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Interview
“ While we are a membership organization,” Lisa continues,“ the message I like to get across is that we’ re an educational institution first and foremost. Membership means you have a group of people with a common interest, but at the heart of what we do is generating engagement with design-build, and an understanding of the best practices that result in optimal outcomes. People can join as individuals or organizations. They’ re typically interested in meeting other people who could potentially be partners on future design-build projects or are owner-organizations looking to engage in design-build. We provide a unique forum for networking among people who have embraced design-build project delivery to achieve better outcomes.
“ We have about 8000 members right now and our conferences are the primary vehicle for facilitating networking, usually with about 2500 attendees. We host an expo featuring approximately 200 exhibitors and have a network of 15 affiliated regions. There can be nuances to design-build implementation between different regions, but we focus on best practices that apply in any area.
“ Research has consistently shown that design-build is twice as fast as the more traditional design-bid-build approach,” she shares.“ It also results in about four percent less cost growth, which might not seem like a big number, but if you take it against a multi-million or-billion-dollar project, that’ s a huge amount of money. So, there’ s speed of delivery, value for money, and less cost growth. We never say design-build is cheaper because that’ s not always the case, but it is the best value for money. It’ s also proven to deliver more exceptional outcomes because the design-build process involves early collaboration and integration, which drives innovation and problem solving, creating more resilient and sustainable buildings.
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