City Grill

Carl Galioto
President and Managing Principal of New York Studio
HOK

In New York City, there’s a big shift to public private partnerships and design-build “for many significant public projects” like those owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the New York state Dormitory Authority and the city’s Dept. of Design and Construction, says Galioto. “A lower capital contribution to the projects by the public sector” is one reason, he says. Design-build also “offers clients a much higher degree of certainty of cost and schedule” and can make for easier project management.

“With a singular integrated entity responsible for compliance with budget and schedule, most of the challenges are resolved” within that entity. He admits there’s risk, especially for large projects, particularly when a lump-sum payment is required for submissions “based on early phase design documents.”  But “forward looking clients … understand that in the end, they will realize the best balance of price and quality by reducing the risk to the design-build proposers in the form of more generous stipends during competition and allowing the stipulated sum … to meet the client’s target price later.”