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Summer 2005

Design-Build in the Public Sector - Part 1
An Overview of Procurement Methods and Construction Delivery Methods
By: J. Paul Guyer, P.E., R.A., F. ASCE, F. AEI
To understand how design-build can best be implemented in the public sector, it is helpful to distinguish between procurement and construction delivery methods. Procurement and construction delivery methods are related but different processes. The procurement method is the process used to award a construction contract. A construction delivery method is the allocation of responsibilities and the process used to complete construction after a contract is awarded. The methods must be compatible, but they are separate processes.

On the Challenge of Designing Building Envelope for Seismic Loads
By Ali M. Memari, Ph.D., P.E.
Although designing a building envelope is normally not part of the consulting structural engineers' assignment, this does not diminish the need for sound structural engineering work on these systems considering the ever increasing performance demands by building codes and owners. Regardless of who is eventually responsible for the engineering work on the building envelope wall systems, the systems that are installed must satisfy the serviceability and ultimate performance criteria. Building envelopes in non-residential buildings can consist of windows, curtain walls, cladding panels of different materials (e.g., concrete, stone, metal), and masonry or stone veneer, to name a few. Figure 1 shows several different envelope types. These systems can be subjected to environmental loads such as wind, rain, temperature change, earthquakes, and other effects such as self-weight, live load deflections, and column shortening. Design for satisfactory performance of envelope walls in earthquakes may be more challenging than design against other sources of action because such a requirement is a more recent addition to the long list of envelope performance design criteria.

The Challenges of a Mentoring Program
By Holly Ackley, P.E., J.D.
ACE Mentor San Francisco Bay Area, Inc. is starting its second year of after-school mentoring to high school students in the fields of architecture, construction, and engineering. We are a melting pot of companies in the construction and design industry around the Bay Area, and--like our sister chapters in San Diego, Los Angeles, and across the nation--we are dedicated to motivating students to pursue careers in the industry, from tradesmen to designers to construction deities.

Social and Environmental
Green Builders Forum
Your Questions Answered about Building Green
There has been a lot of buzz about "green" and "sustainable" design in the industry for a number of years now. Is there good data on how much LEED design costs?

Are there other green building rating systems and design programs?

Social and Environmental Concerns
Editor's note
On June 21, 2005, The Wall Street Journal warned that "the world's greatest deliberative body is hurtling toward passage of limits on greenhouse gases, even as the scientific case for such a mini-Kyoto Protocol looks weaker all the time." Calling the political momentum to limit greenhouse gas emissions "entirely un-tethered to real science," the opinion piece questions the uniqueness of today's warming trends in historical terms, references disputed data, and contests recent studies that show a decline in Antarctic ice by citing reports that demonstrate "ice is thickening and temperatures are dropping in most of the continent." The bottom line? Nothing "justifies passing, for the first time, limits on greenhouse gases that would impose hundreds of billions of dollars in compliance costs on American energy production."

Green Buildings and the SFI® Program
By Rick Cantrell
Now encompassing more than 150 million acres in the U.S. and Canada, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® (SFI) program continues to cement its position as North America's largest sustainable forestry and certification program. The SFI program's 211 members are North America's leaders in sustainable forest management, providing a reliable, affordable supply of the forest products we all rely on, while replanting after harvesting and continuing the long term protection of wildlife, soil, plants, and water quality. The vast majority of companies in the forest products and paper industry in the United States prefer the SFI program. SFI program participants account for over 90% of the U.S. commercial timberland, 50% of the structural lumber production, 85% of the U.S. wood panel production, 92% of the pulp production, 85% of printing and writing paper production, and 90% of the paperboard production. The SFI program has the capacity to keep products on the shelf.

Safety
Improving Construction Safety Through a Project's Design: Implementing the Concept in Practice (Part 2)
By John A. Gambatese, Ph.D., P.E.
The concept of designing for construction worker safety, introduced in Part 1 of this series of articles, is a safety and health intervention suggested as a breakthrough idea for reducing the number of construction worker injuries and fatalities. Designing for safety entails designing the permanent features of a project to facilitate or enhance the safety and health of those who build it, namely the construction workers. As presented in Part 1, evidence of the positive impact that designing for safety can have on safety performance exists in recent studies on the topic. However, the A/E/C industry has not yet formally incorporated the concept into the design process. Part 1 describes various barriers that exist in the A/E/C industry that limit its implementation.