Construction of Brown's 13,000-sq-ft Applied Mathematics Building, a design-build project, led to the $80-million expansion of the School of Engineering on the math building's former site. The new engineering building is being constructed through an integrated project delivery model (IPD). The owner, architect, contractor and major subs all share in a risk pool to keep the project on time and on budget.
"This ties everyone's performance to the overall project success—it holds everyone accountable. We're seeing a trend toward these collaborative delivery methods. Owners did a lot of hard-bid projects during the recession, and now they're moving toward more collaborative approaches. IPD is about as collaborative as you can get," Simoneau says.
Shawmut is implementing lean principles in its project teams and evaluating all of its internal processes, looking for ways to be more efficient. It's also moving to cloud-based, collaborative software with completely digital files maintained in a digital library. Tradespeople can view up-to-the-minute drawings on an iPad on the jobsite, encouraging more interaction with the architects, who do not need to be on site to communicate with team members.
"Like most firms, we did downsize during the recession. Some [reduction in staff] was healthy and some was due to the economy," Simoneau says. "What it's really done is let us look at our processes, what we do and how to be an efficient company. There was a lot of price pressure [during the downturn] to staff projects efficiently while maintaining the high level of client service we're known for."
Shawmut partnered with an outside technology consultant to map out all of its processes and looked at how to execute them with technology to become more efficient. "Most companies look at their existing processes and try to shoehorn technology into them," Simoneau adds.
Today, the contractor is back up to its prerecession numbers. Its 1,100 employees completed 500 projects last year, including its first $100-million job and a handful in the $70-million range, with the majority of its projects between $2 million and $10 million.
A 100% employee-owned firm, Shawmut's culture of ownership is created through its leadership development program, an immersion plan designed to take college graduates through a three-year program, spending a year each as a project manager, estimator and superintendent. As the newbies reach higher levels, executive management classes and programs prepare them to be the best people managers, partners and client managers, Hiscoe explains.
The contractor recently renovated its New York City office and is starting to renovate its Boston headquarters to create highly collaborative workspaces that allow people to interact and learn from each other. Shawmut is delivering the office renovation as an IPD project as well, further illustrating its investment in a collaborative approach.
"From the folks we hire to our office space, training programs and how we solve problems and partner with our customers—every step has to be thoughtful and focused on this goal," Hiscoe says. "If a client came to us and needed us to start eight projects tomorrow in different areas of country, we could do that."
Shawmut is currently 30% along on construction of the single largest project in the firm's history, a $175-million complete renovation of the 15-story InterContinental New York Barclay. The project is located on the corner of 48th Street and Lexington Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Built by the New York Central Railroad, the historic hotel's renovation requires coordination with the MTA and constant communication among the project team to upgrade all 702 guest rooms, the lobby, gin bar and restaurant, InterContinental club lounge and fitness center as well as add two ballrooms in the building's lower levels.
