Congratulations to the 1021 O Street Office Building project team on winning the International Partnering Institute (IPI) 14th Annual John L. Martin Partnered Project of the Year Diamond Award for buildings and public infrastructure over $250 million. Neal Flesner, Velo Group IPI Master Partnering Facilitator, joined with the project team to accept the award at the 2023 IPI Conference and Awards ceremony in May.
At this year’s award ceremony, a total of 15 outstanding project teams were honored for practicing collaborative partnering and accomplishing stellar outcomes for their projects. The following IPI award statistics from the winning projects, which represent $1.8 billion in total construction cost, demonstrate the value of construction partnering:
- Nearly $115 million in savings attributed to collaborative partnering;
- 6 of 15 projects were on budget;
- 6 of 15 projects were on or ahead of schedule;
- 5 projects had perfect safety records;
- None of the projects had unresolved claims;
- 13 professionally facilitated projects invested $960,000 in partnering facilitation, resulting in an average project savings of $103 for every $1 invested in partnering.
Although the 15 triumphant projects were all unique and had significant challenges to overcome, what stands out among them all “is how each project team worked together and focused on what’s best for the project, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire project team,” said IPI Executive Director Stuart Seiden.
For the State of California’s $432-million 1021 O Street Office Building project, construction partnering was instrumental in achieving a successful outcome for all project stakeholders. To support the project’s hard deadline for providing temporary facilities to elected official moving out of the existing Capitol Annex prior to the start of the 2022 legislative session, the California State Department of General Services utilized the progressive design-build delivery method for the first time and employed a formal partnering program facilitated by Velo Group.
General Contractor Hensel Phelps and its design-build partners HOK and Dreyfuss + Blackford embraced the fast-track challenge. Working closely with the State’s construction manager Gilbane and criteria architect HGA, the team commenced construction of the project just eight months after planning began.
During the project’s first eight months, transparency in the design and budgeting process was crucial to developing the stipulated sum for the contract. Partnering focus groups were established and significantly contributed to the team’s ability to discuss issues and tackle challenges with a “Project First” mentality.
The partnering process, which included 10 quarterly partnering sessions, a focus group approach and 21 surveys, significantly contributed to moving the project forward at an unprecedented pace in support of the critical turnover date.
Despite various project complexities as well as construction schedule challenges associated with COVID-19, wildfires and supply chain shortages, the team met or exceeded the project’s goals including an on-time move-in date for the elected officials. Partnering also helped foster innovations resulting in a $22.6 million cost savings.
Read our case study to learn more about this award-winning project and its collaborative team.
