Issue: Spring 2024
Integrating Artificial Intelligence: Three Perspectives
by: Sean O'Keefe
As stewards of the built environment, Construction Owners Association of America (COAA) members appreciate the daunting interconnected complexity of facilities development and capital improvements on building portfolios ranging from dozens to thousands of assets. The management of the construction and design processes requires knowledge of a constantly changing set of conditions driven by technology, collaboration, and the urgent need to decarbonize. Suddenly the future is here. Though Artificial Intelligence has arrived, how we will use it, or what we can accomplish remains unknown.
COAA invited three top-tier professionals using AI as part of their work in the built environment to share their perspectives on how it will shape the science of buildings.
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Proactive Project Management During Construction: Recognizing Signs and Taking Action
by: Wes Berry, ORBE Solutions
As construction Owners, we often look to those we hire to tell us how it is tracking, but being able to effectively evaluate where you are at any specific moment in a project and predicting the impact are handy tools that allow Owners to take more control of the project trajectory and overall success.
Proactive project management during construction means looking for and recognizing potential issues, and taking action before they impact the project. There are usually signs that things are going or have the potential to go awry if you know what to pay attention to and how current activities and project trends affect the project's trajectory (either positively or negatively). This knowledge comes from experience, so you should be better prepared after each project for the next.
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Army Corps to Require Design Teams to Consider Mass Timber
by: Jeff Yoders | Reprinted courtesy of ENR
New policy mandates all vertical construction projects must consider mass timber and cross-laminated timber in design
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Sept. 23 a new policy requiring the consideration of mass timber as a structural option for all vertical construction projects undertaken for all Army and civil works projects.
The new policy for the Corps came via an Engineering and Construction Bulletin “Mandatory Consideration of Mass Timber in Army Military Construction (MILCON) and Civil Works Vertical Construction Projects. It stated that Corps personnel should consider at least one option where mass timber is a substantial structural component when comparing structural systems during early design.
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The Unspoken Benefit of Making Junior Staff Cry
by: Matt Handal, Help Everybody Every Day
I made an engineering intern cry. And I think I learned something from it.
Over a decade ago, I had a problem. I needed to apply a mathematical algorithm to a system so I could achieve my desired outcome. That outcome was making a document appear first when government employees were searching for specific information.
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Volunteer Spotlight: Wes Berry
Wes Berry is the Managing Director - Owner's Representative at ORBE Solutions. He was introduced to COAA through a workshop while working at the Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission and got more involved when the Deputy State Property Officer suggested he would be a good fit.
Wes is currently on the Leadership Team of COAA-GA and also works on the Communications Committee for COAA National.
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COAA Celebrates 30 Years
COAA is relatively young in the AEC industry but has much to be proud of and thankful for as it celebrates 30 years in 2024.
This milestone will be celebrated throughout the year and at special events, like a first-ever “Founders & Scholarship Luncheon” in July and a single national COAA Connect conference in November. Learn more, watch a short video commemorating the anniversary, and contribute your own thoughts, memories, and images by visiting the COAA website.
VISIT THE ANNIVERSARY PAGE