by Katie Colten | August 30, 2016
With design-build currently at 40 percent of the non-residential design and construction market, it is critical that universities expose students to design-build and its value to the industry. Hosted by DBIA and the Charles Pankow Foundation, the Design-Build Educator Workshop was held August 8-11, 2016 at the University of Denver. The four-day workshop brought faculty from 13 universities across the United States together to teach the key elements and value of design-build, and also how to incorporate design-build best practices into new and existing curriculum. Eleven universities across the United States have incorporated DBIA curriculum into their courses via the Design-Build University Program.
In addition to learning DBIA’s core curriculum, educators listened to an industry panel featuring members of the Rocky Mountain Region who spoke about the value of design-build education at the undergraduate level and the advantage students have in the hiring process with exposure to design-build and its collaborative principles. Additionally, three students from the University of Denver testified to the value of receiving this education before entering the workforce and the ability to pursue certification to obtain the Assoc. DBIA credential directly after graduation.
Faculty was able to experience design-build first hand with a site visit to Holland Partner Group’s new development project, Union Denver. The project includes three 10-story towers containing 640 residential units, along with retail space on the ground floor which will contain a Whole Foods Market. Workshop participant John Hannon, Associate Professor in the School of Construction at the University of Southern Mississippi and a 25 year veteran from the public-works sector of the industry said, “The workshop’s effect on me was an internalization of the workshop’s design-build principles and attitude, which was reinforced by the jobsite visit and interviewing the jobsite staff. My paradigm on construction management is now inverted. I highly recommend this workshop to faculty with limited industry experience in general, and to veterans that have not experienced project delivery that is integrated.”
Application information for the 2017 Educator Workshop will be available early next year; please stay tuned to DBIA’s website for additional details.
Thank you to our generous corporate sponsors of the 2016 workshop:
Brown and Caldwell
Clark Construction GroupCrosby Group Engineering
gkkworks
Haskell
HDR, Inc.
Hensel Phelps
Skanska
HKS, Inc.
Jacobs
M.C. Dean
Sundt