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| University of Houston: Cutting-Edge Plan |
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| Written by Amanda Gaines | ||
| Sunday, 30 November 2008 23:00 | ||
“We manage all of the planning, design, and construction work for the University of Houston system,” said Dilip Anketell, executive director of the department. “Because we’re based at the main campus, we also handle all of the planning, design, and construction for the university’s main campus.” University of Houston includes campuses at Clear Lake, Downtown Houston, and Victoria, as well as the UH System at Cinco Ranch and at Sugar Land. Prior to his appointment as executive director of FP&C in 2006, Anketell functioned as the university’s director of campus planning. When he changed positions two years ago, he had several clear-cut goals, one of which focused on customer satisfaction. Prior to 2006, FP&C was divided into two departments, each headed by architects. One group handled small projects under $300,000; the other handled larger projects.  The problems with the set up were twofold. First, one department could have several project managers working in the same building, making it impossible for the deans or business managers of those colleges to know who to turn to with questions. Second, Anketell was sensitive to the fact that the architects/project managers assigned to the smaller projects felt inferior to their counterparts who were assigned to the larger “star” projects. Rather than trying to alter the current set up, Anketell decided to go back to basics by restructuring the operations and creating two identical studios, labeled studio east and studio west. The department then assigned project managers to specific clients, depending on their rank. Whether the project is small, medium, or large, each project manager handles one particular client. Anketell said his position has changed since the restructuring. The kinds of questions he’s asked today have gone to dealing with the big picture stuff rather than being asked whom a particular department should turn to. The best fit With the department restructured to better fit the needs of its clients, which range from the IT department to a college to a specific campus department, another major challenge on Anketell’s plate has been addressing the cost of doing business. When he arrived at FP&C, the department was viewed as not necessarily looking for the lowest cost with the highest quality in mind. To change that perception, Anketell and his team have been reviewing Texas’ job order contracting process, which allows state institutions to pre-qualify contractors and have them on a blanket contract for up to $2 million. Through this process, the university can award contractors projects to build, remodel, or construct facilities without having to send out bids. Although the job order contracting process speeds up the process of delivery, the downside is that with pre-qualified contractors, the actual prices provided aren’t always perceived as the lowest possible. FP&C is looking at how to improve the job order contracting process to get more competitive pricing. “One of the things we’re doing is saying exactly what we’re going to pay as an overhead in profit, and that’s it,” Anketell said. “Contractors aren’t going to come in with their numbers, which are significantly higher than we’re proposing, so our prices are more in line with the commercial developer prices for projects on the outside.” In addition, the department has been looking at construction manager-at-risk delivery systems, which are also approved in the state of Texas. Having worked with that delivery system for several years, Anketell has concluded that the only people taking risk in such a system are the clients, not the contractors. So, rather than using that delivery method indiscriminately, PF&C is deciding on a project by project basis what is the best, most cost-effective delivery system. “We send out a questionnaire at the end of every project to find out how we as an office have performed, how the project manager has performed, and how the contractor has performed,” Anketell said. “That way, we get immediate feedback.” Achieving goals In 2006, University of Houston updated its campus master plan, which will allow the campus to grow from its 2006 enrollment numbers of 34,000 to between 41,000 and 42,000 by 2015. The estimated construction costs in that timeframe are between $1.6 billion and $2 billion. The goal: to raise University of Houston from a Tier 2 to a Tier 1 classification. To achieve this goal, the university needs to raise the number of students living on campus, increase the number of PhDs in its faculty, and increase the amount of money being generated by research. Anketell believes it’s up to the facilities group to help the university through the process by bringing research space online as quickly as possible to ensure it meets its goals. Currently under way is a $107.9 million graduate and professional student housing project that will open next fall. “We are essentially adding 1 million square feet each year as a ballpark,” said Anketell. “If you add up the total square footage estimate of construction that we’ll be handling on this campus over the next eight to 10 years, you’re talking about 200 million or so.” One of the advantages University of Houston has is that PF&C is smaller than most similar offices at larger universities. Because it’s both a systems and a campus office, PF&C plays a dual role and has one less layer of bureaucracy for its projects to go through. “We would like to be a benchmark, if not for the nation then definitely for the state,” said Anketell. “We want to have systems and procedures in place that other people would want to copy. We’ll continue to work toward getting as close to that goal as possible on a yearly basis.” |