Private and public developers alike continue to engage in a great balancing (and re-balancing) act, reevaluating where and when to invest time, energy and capital for maximum profitability and community good. While contending with these issues, ongoing supply chain disruptions, uncertainty in labor markets and more, owners are increasingly turning to the powerful advantages of collaborative contracting methods.

Collaborative contracting methods, including construction manager at-risk (CMAR), progressive design-build (PDB), predevelopment agreement (PDA), progressive public-private partnerships (P3) and more empower both our project teams and our clients to become fully engaged in the planning, design and execution of every project phase. Our teams are industry-leading experts at harnessing the cooperative spirit of these forward-thinking contracting methods, driving projects toward leaner and more efficient budgets and innovative solutions.

More ‘Bang’ From Every Buck

Under a collaborative contracting model, every step – from planning and design through project completion – facilitates total collaboration between Balfour Beatty, our design partner(s) and client stakeholders. The most consequential result of that increased collaboration is a greater emphasis on the value and power of every budgeted dollar, creating critical savings wherever possible and often improving the final product in the process.

On the ongoing Orange County Youth Transition Center (OCYTC) project, our California team has served as the county’s partner at every step of the progressive design-build process. Somewhat untraditionally for a PDB project, Balfour Beatty and the client agreed to a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) at the outset, allowing the public entity to most responsibly allocate and disburse public funds.

Instead of a traditional PDB process, during which budgets and schedules adapt and change to suit the project’s growing and changing needs, Balfour Beatty and our design partners worked backwards from a stipulated sum and a target completion date. Within those guiderails, our team can adapt the project program and scope to suit the county’s financial and functional needs.

As the project neared fifty percent completion of schematic designs, our client stakeholders – the county’s CFO, corrections division chiefs, the chief of probation and more – realized the original target was insufficient for their program needs.

“Returning to the ideal benefits of progressive design-build, our team worked closely with the county to reach a new budget and target date,” says Senior Design Manager Kristen Tuerk. “As their allies throughout the process, Balfour Beatty will now provide OCYTC with more beds, higher quality amenities and a first-of-its-kind, on-site halfway house facility for former inmates.”

Balfour Beatty’s collaborative expertise also extends to less common contracting methods. As a P3 project and partnership between Balfour Beatty US, Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions and client University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW), the UNCW Student Village project is unique even among collaborative contracting models. Rather than working with solely a self-funded client and a design partner, working with Campus Solutions gives higher education clients a comprehensive experience of project management, financing and design collaboration between all parties.

Public entities like universities are generally less driven by a project’s ultimate profitability, but they still need projects to adhere to reliable budgets and provide maximum value. For UNCW, a repeat Balfour Beatty client, the Student Village mission was to create a four-building, 1,814-bed residential complex with common areas, classrooms, a quadrangle green space and more.

“P3 success stories like UNCW Student Village showcase the advantages of a collaborative approach,” says Project Executive Josh Taylor. “Built on the foundation of an already proven relationship with the university, they trusted our team and Campus Solutions to remain laser-focused on delivering quality and timely work.”

Early stages of planning and design for UNCW Student Village were significantly hindered by uncontrollable factors, namely the damage and fallout from Hurricane Florence in 2018. Rather than accept unnecessary losses or proceed as originally planned, Balfour Beatty and Campus Solutions transformed the situation into an advantage, reordering project phases in a more strategic way that was originally precluded by the l need for some existing structures to remain open during the project.

“We were able to capture so much more of the project site right away, greatly accelerating our ability to procure long lead items and ensure competitive pricing,” Josh adds. “By collaborating with our client and Campus Solutions, we took a potentially devastating setback and instead created new avenues to success for every stakeholder.”

Balfour Beatty’s Florida team is similarly adapting the advantages of a progressive design-build contracting model to meet a client’s public stewardship needs. While building the Ultimate Urban Circulator (U²C) for the Jacksonville Transit Authority (JTA), Balfour Beatty’s contract method with the client incentivizes the team to maximize every dollar’s potential while remaining committed to a lump sum budget.

Doing so successfully is no small endeavor. U²C is a nationally unprecedented project poised to place a record number of autonomous vehicles in mixed traffic, so identifying solutions that can meet JTA’s schedule and budget goals takes project leaders committed to the mission.

Original plans for U²C involved purpose-built autonomous shuttles, but those shuttles are still manufactured internationally and thus don’t adhere to the newly implemented Build America, Buy America federal regulations.

“To provide an effective and timely transit system, we simply couldn’t wait any longer for possible regulatory changes or US-based shuttle manufacturing,” says Operations Director Dave Campbell. “JTA depends on our commitment to their vision, budget goals and schedule targets, so we worked quickly to provide a flexible and lean solution that accomplished all three.”

On the ongoing project, Balfour Beatty and partner Roush Enterprises are now outfitting a fleet of Ford E-Series Econovan transports with custom LIDAR systems and autonomous capabilities.

“As a Relentless Ally at every step of design and construction, we never want our client in the position to pay for the same thing twice,” Dave adds. “Under a progressive design-build model, even targeting a final lump sum, our team and the client wield the flexibility to make changes even at the last moment without compromising the mission.”

On the Knox Street Development, a luxury mixed-use condominium, retail and restaurant space progressive design-build project in Dallas, Texas and join venture between Balfour Beatty and Andres Construction, frequent collaborative meetings and constant lines of open communication between all parties are crucial. Managing cost escalation due to market factors and long lead times is always a challenge, but our expert preconstruction, procurement and project teams simultaneously protect both budget and schedule through proactivity.

As a progressive design-build project, the Knox design team – a collaboration between a number of design partners including HKS Architects, Woods Architecture, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, Laura Juarez Baggett and DCI Architects – is delivering design in discrete packages, each the result of constant collaboration to meet the client’s budget and delivery needs and to mesh seamlessly with the joint venture team’s on-site capabilities.

Our preconstruction and procurement teams also have a hand in the process, shielding the project from forecasted cost escalations for long-lead or short-supply materials, like the complex’s critical and complex mechanical infrastructure.

“Cost, supply chain disruptions, available workforce and more all form a critical decisions matrix that we constantly track and share with our client, design partners and trade partners,” says Operations Director Roy Evans. “The center of that matrix, our foundation, is always delivering maximum value for our client’s investment.”

As budgets and schedules change, adapt and even sometimes grow, collaborative contracting methods simply ensure that every project stakeholder – client, contractor and designer alike – is fully engaged in the design and construction process and ensuring the maximum value of every project decision.

Stick to the Schedule

Private developers value the dependability of a Balfour Beatty project schedule. The sooner our teams can deliver housing, retail or office space, the sooner it can begin generating a return on our client’s investment. Conversely and yet similarly, public clients also need reliable project schedules so their projects can provide critical community services as soon as possible, often paid for in part by the community members themselves. In either case, collaborative contracting methods not only create the conditions for reliable schedules, but also open channels of communication between contractor and client that inspire confidence and transparency.

Early and strategically phased works packages – discrete disbursements of project funds to purchase materials and finalize designs – manage budget risk. As a downstream effect, proactive works packages and procurement also ensure that projects continue uninterrupted by materials delays, labor shortages or incomplete designs.

The OCYTC project schedule is largely beholden to a necessary target completion date. The county’s correctional system needs this facility up and running as soon as possible to provide housing and rehabilitation services for the youth of Orange County. While the overall schedule has changed with the project’s reevaluated scope, a progressive design-build contracting method has proven invaluable in accelerating every step in between.

“As we release design packages every month or two, we speed up every other part of the construction process,” Kristen says. “The construction team can start key portions of the project months in advance of when we might begin construction under a more traditional contracting method.”

Especially in the world of corrections construction, many specialized materials and systems present potential supply chain risks and long lead times. The market for bulletproof and shatterproof glass, for example, is much more constrained than typical office windows. Even standard electrical systems must be procured nearly a full year before they’re needed on-site.

By communicating with client stakeholders through every step of phased design, every forthcoming logistical knot and every procurement package, Kristen and our OCYTC team build valuable rapport. Our client trusts the process and understands that our proactive approach protects the schedule and keeps things moving.

“We understand our client’s need for a functional facility as soon as possible, so we frontload every effort to ensure accelerated delivery,” Kristen adds. “By utilizing every possible advantage of the design-build process, we’re on track to deliver OCYTC many months earlier than other methods would allow.”

at the project schedule for  UNCW Student Village likewise benefitted from the hurricane-prompted reconfiguration, perhaps even more than the budget. Reliable project schedules are especially important for education clients who need that space in a fixed timeline, often before a coming academic year, and UNCW is no exception with its rapidly growing student body.

Prior to the hurricane, the university expected to need some existing buildings to remain open during the first phase of construction. Storm damage essentially condemned those buildings, providing our team a critical opportunity to reorder the project phases and deliver every step of construction well ahead of schedule.

Again, the collaborative nature of the P3 enabled this dynamic flexibility of schedule without causing undue delay or unexpected cost escalation. Reordering project phases did require a change of approach to utility tie-ins and other site engineering, but our team, design partner Clark Nexsen and Campus Solutions worked closely to take the changes in stride.

“Switching project phases was a bold move on faith in our capacity to collaborate and create advantages out of setbacks,” Josh says. “As a result, we turned each phase over several weeks ahead of target, giving UNCW valuable time to prepare the buildings for a new class of students.”

At Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) in Jacksonville, Florida, Balfour Beatty is currently building the latest in a 25-year and 20-project series of runway, concourse and parking garage projects for the Jacksonville Aviation Authority (JAA). The CMAR project has, however, experienced its share of initial setbacks.

The project was temporarily paused during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed afterward, but federal regulations required a new set of environmental studies of the project site. Rather than delay the project any further, our team leveraged the flexible and collaborative nature of our relationships with JAA and our design partners to keep the project moving.

“We faced down a roadblock, but we didn’t let it stop us,” Dave adds. “We pivoted, got creative with the project schedule and instead began construction on the centralized terminal checkpoint not affected by the environmental assessment. We kept the project progressing and once again proved our commitment to JAA’s mission.”

Back at Knox Street Development, the project’s luxury trim level also means specialized materials, and specialized materials often mean long lead times. Our team’s diligence in protecting and even accelerating the project schedule is a masterclass in project logistics.

One of the most design- and engineering-intensive components, a terracotta curtain wall for the hotel and condominium portions of the project, required a nearly 12-month lead time before construction of the buildings’ skins was set to begin.

“As a partner at every step, we help our client prioritize critical design decisions and at the right times,” Roy says. “When we set a schedule early, remain flexible in the face of changes but also maintain it as best we can, everyone benefits – our team, our client and our trade partners.”

That schedule maintenance along the way also requires constant communication between all parties to review current and forthcoming design packages, upcoming critical design decisions and logistical alignment. In every way, the collaborative model stresses multidirectional accountability, keeping everyone focused on the project schedule and faithful to the project budget.

“Our joint venture team takes the collaborative approach to Knox Street so seriously that we share a building for office space near the project, even with some of our trade partners like Cummings Electrical,” Roy adds. “Working closely together, both in space and in mission, keeps our collective commitment to client-first service at the forefront of every collaborative effort.”

Every Party at the Table

At the intersection of collaborative contracting’s schedule and budget benefits is the simple fact that, whatever the particular variety, these methods create collaborative and cooperative environments. Working together, contractor, client and designer create the highest quality finished product at the most competitive price point and on the most advantageous schedule. No longer is a designer siloed as a separately contracted party, or a contractor out of touch with a client’s potentially evolving needs. With collaborative contracting, Balfour Beatty brings everyone together to adapt to any change.