Following up from the “Owners’ Expectations Today” event hosted by the AGC of Massachusetts, The Association of Commercial & Institutional Builders, themes and points discussed and debated by the owners, owner representatives, contractors, architects, engineers, other service providers and the attendees in general included diverse topics, across a broad spectrum from strategic stances to operational issues. Here are some of the key themes and salient points:
- Flexibility and agility are critical to owner organizations and contractors serving owners, in part due to the recent economic turbulence, the sensitivity to economic recovery, and the changing regulatory environment.
- Economic outlooks are increasingly optimistic, but the need to control internal spending continues to strongly influence the internal decision-making processes at all levels.
- Leading non-profit and for-profit healthcare owners are readily adopting a new stance of both proactive and reactive measures toward real estate, design and construction decisions.
- Some healthcare owners utilize real estate, design and construction solely to support the core business, as opposed to other types of owners who also leverage facilities for investment purposes.
- For contractors, architects, engineers, owner’s representatives, and other service providers, understanding an owner’s strategy and mission, related to business drivers and inner workings is critical to winning new work.
- New, adaptive guidelines versus established, stringent standards are driving new processes in design and construction management, changing the way owners traditionally do business.
- Owners continue to develop partnerships with select groups of contractors, architects, engineers, owner’s representatives, and other service providers, with proven track records on similar projects.
- Light renovations, retrofits and repairs present one, increasingly prevalent alternative to address short and mid-term strategies, whereas master planning and relocations help replenish assets in the long-term.
- Price is important but best value contracting coupled with qualitative decision-making helps to manage risk and avoid adverse outcomes both during construction and ongoing operations and maintenance.
- Peer-to-peer communication is helping healthcare and other owners share best practices, drive industry standards, and increase value to shareholders, subscribers, occupants, and the public.
More to come next week…
WEBINAR: Field Management from and Owner's Perspective
Why a Major Healthcare Owner is driving the use of iPads, Vela Systems software and Building Information Modeling (BIM)
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