New York City’s capital construction project manager NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) has instated licensed architect Alison Landry, expert in the design-build approach of project delivery, in the newly created role of Associate Commissioner of Alternative Delivery to facilitate faster progress on the city’s construction projects.
“This new senior management position represents DDC’s commitment to quality-based contracting that provides taxpayers the best value for their money, not just the lowest bid. This is the future of city construction and it’s a critical part of our blueprint for improvement,” said DDC commissioner Thomas Foley. “Alison Landry’s enthusiasm and experience managing major city projects outside of the lowest bidder environment makes her ideally suited to lead our teams. Her work leading our design-build pilot program and overseeing important health-related construction using alternative delivery tools during the pandemic has been extraordinary.”
Prior to 2019, DDC could not use alternative contracting methods outside the lowest-bidder approach, mandated by New York State law for more than a century. Other contracting methods such as design-build were well-known to offer fast, efficient project delivery and had been in use by government agencies across the country, including New York State. In December 2019, the State legislature finally passed the New York City Public Works Investment Act (PWIA), authorizing various city agencies to use design-build for certain projects.
Since then, Landry, who had previously been an associate at Handel Architects, helped lead DDC efforts to establish a design-build pilot program, which now encompasses seven public buildings and three infrastructure projects, with an additional eight projects in the pipeline.
DDC was previously authorized by the state to use design-build in the construction of a flexible community space and parking garage at the Queens location of Borough-Based Jails. The construction on the project started in mid-2021 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, a full three years faster than would have been possible using the old lowest bidder contracting method.
“It is an honor to lead DDC’s alternative delivery team, collaborating with our agency’s talented staff, our sponsor agencies, and world-class design and construction partners to adapt our approach to quality-based procurement and integrated project delivery,” said Associate Commissioner Alison Landry. “The projects in our current design-build pilot program … will serve our city with a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable future and provide a wide array of case studies that allow us to continually assess and refine our work as we initiate additional projects and expand our program.”
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