CF – PD&C shares design-build expertise

Seminar panelists, left to right: Ramin Cherafat, Neal Angrisano, Jeff Turk, Mark Mitts, David Orwick, Larry Hubbard and Oretta Smith.

With the design-build method growing in popularity for delivering campus construction projects, Campus Facilities' Planning, Design and Construction division recently hosted its second seminar on D/B principles and practices.

CF – PD&C invited representatives of the Construction Specifications Institute, American Institute of Architects, Design-Build Institute of America -Mid- America Chapter, and public and private engineering, construction and legal agencies to discuss various aspects of the design-build process.

Advocates of D/B say it is a more cost-effective and efficient way to deliver construction projects than the traditional "design/bid/build" method. By "overlapping" the design and construction phases of a project, the D/B process reduces both risks and delivery time of the project.

MU has used the design-build method for more than 20 years. Recent D/B projects include the Clinical Support and Education Building, the RADIL facility, Mid-Campus Housing and Parking Structure #7 – Southeast Gateway.

Seminar panelists were:

• Larry Hubbard, M.E., P.E. Director of CF – PD&C
• Oretta Smith, Executive Director DBIA-Mid-America
• Neal Angrisano, AIA, Deputy Director of Facilities, Johnson County, Kansas
• Ramin Cherafat, V.P., McCown-Gordon Construction
• Mark Mitts, P.E., DBIA-Mid-America; Sr. V.P. DesignSense
• Wendy Hageman, Sr. Project Manager, Burns and McDonnell
• David Orwick, attorney, Thompson Coburn LLP
• Jeff Turk, DBIA, Vice-President of Operations, Walton Construction