Across Alberta, the foundations for future education are being laid—but it is no easy task. Lee Davis, project director for the Bird-Graham Schools joint venture, speaks to Andrew Pelis about the challenge to coordinate ten busy building sites at the same time.
The ability to multi-task is something all business leaders are familiar with. However, Lee Davis, project director for the Bird-Graham joint venture to build schools in Alberta, takes multi-tasking to a new level.
At present, Davis is overseeing the design and construction of ten schools across the province, all being built simultaneously but at different stages—and with different designs.
The initiative, commissioned by the provincial government of Alberta, aims to provide a second Alberta Schools Alternative Procurement project (ASAP II) through a public-private partnership (P3) resulting in 14 new schools in the Calgary and Edmonton Capital regions.
The project has been revised to include a combined procurement approach that will result in ten elementary to junior high and middle schools delivered through a P3 arrangement and four high schools delivered through a design-build approach.
Davis, a 30-year veteran of the construction industry, is ideally placed to head up operations, as he was the regional construction manager on the first round of construction (ASAP I) in Edmonton. “I am a licensed professional engineer, and have been involved in the construction industry for over 30 years, 11 of those years spent in project management,” he states. “This project involves the construction of ten schools between Edmonton and Calgary, and the joint venture between Bird Construction and Graham Construction—the company I work for—is responsible for the design and construction phase, including obtaining all relevant permits.”
The joint venture was part of a bidding process that involved a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) process, Request for Proposals (RFP) process, and finally an award process established and implemented by the province. Of relevance to this process is the expectation that the project would incorporate LEED Silver standards.
In the meantime, despite the initiative being launched in November 2008, at a time when the global financial crisis was taking hold, funding was made available by many of the same institutions that had lent money on the first schools project.
Davis says the overall construction project is costing $253 million, which represents a savings to the province of $103 million compared to conventional contracts, and with 14 separate contracts, the challenge has been to put together the financing.
“There is a mix of schools—we’re not building any of the high schools but are building middle schools and elementary junior high schools,” he explains. “The sizes will vary from 3,800 square meters to 4,500 square meters.
“All of the sites are being delivered to Silver LEED design,” he continues. “Even though some of the initial construction costs may be higher in order to achieve this, the lifecycle costs to operate the schools will be reduced. Other examples of how LEED affects construction costs would be the increased costs to complete the building envelope; however, these costs can be offset through more efficient design of the mechanical and electrical systems. For example, all the classrooms are built on the perimeter of the building, with windows letting in natural light, while daylight sensors ensure that when sufficient natural light is available, the sensors shut off one bank of lights nearest to the windows, providing more energy savings. The mechanical system is a combination of radiant heat and a displacement ventilation system that provides air exchanges at a constant volume throughout the day. This results in a more efficient heating system by ensuring the warmer air is circulated throughout the room, virtually eliminating the stratum of higher temperature toward the ceiling produced by a conventional system.”
Davis suggests that one of the main challenges faced with LEED can be the materials required to be used. “Not all, but certain points in the LEED system require the use of specific materials that must be provided within specific distances from the project site and can be required to contain specific amounts of recycled content. Our LEED coordinator oversees this aspect, but it can be a challenge. For example, the plywood that we use usually contains formaldehyde used in the manufacturing of the product, but for LEED the wood products must be formaldehyde-free.”
These challenges are par for the course at Graham, where Davis says there are now over 100 employees that are LEED certified. They work closely with the maintenance team, who will ultimately have responsibility for the buildings over the 30-year period of each lease.
“Throughout the ten schools we will use the same manufacturer for each of the major mechanical and electrical components. For example, the boiler systems and pumps would be supplied by the same manufacturers throughout the project, meaning that things can be coordinated more easily both now and in the future,” Davis affirms.
Despite the one-manufacturer approach, the schools are not all identical, and Davis says that this has presented its own set of challenges. “The biggest issue is communication, and we have to ensure that information is made available to everyone. So, for instance, if a change is made to one of the school projects, given that several schools may have the same design, this will need to happen on the others that are impacted. A single change could impact anywhere from one to all ten sites.”
It was April 2010 when the Bird-Graham joint venture was awarded the contract, and work began on the first two schools in mid-July. Since then another seven schools have commenced construction, and Davis reports that the first two buildings are now in the foundation stage.
All the schools will have modular classrooms that are built by another of the contractors and are shipped to each site, where they are installed and sit on screw piles.
Davis oversees the ten existing sites with a network of project managers responsible for each individual school. “Each site currently has an average of ten sub-trade staff and roughly four staff from Bird-Graham; at peak this will exceed 60 workers on each site, and every site is responsible for its own construction schedules. While the sites are split—with Bird Construction looking after some schools while Graham does the same thing—all report back to me.”
Similarly, safety is monitored closely, and a full-time safety officer does the rounds from site to site. However, Davis says that computers have played a major role in ensuring he can keep a grip on all activities. “They’re a huge part of the process,” he admits. “Graham has its own IT department, and around 15 years ago we built the system that we’re using today, which incorporates estimating, safety, accounting and project management. It’s a system that works well and has been adopted by Bird for this project.”
With work well under way now, Davis says that the project remains “well ahead of our contractual completion dates and within budget too,” with a planned completion date of mid-May 2012.
Ultimately, the work will leave a lasting legacy across Alberta and will cater to 7,950 children at a time. But the final word must go to Education Minister Dave Hancock, who says, “These schools will serve as the hub of the communities for many years and provide students exceptional learning opportunities. Not only are we building centers for excellence in teaching and learning, we’re strengthening growing communities and community spirit.”
