most complex portion of this project .”

The elevator shaft was built into the structure during initial construction, designed with knockout slabs in preparation for adding the elevators later. But over the years, several projects had been undertaken in the area which lead to some unforeseen obstacles that required solutions-based strategies. Upon demolition, the team encountered numerous existing unidentified conditions with conduit, piping and steam lines that had to be rerouted to clear the way for the new elevators.

Says Gorman, “On every floor, we’ve overcome major conflicts and challenges to prepare to demolish the slabs for the shaft. But the demolition is almost complete, and we’re gearing up to start the penthouse expansion to support the elevators.”

DPR’s mechanical, electrical and plumbing expertise was vital in the planning and relocating of these existing utilities. The team worked together to come up with a plan for the complex series of shutdowns that were necessary, but that would mitigate potential downtime. They utilized an existing fusible crane disconnect that was left in place from previous work, refeeding it with normal power and using it to temporarily feed each panel as it was shut down to relocate the conduits and feeders.

“The whole project has really allowed us to showcase our abilities as a true self-perform builder,” said Gorman. When the original subcontractor was unable to man the demolition portion of the project, DPR’s self-perform corps stepped up to complete the demolition, met the schedule perfectly and smoothed out the entire process.

DPR self-perform team members are also completing the concrete on the 2000-space parking garage, which includes an expansive site work utilities package for the garage and to support the adjacent medical office building. And since the project is at a major medical center, work must align with requirements for infection control and other measures inside the hospital. The work carried out by DPR’s craft team members, including Jose Rubio and Jose Zelaya, to meet these requirements has garnered raving reviews from the hospital and its staff. Says Gorman, “We truly could not complete a project of this magnitude without their help.”

Navigating the project’s unique challenges requires extensive coordination amongst the various trades on-site and the use of VDC site models that are color coded by scope and serve as visual aids for sequencing of the work. “This job is different from the traditional approach to a project schedule,” says Robert Parham, a project engineer on the team. “We have six phases. In the first phase, we’re in 12 areas of the building at one time. Each space is phased out, so it’s a lot of communication and coordination with the trades out in the field.”

The team uses Smartsheet for collaboration and work management, meticulously reviewing every activity with the responsible foremen. The goal is not only to notify each trade of schedule commitments, but also to obtain educated buy-in from each trade on-site, committing to the schedules agreed upon with the customer. Planning includes daily coordination with facility staff on the ground, to notify them of what spaces are scheduled for work and to coordinate the various access plans.

As a result of these efforts, the project is on track for its scheduled 2021 completion.

At DPR, we aim to hire, inspire, develop and grow bullet-smart individuals. Each year, students from across the United States who study construction management, engineering, business and various other studies apply to spend their summers on a DPR project where they learn through hands-on experience. Things were a little different this year.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic gave DPR the opportunity to reimagine a traditional internship experience. Where interns used to be limited to the location and project type they were placed on, a virtual setting allowed for global audience connection and holistic business understanding.

“When we decided the internship was going to be virtual in early April, we put our heads together and decided a competition was the way to go,” said Sean O’Mara, who leads the College Recruiting team. “We paired up with different workgroups within DPR to design a program that would challenge and prepare interns for working in construction.”

Over the course of eight weeks, seventy-one interns teamed up and learned about different parts of DPR’s business from leaders across the company. The ultimate goal of the program was to apply these lessons to a real-life project scenario and answer the question, “Should DPR pursue the project?”

Throughout the summer, teams completed deliverables that built upon the material that was taught during the weekly webinar training session. The deliverables included: developing a schedule and site logistics plan, performing a drywall take off, completing a schedule of values and conducting contract risk assessments and a go/no-go analysis. Using a Microsoft Teams site, students were able to collaborate in real time, regardless of their geographic location. If teams needed guidance, they could reach out to their “captains,” which were DPR employees who acted as mentors throughout the program.

“The support from across the organization was overwhelming,” O’Mara commented. “Since it was online, we were able to hear from leaders around the United States. It was fun to see how excited everyone at DPR was to get involved and help out.”

The eight-week schedule consisted of presentations led by subject matter experts from across the company, and included:

• Week 1: DPR Culture, Teambuilding & Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Assessment
• Week 2: Contracts & Site Logistics
• Week 3: Planning & Schedule
• Week 4: General Conditions & Schedule of Values
• Week 5: Break
• Week 6: Sales Analysis & Presentation Skills Training
• Week 7: Round 1 Presentations
• Week 8: Round 2 Presentations to Management Committee

Week 7 was the final leg of the journey for some interns. Scores taken from weekly deliverables were combined with first-round presentation scores, and the top four teams moved forward to present their arguments to DPR’s Management Committee during Week 8. Members of the winning team each received a DPR gift box.

We asked our summer interns to describe their experience with this year’s Virtual Internship Program:

• “The weekly deliverables were on point and the deadlines made me work on my toes like I was actually working in the team! Overall, I am sure I have made the best use of this summer and enhanced my knowledge and skills on various topics. I wanted to thank everybody in DPR who gave us great presentations, feedback on our deliverables and all other people who were a part of this program.” Jesline Althea, Arizona State University

• “My favorite part of the internship was meeting all of the great people at DPR. They taught me aspects of the construction industry that other internships didn’t. I’ve realized that you must be goal-oriented and always moving forward to learn about things in the industry.” Isaac Michel, California State University, Sacramento

• “I really enjoyed having access to the DPR employees throughout the program. During a regular internship experience you only get to see what’s going on in your project and talk to your team on site, but this opportunity was great for getting feedback and information from so many different professionals.” Julia Krok, University of California, Davis

In the first half of 2020, change has been the only constant. Mitigating risk and managing disruptions has been a necessity for all companies. At DPR, we know that being able to adapt and move Ever Forward is key to ensuring success.

"This summer’s internship program showed that no matter the obstacles, we will always build something great–great teams, great programs, great experiences, “said O’Mara.

According to the Gartner Hype Cycle the digital twin concept is a trending technology that is being adopted by numerous industries, including manufacturing, aviation, automotive, civil infrastructure, and healthcare. However, for the commercial facility operations and management (FM) community, the concept is relatively new - but it should not be.

Building operators and managers are tasked with running safe, sustainable, and efficient buildings through the COVID-19 Pandemic and beyond. They face tight budgets, limited resources, constant regulatory monitoring and for many, are unfamiliar with advanced technologies.

Using a digital twin can be a critical and strategic step in the right direction for these teams but they just do not know where to start.

Definition and Key Benefits

“The benefits of the digital twin depend upon the level of implementation to support the challenges faced by facility operators and engineer’s day in and day out,” said Aaron Peterson, leader of VueOps, a strategic partner of DPR Construction. “One of our recent life science customers is focused on increasing its maintenance productivity. To do that, we are helping to build a solid data foundation that will lead to an understanding of how to improve their processes, increase facility up time and increase their tenant satisfaction, saving them hundreds of thousands of dollars over the lifecycle of their build.”

At first, the digital twin concept consisted of capturing information about a physical product digitally and visually. But a digital twin is not just a 3D model; it is a combination of model, product, location, performance data, and the systems they comprise. Connections between the products in a building and their digital twin are created when internet enabled sensors (installed on products) stream operating data to the twin for diagnostic analysis, visualization, and performance simulation.

A recent Arup report describes the digital twin with a five-level framework, spanning from 3D visualization to autonomous operation and control. Building operators and managers who are currently using a digital twin work within Level 1 -3. In the AEC industry, the expanded practices of incorporating data from external sources, autonomous operation, and control (Level 4 –5) is where there is opportunity to deliver even more value.

Level 1: Allows teams to virtually investigate problems quickly, identify building equipment and understand impacts on building occupants. It is a model of the products that comprise building systems and the building spaces they serve.

Level 2: Offers teams the ability to develop insight about equipment that requires frequent repair or performs sub-optimally. This information can inform fix or replace decisions and improve operational reliability and facility up time. Level 2 digital twin incorporates historical data, represented in preventive maintenance and incident response work orders from asset management systems.

Level 3: Improves collection of real time performance data about products via internet enabled sensors. It enables you to detect performance issues and compare real time data with baseline data to make changes to optimize your systems.

Level 4: Enhances your ability to optimize equipment performance by addressing how external factors affect system performance. For example, local weather, external temperatures, and insulation levels.

Level 5: The digital twin at this level can be trained to recognize the cause of issues in building performance and autonomously control and correct equipment operation using machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

“A digital twin helps customers improve up time of their facilities and for the people doing critical work within them,” said Andrew Arnold, Product Lead, VueOps. “With a single source of truth for all facility document, data and models, clients can find the right information and the right time, with multiple views of a building through 2D drawings, 3D models and asset registers. This critical data allows FM teams to spend less time looking for information and planning and more time addressing work orders and maintenance tasks.”

Setting Up Your Digital Twin Starts with BIM

Setting up a digital twin starts with a clear need for 3D representation of your mechanical system(s) and the spaces it serves. FM teams need to easily locate and identify products of a system in terms of the building locations, i.e., building levels, zones, and rooms.

Building Information Models (BIM) - already a part of nearly every major construction project - provide an early starting point for collecting and organizing the needed data. In some cases, they provide design information that represents the design function and occupancy requirements for rooms and spaces.

Since BIM exists before the physical building, you can use it for the digital representation of the products that will be installed in the building and associate design and functional requirements. You can also use BIM to understand how the products of a system are connected. In some cases, the BIM authoring system can define and represent building systems; in other cases, owners can collect the system data using other tools to group the members of a system.

Once teams have identified, located, and inventoried the installed products, they can build out the information needed for the digital twin as construction progresses by collecting and organizing data from project submittals and closeout, including test and balance reports, and the manufacturer’s recommended operation and maintenance procedures.

“Building a digital twin is a big endeavor,” said Aaron Peterson, VueOps. “But with managed services and the right enabling technology and platform, you can choose a hosted, custom or integrated approach to empower teams to prevent downtime, save money and take advantage of rich Building Information Modeling.”

While students across the country head back to school this fall, DPR Construction once again offered a unique pre-pandemic internship that showcased an up-close look at the construction industry.

Earlier this year, DPR’s Austin business unit hosted a week-long internship with two students from the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders who were selected from a group of nearly three dozen applicants. The Ann Richards School is a public all-girls school that serves grades 6-12, dedicating itself to preparing young women to attend and graduate from college and commit to a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle.

DPR’s Melody Rahbar organized and coordinated the interns’ schedules, carefully curating a program that included career-focused presentations and a variety of jobsite visits throughout the week. The interns visited DPR’s Block 71, Google Randall, Marriott and Block 185 jobsites, giving them a first-hand look at projects in various stages of construction. During these jobsite tours, interns shadowed either a superintendent or project engineer and got the chance to bond with team members over meal breaks.

Committed to pulling out all the stops, DPR ensured that this immersive experience was both informative and enriching for the students. More than 20 people from all facets of the company took time out of their schedules to teach the interns everything from construction safety and contracts to construction technology and marketing. Collectively, the DPR team offered the students an insight into the many career pathways that are available in the construction industry.

Rahbar said she was able to relate to the young interns since she herself interned with DPR at least three different times before coming on board.

“I really liked that they seemed to feel very comfortable with me – I was like their intern mom,” she said. “They came to me with all their questions, and I think they appreciated that I had my own role at DPR but was doing this volunteer work on the side.”

2020 marked the third straight year that DPR has hosted an internship week involving students from the Ann Richards School. The week not only offered the interns the chance to discover if a construction career appealed to them, it also gave DPR employees the opportunity to share their knowledge and expertise. “We had a range of people presenting, from new hires to guys who have been with the company for over 20 years,” Rahbar said. “It showed them that DPR really does care about giving back and teaching about what we all like to do.”

When Labor Day comes around, many of us fire up the grill and pull on our swimsuits for one last grasp of summer before the fall season begins. Behind this merriment is an occasion that was created a century-and-a-quarter ago to honor the work of laborers and their contributions to the development and achievements of America. It is a tribute to all workers whose labor built the strength, prosperity and well-being of the country for over a century.

As we celebrate Labor Day in the U.S., we think about the daily contributions our people make to the success of DPR. An outsider would probably describe us as a construction company. They might say DPR is in the building business. This isn’t wrong; these statements are true—on the surface. But if you dig a little deeper, you realize DPR is a people business.

DPR is guided by a purpose: We exist to build great things.® But how do we achieve this? The answer: Our people, the heart and soul of DPR. Great things are built on the strong foundation of work done safely by our craft team members, who show up every day, tools in hand, and push the company ever forward.

Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people. We strive to create a culture of discipline that translates into an injury-free workplace. This means zero incidents. We’ve worked hard to create a “checks and balances” system that demands daily involvement and vigilance. It includes everything from pre-task planning and safety walks to audits of jobsite practices.

In reality, it relies heavily on our builders in the field, who not only take care of themselves, but who take care of each other—who take care of us all. In practice, this means intervening if you see unsafe conditions—saying something if you see something. It means planning for safety and thinking about how to do each and every task safely, no matter if it’s brand new or if you’ve done it a hundred times. Our builders know that safety, quality and schedule are not mutually exclusive. They know that having zero incidents is an achievable goal. We all want to return home safely each day, whether it be to hug our kids, feed our pets or make dinner for our families. DPR builders are responsible for keeping our jobsites and everyone on them safe, and for that we are wholly grateful. For that, we say “Thank you.”

Carlos Moreno is committed to working safely, not because it is a rule imposed on him, but because he believes in his heart it is the right thing to do. For himself, for his coworkers and for the people they love. As an SPW general superintendent in San Diego responsible for drywall and taping; doors, frames and hardware; acoustical ceiling; and firestopping and insulation work, Moreno sees the ability to better control safety as one of the main benefits of being a self-performing general contractor. This ability to guide a project’s direction, along with better control of schedule and quality, make self-perform work an essential part of DPR’s success. Says Moreno, “We’re the builders; I think that’s the heart of the company.”

Q: What is your role at DPR and describe the path you took to get there?

I joined DPR 10 years ago, after working for a drywall subcontracting company for 25 years. I knew DPR was a good company, and coming here was the best decision I have made in my career. The culture here has given me the opportunity to grow. I started as a carpenter journeyman, later began to run work as a foreman, and today I have the privilege of being a part of the SPW superintendent team, a role I’ve been in for five years.

Q: What do you love about your job?

I enjoy building things and using my hands to create great things—that makes me feel proud of what I do. My passion is providing training. Every Wednesday, I bring a group of foremen into the office and we provide any training they need: blueprint classes, preplanning, navigating on Box, Bluebeam, PlanGrid, etc. DPR gives us the opportunity to grow. Why not give that chance to the next generation?

Q: What are the most challenging things you have worked on?

Working for DPR has been a new experience in learning how to build things differently using the latest technology. Every foreman has access to an iPad and/or a laptop, and they use various software platforms to perform their work more efficiently.

At the moment, I’m working on a Life Sciences project. We’re in the beginning stages of the drywall scopes. Our strategic partner, Digital Building Components, will be supplying prefabricated wall and ceiling panels for the lab areas. With having these prefabricated assemblies on this project, coordination and collaboration is a top priority to ensure we set the project up for success. This is a challenge, but an exciting one that I have no doubt we will manage.

Working in this industry can always be very challenging. No matter how much you organize and plan your workday, unpredicted roadblocks come up. Trying to balance the plan and having the ability to effectively address these unplanned changes is a skillset I am continuously improving upon.

Q: Talk about a time in your career where you intervened to make the work on-site safer.

Early on in my career, I realized how important the life of each person is. Every person depends on someone. I recall a time I arrived on-site to one of my projects to find the jobsite was dirty, with potential slip, trip and fall hazards. I called for a stand down, met with my foreman, leadmen, workers and the on-site safety coordinator, and explained my concerns. After the stand down, I also met with the superintendent and project manager so they could share our findings and solutions with our trade partners.

I have a family who depends on me—my wife and three children. Every day they expect me to come back home. Just like me and you, every employee has someone who is waiting for them at the end of the day.

Q: What is one thing you think everyone can do to make the industry as a whole safer for everyone?

Everyone needs to commit first to themselves—not to a rule or imposition, but to themselves; committing to working safely because they believe in its importance. When this happens, they will automatically commit to the company’s safety culture. Not out of obligation, but from the heart because they understand how important their lives and the lives of others are.

Q: What is the most important thing you have learned over the course of your career?

Every day that I wake up is an opportunity to learn something new; you never finish learning. If I stop learning, I will stop growing. I’ve learned that each person is important and contributes valuable ideas that help our team achieve great results. I have learned from people with years of experience, but also from young people who are just starting their careers in construction. Everyone has something to bring to the table, and we are all part of the end results.

Q: What would your advice be for the next generation of builders entering this field?

You must have integrity, have the mindset of contributing, and have a teachable heart. You must embrace the ever forward mindset, stay persistent and have a good attitude, even when the circumstances are difficult. You must embrace innovation. Everyone has a certain level of creativity. Identifying that creativity and putting it to use is key. Here at DPR, you are given the opportunities to be creative, to offer influence, and to grow your career in many ways—not just the traditional paths.

Nearly two dozen DPR Construction craft worker volunteers recently completed a new outdoor basketball court called the “Dream Court” for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas.

The "Dream Court” (excluding the DPR donated slab foundation) was gifted by the Nancy Lieberman Dream Court Foundation in honor of NBA and local basketball star Andre Emmett, a Dallas-area native who was tragically killed last fall. The project consisted of a 15,000-sq.-ft. concrete slab foundation used for a brand-new multipurpose activities court at the Y’s Oak Cliff, Texas facility.

The deep-rooted community partnership that DPR and the DPR Foundation have forged with the local YMCA made it an obvious decision to lend a hand when the organization reached out for help.

“DPR’s community initiatives mission is founded on building possibilities for the under-resourced,” said Tyler Wilson, DPR’s communications manager for the Central region. “We didn’t think twice when one of our valued partners, the YMCA, needed a hand making this court a reality– not only because we had the opportunity to contribute our expertise in self-performed concrete, but we also got to play a small part in solidifying the legacy of a local hero in Andre.”

Over the course of a single 10-hour day, DPR self-perform concrete crews, led by Alvaro Cruz, handled the formwork and finishing work associated with the slab pour, along with some landscaping and sidewalk repairs and improvements. In collaboration with sports court contractor, NexCourt, Inc., they subsequently laid down the sports court material.

Keith Vinson, vice president of operations for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, said the project represented a unique collaboration of organizations coming together for a common cause. “We had these incredible organizations – DPR, Nancy Lieberman Charities, NexCourt, and the Andre Emmett Foundation, all coming together to provide not just a place where kids can bounce a basketball; it’s really where the community can gather and interact with one another,” Vinson said.

Although the sports court unveiling had originally been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home mandate, the DPR craft workers who had a hand in the project can take pride in knowing they helped bring it to life.

“This court will be used by thousands from the local community for the next 40 to 50 years,” said Cruz. “Thanks to DPR, we were able to impact an entire generation in this neighborhood and I am so proud to have been given the opportunity to take part in it.”

The grand opening of the new “Dream Court” took place in early August and included a dedication ceremony for Andre Emmett, free food from EveryoneEats and free-drive thru COVID-19 testing for community members.

The Oak Cliff basketball court is the only one of its kind within several miles of the community. “This court is huge for our organization; we appreciate DPR and all they’ve done for us,” shared Vinson.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a digital model is worth a thousand pictures. The information and value represented in the model sums up why Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) should be used on every project – especially during the design and preconstruction phases.

VDC services like design coordination are enabled by a data-rich Building Information Model (BIM) and applied design integration processes, which DPR uses to identify and resolve issues before construction begins. In the early design phase, better collaboration and information enables project teams to make more informed decisions about design intent and constructability. When issues are addressed at this stage of the project, it leads to better predictability, productivity and quality.

Breaking Down Silos

“There’s a common misconception that owners receive a coordinated design from the design team as part of the fee, but in reality there’s a significant effort in between early design and construction devoted to coordination or making the design constructible,” said Hannu Lindberg, DPR’s national VDC leader.

This process isn’t done on every project, but the case for it is clear, according to Lindberg.

“Hundreds or even thousands of issues on a project, regardless of scale or complexity, could be solved earlier in the project lifecycle,” he added. “That translates to reduced risk and greater schedule and cost certainty for all project stakeholders, which almost always exceeds the initial upfront investment.”

Another common mistake is assuming that design coordination happens by default on projects set up for a high level of collaboration, like Integrated Project Delivery or design-build. While it happens more often on these types of projects, silos can still exist in execution. Lindberg notes that, too often, preconstruction budgets for design integration and preconstruction services tend to be on the lighter side, whereas the construction budgets can be inflated with design contingency, mainly due to unforeseen issues that could be resolved during the preconstruction phase, without the added cost impact, delays or rework during operations.

Coordination Metrics

Of the nearly 300 projects DPR currently tracks, DPR has identified over 150,000 issues ranging from existing conditions, to design specifications, to maintenance access, to constructability, to traditional trade coordination issues typically found through clash detection. Using the BIM Track platform, DPR can analyze issues by location, system priority, impact and other sets of criteria to calculate the priority in which design issues should be addressed and resolved. Assigning and tracking issue accountability for all project team members translates to more agile issue resolution. It also helps promote “right behaviors” through the ability to track progress and overall project team performance using data points, such as average time to resolve issues and issue accountability.

With this information, along with historical data about the company’s core markets, DPR can inform owners and designers of typical design challenges and equip them with the added knowledge to make better and more informed decisions. For example, on a recent life sciences project in Massachusetts, DPR converted an existing 261,000-sq.-ft. office into a multipurpose facility including labs, clean rooms, clinical spaces and a vivarium over the span of 15 months. The project stipulated liquidated damages, which made coordination even more critical to ensuring successful delivery. During the coordination process, more than 2,000 issues were identified and resolved by the project team, of which 150 were escalated into RFI’s without schedule impact.

After completing coordination, the DPR team reviewed 6 major roadblocks and assessed the averted impact to the project, and the results were eye opening: if not for VDC coordination and early trade engagement, the project would have hit a 14-week delay. In comparing associated costs for the six roadblocks to the cost for coordination services, DPR found a 200 percent ROI. Keeping in mind these metrics do not account for liquidated damages, the benefits of model-based coordination have been fully embraced by the team as a standard moving forward.

Now vs. Later

“Teams should consider what percentage of the total construction cost comes out of contingency versus the upfront cost for design coordination services” said David Stone, DPR's Northeast VDC leader.

When comparing the two numbers, DPR is finding that when VDC services are applied in the preconstruction phase, all that does is re-allocate a portion of money from one slice of the overall budget into another. The contingency might shrink, but rework is significantly reduced and project teams can easily recoup the upfront investment. In most cases the project realizes ROIs that generate more than tangible cost savings, as well a qualitative value due to timely coordination effort.

“There’s an objective and quantifiable return on investment,” said Stone.

The big takeaway: VDC services like design coordination shouldn’t be siloed, operationally and financially. By making slight adjustments to how project teams – owners, designers, contractor and trade partners – integrate early on, it’s possible to influence and mitigate the impact of design changes later down the road during construction.

“We’ve seen how leveraging VDC can avert additional costs to our customers,” said Lindberg. “We know that when the VDC process is implemented successfully on our projects, all project health indicators are a lot higher on those that embrace design integration and VDC strategies from the outset. For us the goal is to incorporate VDC into how we conduct business eventually on every project.”

This article, co-written by DPR's Doug Finley and John Arcello, first appeared in 7x24 Exchange's Magazine 2020 Fall issue.

According to CBRE’s North American Data Center Report, United States data center inventory increased by record levels in 2019, up by 22% from 2018. In the rush to build and get new facilities online, owners typically take a speed-to-market approach to construction that leads to incomplete designs, cost overruns and schedule delays. As the old saying goes, “You can have it fast, good or cheap. But not all three.” But an alternative design and delivery model breaks that paradigm, promising to deliver higher quality projects on time and on budget.

Current State of the Industry

The traditional design-bid-build approach to building data centers seems to prove this pessimistic outlook. Despite the focus on speed, most construction projects come in late and over budget. Consider the following statistics:

• Nearly three out of four construction projects are delivered late. In 2012, according to the global management consulting firm, Kearney, 75% of projects saw their schedules slip. A 10-month project took 12months on average. In 2016, Lean Construction Institute (LCI) reported that number improved only slightly to 73%.

• Cost overruns are common. In 2012, Kearney also reported that 63% of construction projects were over budget—some by nearly 20%. According to LCI, that number increased to 70% by 2016.

What factors lead to these startling deficiencies? Competing market sectors and widespread labor shortages across the U.S. contribute to the shortcomings, along with rising material costs. But these factors only tell part of the story.

Contract terms and hard bidding approaches also play significant roles in projects finishing late and over budget due to significant overtime and/or fees to expedite equipment. The traditional design-bid-build delivery model creates a costly adversarial relationship between the owner and its contractors, and between the vendors.

Traditionally, an owner conceives a project and hires a design firm to plan and design it. When this process is well underway, the owner solicits hard bids from general contractors and, much later, from the major trades. This approach to first costs leads to aggressive fee bidding followed by jobsite tensions and eliminates the owner’s ability to leverage the team’s field expertise, past experience and current best practices.

In the field, trades focus on their own work, rather than respecting and coordinating with the other trades. A lack of cooperation can lead to more Requests for Information (RFIs) which, in turn, can cause delays. Change orders become commonplace as vendors seek to increase profitability. Frequent design changes also lead to project delays and additional change orders. Furthermore, ambiguous scopes and incomplete documents increase the risk for vendors, who are asked to proceed “at risk” to maintain the schedule.

Ultimately, the owners are dissatisfied because they experience schedule and cost overruns. The schedule delays can affect Level 4 / 5 commissioning. A facility's actual Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) compared to expected design performance may suffer. In short, the traditional design model is fraught with problems.

Target Value Design (TVD) provides an ever-forward solution that resolves these issues and promotes innovation to best serve the owner and all the stakeholders.

What is Target Value Design?

TVD is a collaborative, innovative, team-based project management approach—applied throughout a project from the very first step of project planning and conceptual design through final project turnover—that ensures a successful outcome for all parties. It is a lean construction tool that incorporates cost as a factor in design, allows owners to make real time business decisions, minimizes waste and creates greater value. It also alters the construction timeline by bringing all the major parties on board early. TVD enables the project team to design and deliver a high-quality project on time and on budget.

One important difference between the traditional design-bid-build and TVD models is that in TVD, everyone is hired at the beginning of the project. The GC and trades are brought on board from the start, along with the designers. The traditionally separate design team and build team work together collaboratively and transparently, and they design to a cost rather than estimate costs based on a design. Everything else is predicated on this unified team starting together on Day 1.

Project teams and responsibilities

The contract and bidding process differs considerably from the design-bid-build model. In TVD, all parties work together to determine realistic Conditions of Satisfaction. The owner’s responsibility begins with selecting trusted partners who have proven their reliability and commitment to work collaboratively. Next, the owner remains actively engaged, making timely decisions and standing by them, and empowers the teams while encouraging collaboration and innovation.

TVD works by putting together cross-functional teams or clusters comprising designers, builders and owner’s representatives. The teams needed may vary by project. Each team makes systematic decisions based on meaningful information and documents their reasoning before reporting to the management team. The management team, composed of representatives from each team, coordinates details, ensures a unified process and resolves any conflicts.

All stakeholders are accountable to each other and to the project goals. The teams work together to reach agreement and the design cannot move forward without everyone’s input and agreement at each stage. The team frequently revisits previous decisions to identify and resolve any issues before they can show up in the field.

To facilitate cooperation, it’s imperative that the key team leaders assigned to the job are on the job full time, with no responsibilities to other projects. The team members’ time commitment changes throughout the process, as the project moves from design to construction. Traditionally, construction staff works onsite and the designers and owner visit weekly. TVD requires everyone working on the project to be 100% focused on the project at hand, working out of a shared coworking environment called the “Big Room.” The Big Room eliminates the need for productivity-sapping calls and emails and contributes to TVD’s success with delivering projects on time by increasing efficiency.

Success depends on a well-organized team with a defined decision-making procedure. Getting the teams together early and investing time and money upfront enhances organization and helps to form cohesive relationships. Strong relationships built on mutual trust eliminate many of the problems found in the traditional design-bid-build process and lead to successful outcomes.

Budget

In the traditional model, the GC receives a design, then gives an estimate of the cost to build it. TVD reverses that by establishing the budget first, then designing to meet that budget. An agreed upon Basis of Design is the first step to a successful project. Without agreement, the team will be less productive during the design process.

TVD is one of the most effective tools for cost control strategy. The owner’s priorities, such as initial cost, total cost of ownership and user experience, inform design decisions, means and methods, project sequencing, and cost priorities. All parties work together to maximize value in a quantifiable way. Once the target project cost is set and the basis of design is locked, the cost cannot be exceeded. Only the owner can choose to increase the project budget and may do so to include a detail that it views as important, or to change the scope.

The Cardinal Rule of TVD is that teams cannot exceed their budget.

Each team has a budget they cannot exceed. Cost estimating and budgeting are continually updated, and every decision made is measured against the cost target. Teams work collaboratively to design to their specific targets, while considering other factors, such as constructability and sustainability. They reduce costs through innovation and smart decisions then take their plan to the management team, who signs off on the overall design, methods, and budget. If one team cannot meet their budget, they must borrow from someone else's budget to keep the overall budget on track.

Example

The mechanical team has a $20 Million budget. They make drawings and run numbers based on satisfying the project conditions. If that number is over $20 Million, they must reduce it. This requires a lot of work, value management ideas and innovation. If they are still over $20 Million, another team must give up the difference from their budget to keep the overall project costs consistent.

TVD changes the cashflow by requiring a greater upfront capital investment. While traditional design-bid-build projects see a higher cashflow later in the project cycle, TVD realizes the following offsetting benefits:

• It alleviates potential cost inflation and provides a guaranteed capital outlay by eliminating vendor-originated change orders and other hidden costs.
• Upfront labor is cheaper than rework, change orders and loss of productivity in the field.
• It eliminates surprises which can create disruptions, increasing costs and delaying the schedule.

TVD strives to create the best possible design and greatest value for an owner’s budget.

Applying TVD to Mission Critical Projects

Mission critical data centers rely on cutting-edge technology. Why then do we build them using an old-fashioned design and delivery system that has had problems since the last century? TVD provides a logical alternative for the mission critical industry as it results in projects done right, on time and on budget.

After selecting its trusted partners, including the architect, GC, engineers and major trades, the data center owner participates in developing team clusters based on current market conditions, past projects, specific project benchmarks and scope. Each team contributes its expertise to determining project costs. Then the management team, including the owner, sets a realistic overall budget based on input from the clusters. Everyone buys into the success of the whole project, not just their portion.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) scopes typically account for 80% of a data center’s total construction costs and drive the operating costs during the facility’s life. Unfortunately, they are often the first scopes targeted for reduction in the early project stages, often without the crucial guidance of an MEP professional. Hiring a GC with in-house MEP professionals early in the process can forestall potential issues.

TVD challenges the teams with larger budgets to be innovative and to reduce costs without changing the scope or program. It requires thinking creatively and showing up with a prefabrication mindset.

Prefabrication is a cost-effective means of acquiring standardized or repeatable building components. In a data center, this may include hot aisle/cold aisle containment systems, electrical room skids and HVAC cooling skids. Manufacturers assemble and interconnect the pieces offsite, then deliver the whole assembly to the jobsite for installation as a single piece. This increases efficiency by reducing the engineering required and it can reduce the number of connections made in the field by 80 to 90%.

Other benefits include:

• Improved quality. The factory environment eliminates weather and other onsite hazards, providing a clean setting that enhances worker focus.
• Decreased labor costs. Labor costs less in a factory setting than on a job site. People can work faster, and work can be done in areas with lower wages.
• Increased safety. A safety incident can shut down the entire job, delaying completion. The safer, controlled environment of a factory reduces the risk of injury and the associated schedule slippage.
• Faster build times. Prefabricated components are manufactured in parallel with work done in the field, leading to earlier project completion.

Prefabrication speeds up construction. By embracing it as an essential component of TVD, it enables the project team to deliver a high-quality mission critical project on time and on budget.

In conclusion, TVD provides an alternative to the problem-riddled design-bid-build model for data center construction projects. It is a collaborative, innovative, team-based project management approach that relies on transparency, owner engagement and mutual respect to get the job done. By altering the schedule so all stakeholders join the team at the beginning, designing to meet a realistic budget and removing the barrier of a scattered, unfocused team, high quality projects finish on-time and on-budget.

TVD’s real “secret sauce” can be found in the team approach it fosters. Everyone shares the risk and the responsibility. With TVD, you can have fast, good and cheap.

While “Service September” looks different in 2020, DPR Construction’s Community Initiatives Champions and Task Forces continue to use the month – and the entire year – to embrace the company’s philanthropic vision. That vision, Building possibilities for the under-resourced, moves forward by supporting nonprofit partners’ missions through skills-based volunteering that DPR uniquely provides. Aligning DPR’s core business strengths with the needs of front-line nonprofits helps improve social outcomes and increases volunteer engagement within DPR.

Whitney Dorn, who serves as a project executive, president of the DPR Foundation and as a leader of DPR’s Community Initiatives Leadership Group (CILG), shared, “Like many companies, we have a defined philanthropic vision. It’s smart business: greater focus equals greater impact and outcomes. We’ve worked with organizations who help under-resourced community members expand their possibilities to identify where their needs align with our skills. The expertise we used to build a great company is the same expertise we provide to our nonprofit partners.”

“Providing construction and renovation services are obvious,” Dorn added, "but we also lean on our teams in learning & development, innovation, team building, and other skills to provide much needed youth education modules and operational support for the administrative side of an organization.”

With assistance from nonprofit partners, DPR has identified three areas of skills-based volunteering where the company’s expertise best aligns with the needs of the organizations, referring to them as the Three Pillars.

Dorn dove into the importance of the Three Pillars when identifying which opportunities best represent DPR’s knowledge and various talents to better assist nonprofits achieve their goals.

“These Pillars allow us to zero in on what makes DPR an indispensable partner as we are able to provide volunteer service that is specific to what we are best at, and it is also what our non-profit partners have determined they are most in need of from volunteers. This differentiates us from others who may also be volunteering and donating to similar causes,” she said.

Pillar 1: Facility Construction & Renovation

After over 20 years of supporting community organizations, Dorn sees a great need here. “Organizations rarely have room in their budgets for facility renovations, repairs or upgrades,” she said. “We help our partners thrive by creating increased capacity, greater safety and accessibility, and a strengthened sense of pride of place for participants and staff.”

In 2019, DPR completed more than $2.1 million in construction projects for our partners across the country, ranging from complete interior renovations to security fencing to a fresh new coat of paint.

This past spring, nearly two dozen craft worker volunteers from DPR’s Dallas office completed a new basketball court for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas. The deep-rooted community partnership between DPR and the YMCA made it an easy decision when deciding to collaborate with other organizations to honor local basketball star, Andre Emmett, and deliver a state-of-the-art “Dream Court.” Keith Vinson, vice president of operations for the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas, shared, “This court is huge for our organization; we appreciate DPR and all they’ve done for us.”

“What makes this Pillar a unique aspect of what we do is that DPR is a self-performing general contractor with our own craft workers to support these projects and employees who volunteer because they inherently love to build great things,” shares Dorn.

Last year, DPR transformed a facility over the course of four days for the Second Story Teen Center, a nonprofit in Dunn Loring, Virginia, dedicated to improving the lives of youth and families by providing safe havens. The Second Story staff shared, “Without DPR’s lead and execution on remodeling our Teen Center, our teens would not have a safe place to go after school to get food, homework help and positive mentorship. DPR’s remodel created a much more adequate and dignifying space to serve the youth.”

“By offering specialized services such as planning, scheduling, estimating and VDC, as well as construction, DPR not only demonstrates its core strength as a builder, but allows our core value of ‘enjoyment’ to shine through,” said Dorn.

Pillar 2: Career & Education Guidance for Youth

DPR looks to support nonprofit organizations with education and career programming for under-resourced youth with its Pillar 2 offerings.

“Building the workforce is an acute need in our own industry, and introducing careers of all types can offer an opportunity not previously known,” Dorn said. “We have a unique expertise and people with a passion for sharing it. That can be as important, if not more, as a facility upgrade.”

These efforts range from high school internships to sharing construction industry career paths to learning the technical tools of a trade. DPR’s Build Up High School Internship has grown to more than 20 talented youths nationwide, with graduates moving on to pursue construction related work.

“Harnessing a wide range of skill sets with varied resources at our disposal, DPR has continued facilitating virtual trainings and events during the COVID-19 pandemic,” added Dorn. Two examples of this include DPR’s Seattle office hosting an online educational event for YouthCare’s YouthBuild program, where they held a Q&A and introduced the various career options within the construction industry, and a virtual course led by DPR’s virtual design and construction (VDC) leaders in South Florida for the students of The Milagro Center on how to use 3D modeling software called "SketchUp."

Like many of the partnerships between DPR and its nonprofit partners, organization leaders trust DPR employees to lead various educational events for the same organization. Last summer, The Milagro Center and DPR created an 8-week career-focused program, “Girls Go Build,” designed to encourage girls to expand their math and science-based learning and pique their interests in technical trades. Leaders at the Center shared, “DPR played a major role in structuring this program for us and leading several sessions. In fact, one of our students changed her [high school] major as a result of the Girls Go Build program and DPR’s influence.”

Pillar 3: Operational Support for Nonprofit Partners

Finally, DPR builds lasting relationships with local nonprofits and helps strengthen their operational capacity. In some cases, these efforts deliver the most benefit for an organization.

“Professional development plays a pivotal role at DPR and its Ever Forward company culture,” Dorn said. “Within this Pillar, our employees use their administrative, professional and technical knowledge when extending operational support to their nonprofit partners."

This often takes the form of pro bono leadership and career development courses, strategic guidance, sitting on organization boards or committees, and preconstruction, planning and estimating services. The Future for Kids team in Tempe, Arizona, shared: “Through [DPR’s] board leadership, financial support and sharing of business expertise, we have been able to double our impact, now serving over 1,200 youths who face adversity each year.”

Similarly, Pendleton Place in Greenville, South Carolina, worked with DPR to secure a grant with a large, local philanthropic organization, assisting them with quotes and estimates, grant writing suggestions and letters of support.

“[DPR] remained beside us as a partner during grant finalist interviews and presentations,” said a Pendleton Place director. “As a result, we were awarded this significant grant, which directly impacts our community’s foster care children and improves the quality of their lives thanks to the expansion of our facilities.”

“Focusing on these pillars not only helps us deliver the most tangible results for our partners, it also helps ensure we’re focusing our resources in the right ways at a time when people feel overwhelmed,” said Dorn. “Even with the obstacles to in-person volunteering, our CI champions commitment to the organizations and their constituents allow us to continue to provide meaningful philanthropic support.”