A merican I nstitute of A rchitects PA
Real Estate Journal — American Institute of Architects PA — January 11 - 24, 2019 — 5C
www.marejournal.com
M id A tlantic
Scott J. Compton, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP That’s a Wrap! A president’s reflections on AIA Pennsylvania’s accomplishments in 2018
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018 has been a tre- mendous year for AIA Pennsylvania and I
Philadelphia Inquirer and the Allentown Morning Call . This article was carried by our peers at AIA Georgia, AIA South Carolina, AIA Texas, and AIA Arizona to be part of their discussions on school safety with their legislators. And as Pennsylvania began embrac- ing action on school safety, we supported a bill that became law creating a School Safety and Security Committee which includes language for a specific appointment of a member ar- chitect recommended by AIA Pennsylvania, and Michael Kelly received that appoint- ment from the Governor to the newly formed committee. The Legal Reform Subcom- mittee worked to bring a bill to the senate floor to reduce the statute of repose from its cur- rent 12 years to 6 years, thereby reducing the liability architects shoulder on completed projects. Sen. Scott Wagner ran with the bill until he opted to run for gov- ernor, and his departure from the senate put our bill on hold. The good news is it is now part of the discussion on practice re- lated legislation going into the new legislative session. And to round out our advo- cacy efforts, we held another successful Architects Action Day in Harrisburg in the spring and began a tradition of District Days where members took the time to meet their representatives in their home districts. This is a great way to connect with your legislators and remind them of all the great things architects do and the ways the legislators can support you as small business owners, employers, and com- munity builders. AIA Pennsylvania continues to provide training to architects, engineers, and building contrac- tors with our codes training ses- sions, AEC Leadership training, and a number of practice insur- ance and legislative webinars. As AIA Pennsylvania is fo- cused on member services, and we took some time and resources in 2018 to better un- derstand what our members’ truly want and need from AIA Pennsylvania. We engaged
Merit, a marketing and brand- ing consultant, to conduct focus groups throughout the state for architects, associates, and non-members. Those findings will help our Communications and Membership Committees focus their efforts in future years. And lastly, we issued out Legislative Survey to hear what issues you feel are important for the Government Affairs Com- mittees to pursue. The annual Design Awards continue to impress, and the webcasted awards presentation and the many Pop-Up parties continue to draw members in throughout the state. High- lights this year included the juror’s comments, the award- winning short feature filmed in Philadelphia, and the ALCOA Building/Mellon Plaza expose by CMU’s Steve Lee. After over a year of plan- ning, we kicked off our newly- formed Strategic Council with a project for New Cumberland, just across the river from Har- risburg. One of the roles of the Strategic Council will be to act as our community outreach arm, looking to engage civic groups in community develop- ment studies, while broadening the leadership of AIA Pennsyl- vania and its impact statewide. I would be remiss if I didn’t give a nod to Pittsburgh’s own Bill Bates, FAIA , who was recently inaugurated as the 2019 National AIA president in a black-tie event in Wash- ington, DC, attended by his many friends throughout the institute. Kudos to Bill! And, we are also proud to announce that Swarthmore Borough Mayor and local member architect Tim Kearney, AIA ran a successful campaign to become State Sena- tor Tim Kearney! Tim was one of four architects seeking state office nationwide and the only one be elected. A big congratula- tions to Tim! None of these successes hap- pen without the tireless dedi- cation of AIA Pennsylvania’s incredible staff. Olivia Perry is outstanding as our manager of communications, keeping the information and ideas flowing from concept to website. Amal
Legal Reform Task Force, the Licensure Task Force, the P3 Task Force, the newly-formed Historic Preservation Task Force, and our PLAN grass- roots network. And me, I’ll be sticking around to help incoming Chair Jeff Pastva on the Govern- ment Affairs Committee, while kicking off the Historic Preser- vation Task Force and working with the PAC. At National, I will Chair the Corporate Architects FacilityMangers (CAFM) Advisor Group in 2019 and continuing to work with the States Government Network (SGN) and the AIA National School Safety Task Force. As always, I thank our many members for their support and trust and hope you join me in welcoming Chip Desmone as our incoming 2019 president. Thanks! Scott J. Compton serves as managing principal of Chicago-based Klein and Hoffman's Philadelphia Of- fice, where his responsibili- ties include general finan- cial oversight, serving as Principal Architect, and representing the firmwithin the professional community while expanding business development opportunities in the region. many of the types of projects that I’m passionate about,” explains Reid. “It’s reward- ing for me to help worthwhile organizations do what they do better. I look forward to help- ing clients springboard to even greater levels in my new role at Spiezle.” “Bob is preceded by his reputation of integrity and completing well-orchestrated, successful projects for higher education, institutions, and community organizations,” said Thomas Perrino , president and CEO of Spiezle. “He’s also a natural at building a rapport with clients — thoughtfully guiding them through even the most complex projects.”
Mahrouki , our phenomenal director of legislative affairs has become a well-respected lobbyist within the halls of the Capitol Building and continues to lead our incredible legislative machine (the envy of state com- ponents nationwide). Recently, Meghan Baird , our member- ship coordinator left us to follow her passion in fashion, and we wish her all the best. And Last- ly, Stephen Swarney holds it all together as our executive director, working to make AIA Pennsylvania the voice of the construction industry. Lastly, I need to thank the dozens of volunteers that give of their time to participate in the many committees and initiatives that make AIA Pennsylvania so successful. Within the Government Af- fairs Committee’s universe are the subcommittees and task forces that focus on specific issues and inform AIA Penn- sylvania’s staff on the details and talking points of issues that matter to the profession of architecture. The awesome groups include the Building Codes Subcommittee, the Education/School Construc- tion Subcommittee, the Com- mittee on the Environment (COTE), the DGS & Procure- ment Working Group, the In- terior Design Task Force, the HAMILTON, NJ and ME- DIA, PA — Spiezle Architec- tural Group, Inc. announced the addition of Robert Reid, AIA, LEED AP , as associate principal. Reid brings more than 30 years of architectural design and client service expertise to Spiezle. Committed to helping clients improve their organizations through architecture, Reid takes great pride in directing his skills to higher education and other mission-driven client projects that ultimately help achieve higher levels of suc- cess for their institutions and organizations. “Spiezle’s portfolio showcases
couldn’t be happier with o u r ma n y a c h i e v e - ment s . On the legisla- t i ve f r ont , AIA Penn- s y l v a n i a and the Gov-
Scott J. Compton
ernment Affairs Committee headed by Marc Mondor advocated for the passage or four key issues that became laws. On the sustainability front, we worked with coali- tions to pass a law that closed the PMJ boarders allowing the revenue from renewable credits to stay in Pennsylvania and help build our renewable energy future. Likewise, we helped pass C-PACE legisla- tion, the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy bill that allows municipalities to provide financing for sustain- ability improvements to new and existing structures, to be tied to the property’s tax base. Our Building Codes Sub- committee was pivotal in the passage of the 2015 Building Codes statewide and the 2018 Building Codes in Philadelphia. Passing the law was the first step, and the subcommittee continued their work through the adoption process and then conducted two-day codes train- ing in Manheim and Pittsburgh to help train our members. The Education/School Con- struction Subcommittee con- tinued their work in support of the legislature’s PlanCon Advisory Committee and our member’s testimony on school design, funding methodolo- gies, and building lifecycles featured prominently in the final report. The report will become the underpinnings of future legislation. Building on the subcommit- tee’s expertise, we pressed for best-practices in the School Safety discourse and in May, Michael Kelly and I co-autho- rized an Op-Ed letter that was featured in five newspapers across the state including the
Spiezle Architectural Group adds Reid, AIA, LEED AP as associate principal
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