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ON THE MOVE CUHACI & PETERSON NAME DESIGN DIRECTOR Cuhaci & Peterson Architects, Engineers, and Planners has promoted Juan Gimeno to design director. After nearly two years with Cuhaci & Peterson as a senior architectural designer, Gimeno will be taking on a greater purview within the design department, focusing his work with several key hospitality and senior living clients of the firm. Executive Vice President, Michael Lynch commented, “It’s exciting to have Juan taking on this role in our growing design group.

I think his knowledge and experience will complement the deep roots established by our VP of Design, Norberto Campos.” With nearly 20 years of industry experience, Gimeno’s portfolio contains a diverse mix of clientele and conceptual designs within the United States and internationally. Having multiple unique design perspectives is part of Cuhaci & Peterson’s long term sector expansion goals. Cuhaci & Peterson Architects, Engineers, and

Planners is a national A/E/P firm specializing in commercial design. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida since 1978, the firm also has offices in Philadelphia and Boston and is licensed in 49 states. Cuhaci & Peterson Architects, Engineers, and Planners offers architectural, SMEP engineering, fire alarm/protection, lighting design, construction administration, landscape and planning services as well as, in-house government relations and interior design on a variety of project types.

JOHN WALKER, from page 11

The most important part of achieving this component of the integrated project team process is to hire firms and people who genuinely want to collaborate, know how to collaborate, and naturally work in a collaborative manner. Collaborators will come together if given the chance. Prima donnas won’t. “Hire firms and people who genuinely want to collaborate, know how to collaborate, and naturally work in a collaborative manner. Collaborators will come together if given the chance. Prima donnas won’t.” 4)A commitment to shared success. The last component of an integrated project team process is the belief in common success. First, all involved parties must truly commit to the mindset that making the project successful for the client is the most important goal, and that their individual firms can- not be successful individually without achieving this primary goal. Secondly, all involved parties must be committed to helping each other be individually successful. I was introduced to this concept early in my career by the retired CEO of a Fortune 500 company. During a sticky spot in construction, he surprised me by saying that he wanted to make sure the contractor would make a profit. He understood that the contractor would need to look for cost-saving ap- proaches, such as performing the project with less oversight, less staff, less experienced staff, or inexperienced and less reli- able subcontractors, if pressed on profitability. The potential impacts would then be lower quality construction, increased chance of errors, and late or incomplete work. To this CEO, it was a simple business fact: If he wanted his company to be successful, then he needed to help ensure that his part- ners, vendors, and consultants would also be successful. That conversation has stuck with me for 30 years now, and helps remind me that if I want to be personally successful, and if I want my firm to be successful, then I have to do all I can to make my owner, the contractor, and other project team mem- bers successful as well. This all sounds so simple and obvious, doesn’t it? Well, in many ways it really is that simple and will consistently lead to successful projects. It does require, however, a deliberate use of this approach – buy-in from the entire project team and each project team member staying committed to their roles and responsibilities throughout the project. JOHN WALKER is a partner and workplace studio principal at Little. He can be reached at john.walker@littleonline.com.

and contractor are all engaged at the project start, and other consultants and subcontractors are engaged as soon as their expertise is beneficial to the project’s development. The purpose is to engage the appropriate expertise at the right time so that the project team has the most complete technical, cost, schedule, and other information available, al- lowing the owner and project team to make decisions that are in the best interest of the project. This complete project team also applies to the owner, where it is equally important for the owner’s project leader to engage other members of the owner’s team at appropriate points to provide requirements, review and comment on design development, and coordinate on items that will be provided directly by the owner, such as facility management and main- tenance, furniture systems, technology systems, and similar items. Lack of information leads to assumptions and guessing. Good and complete information at the appropriate time leads to informed decision-making aligned with the project goals. It really is that simple. 3)A highly collaborative process. The project team members must work together in a highly collaborative process, through which they share their expertise and value, trust, and respect the expertise of the other team members. This is more than simply involving the full team up front and having them meet on a regular basis. Team members have to become actual partners where they proactively help each other. For example, the architect and engineer have to pro- vide detailed information and assumptions early in the design process if they want the contractor to be able to put together valid budget pricing. The contractor then has to provide de- tailed clarifications and assumptions in the budget pricing so the architect can validate those assumptions, identify areas where changes might help improve the budget or schedule, and continue to develop the design in line with budget as- sumptions. This is a simple concept, but it requires commit- ment and proactive behavior. “Lack of information leads to assumptions and guessing. Good and complete information at the appropriate time leads to informed decision-making aligned with the project goals. It really is that simple.”

THE ZWEIG LETTER August 13, 2018, ISSUE 1260

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