Young Professionals (YP) Day Program Contributed by Cherise Lakeside and Lauren Conners Anderson From the Leader: Three years ago, I was asked to lead CONSTRUCT’s first Young Professionals Day and am thrilled to have been asked back to lead it the event for years 2 and 3. This event, and young professional development as a whole, is a mission that is near and dear to my heart. I have been fortunate throughout my career to have amazing mentors in many areas of this industry who have helped me grow and thrive as a professional. No more so than when I joined CSI almost 6 years ago and gained a new family. I have a burning need to give back. This event gives me the opportunity to not only share my knowledge but also create events for YP’s that will give them exposure and insight from many others. There is more value for YP’s cram packed into CONSTRUCT in three days than they could potentially get in years. I am honored and humbled at the opportunity to help this group grow. Cherise Lakeside, CSI, CDT #CSIKraken Total World Domination: Currently Searching for New Opportunities From a Past Attendee: After leaving my first YP day last year, I ventured into CONSTRUCT with best practices for personal growth, how to properly network with more experienced industry professionals and best of all, connecting with other emerging professionals. I can't wait for this year's events! YP Day changed the course of my future and made me more confident in my role on the project team. Lauren Conners Anderson, CSI, CDT #CSIKrakenJr Conners Sales Group, Inc. Session Outline: You can read all of the options at CONSTRUCT for Young Professionals here. YP Options are for registrants who are 35 and under. ID required. YP Day Program Session Discount: Take advantage of this special deal and register with discount code CN17EDYP1 so you can still get the early bird registration rate! YP Day Program Includes:
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"Symbiosis: The Importance of Collaboration between the Owner, Architect, & Contractor" Contributed by Marvin Kemp We all have ideas, beliefs and issues that we bring to the collective construction table for each project. Those individual ideas, beliefs and issues come together to form the culture of the project team. Part of the benefit I receive from CSI is better understanding of each team member’s ideas, beliefs and issues which helps me serve my clients better. It also helps me shape the culture of the project team in positive ways, which also helps the projects be better. Construction professionals should always be analyzing what is said and written on a project to better understand the motivations behind what is said and ultimately what is done. We should work collectively, collaboratively on behalf of our projects, our companies and our clients.
In construction, we have relationships of mutual benefit or dependence, too. Owners select architects and contractors, through some method of procurement. Architects and contractors then rely on each other for information and assistance to finish the built product. If we owe the ability to perform our work to our clients and we have to rely on others to get the work completed, why can construction be so adversarial? It doesn’t have to be. This presentation at CONSTRUCT will compare and contrast two construction projects with varying levels of trust and interdependence. These two projects are similar only in that they are both health education facilities built at public universities in the eastern United States. They are in different states and at institutions with different missions. One is a very small, two story school of nursing. The other is a very large, 10 story school of dentistry. One had a passive owner while the other had an owner team with many different architects, engineers and construction professionals all voicing their opinions. One utilized traditional design-bid-build delivery while the other utilized the CM at Risk delivery method. Both had “red flags” that if noticed and acted upon could have allowed the project to move more smoothly and to a more fulfilling resolution for the ownership team, design team and construction team. Using these two projects as real world examples, this presentation will point to specific “red flags” that project participants should have seen in these projects that pointed to potential problems coming to the project team. Attendees will be given specific strategies that if acted upon, will help the projects they are involved in to run much more smoothly and to a better conclusion. As active and caring project team participants, we can all influence what happens during construction. If we exhibit the proper attitudes and act in proper ways, the project culture will be enhanced and we will all be more fulfilled with the end result. "How does Resilience in Building Materials, Energy Efficiency and Building Codes Impact Project Specifications" Contributed by Paul Bertram, FCSI A little known fact is that CSI, the Construction Specifications Institute, is an "Amplifier" for the Industry Statement on Resilience that was founded by the AIA and the National Institute of Building Sciences.
CSI is in good company with a long list of other supporting “Amplifiers". How does Resilience in Building Materials, Energy Efficiency and Building Codes Impact Project Specifications? First, how is Resilience defined? Is Resilience the new “Sustainability”? What lessons have been learned from past storms that have impacted code development, product testing and compliance? How does “Resilience” play into Performance Based project outcomes? What are emerging Resilience Design Standards? What work and references are available for more information? All these answers are part of the CONSTRUCT W17 session "How does Resilience in Building Materials, Energy Efficiency and Building Codes Impact Project Specifications", starting 1:10 PM on Wednesday September 13th (Editor's note: this session immediately follows "Let's Fix Construction: An Interactive Luncheon"). W17 is presented by Paul Bertram, FCSI, CDT, LEED AP BD+C, GGP, who is a Fellow of the Construction Specifications Institute and a Past Institute President with a focus on building product environmental impacts, and envelope first energy efficiency strategies with Pathways to NZE. He has extensive background in material evaluation and specification as well as building science fundamentals. His current work includes advocacy for resilient and reliable building energy efficiency and related reductions on demand side energy. In 2016 he was named to the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Building Sciences and the GSA Green Advisory Committee. Previous to PRB Connect he was Director of Environment & Sustainability for Kingspan and the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association He was also president of his Orlando based architectural graphic design firm for 28 years. He started his career in Design & Development at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida after serving 6 years in the Navy as an Electrician/Electronics technician. This post is a special CONSTRUCT Session Highlight. Let's Fix Construction has recently partnered with CONSTRUCT, which you can read about here. Contributed by Thad Goodman This site wants to Fix Construction. We could debate for years if it’s even broken. But for the sake of positive momentum, let’s say everything can use improvement.
Problem: Labor. One of the bigger issues we have currently is labor. Or should I say a lack of it. Let’s work on that. First let’s examine how we got here. If you don’t know where you are at, you will never figure out how to get where you are going. For decades construction has been relegated to second tier citizenship.
Who’s Talking? Think about who is delivering this message. College educated guidance counselors. Our youth and their parents are being given directions to learning institutions by people who came out of, and make their living from - you guessed it - learning institutions. I don’t blame them for the way they think. It worked for them. There are many, many good white collar professions out there, including architects and engineers. These counselors are trained to see things a certain way, rewarded by school systems who tout their graduation rates and college admission numbers. They are good at their jobs. I do blame them for not presenting both sides of the story to parents who trust and listen to them. The Rest of the Story There is a second option. Construction provides a better outlet for many who are just not interested in continued schoolwork. Not everyone is cut out to sit at a desk. There are those who are good with their hands, good with abstract problem solving in real time. Pushing this type of young person to college and deep into college debt often hurts that individual and our economy. How many young people do you know buried in student loans working at the local retail mall? Our school systems are good at rating the skillsets of our young people. Let’s give them a solid set of options for each type of student. Contributed by Eric D. Lussier & Cherise Lakeside Part I: Written by Eric D. Lussier - Co-Founder - Let's Fix Construction
A year certainly goes by faster than it used to. This past year? Even more so. One year ago, a spur of the moment conversation with my friend, Cherise Lakeside, spawned my squirrel brain to kick into action. After discussing the continued ills of the construction industry for seemingly the umpteenth time, something clicked. We could continue talking about these issues, or, better yet, we could try and correct these issues. We knew we weren’t the only ones facing hurdles in the office or in the field. There had to be others. We had to do something about it. Three hours later, I presented Cherise with www.LetsFixConstruction.com, complete with its first two blog posts, 'The Fifth C of CSI: Collaboration' and 'Product Manufacturers: Are You Doing it Right? Construction Education for Product Reps'. In addition to the website I created a Facebook page, a Twitter and Instagram account and an official hashtag: #FixConstruction. The concept was simple, share your gripe, but offer positive, left of center solutions to the problem at hand. We both recognized some of the shortcomings of the AEC industry – the aversion to technology adoption, the skilled labor shortage and communication issues among plenty of others. It was finally time to admit the problems, engage individuals to discuss them and publish proactive solutions for all to benefit from. Response was immediately enthusiastic. But we knew the voices couldn’t be just ours. It needed to be anyone and everyone in AEC who saw an issue and had a solution. Each person we asked were happy to contribute posts and offer their view. In this past year we’ve gained twenty-some contributors and have stayed true to our initial mission: to better the industry by sharing our knowledge, openly communicating & encouraging collaboration, all while being an unsponsored and unbiased platform. We've received two best of construction blog nominations and in the process Mark Buckshon of ConstructionMarketingIdeas.com said 'This blog is one of the most solid interdisciplinary resources for architects, engineers, contractors and specifiers I’ve seen in the business.' Not too bad for a side project that launched over Twitter direct messaging. |
AboutLet's Fix Construction is an avenue to offer creative solutions, separate myths from facts and erase misconceptions about the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Check out Cherise's latest podcast
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