VOICEThe The official magazine of The Construction Users RoundtableThe official magazine of The Construction Users Roundtable In collaboration with CIIIn collaboration with CII Issue 4, 2020Issue 4, 2020 For 24/7, free, and confidential support in the USA and Canada, text: HOME to 741741 Construction Leaders Speak Out About Mental HealthThe Construction Users Roundtable 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INDUSTRY LEADERS: 5 A Message from Jim Ellis, CURT President 7 A Message from Gregory Sizemore, Esq., CURT Executive Vice President 9 A Message from Stephen Mulva, CII Director GET TO KNOW CURT: 10 CURT Comments 12 Committee Conversations COVER STORY: 18 Fading Away: Construction Leaders Speak Out About Mental Health FEATURE: 23 A Vision for the Future: Imagining the Possibilities of Capital Projects Delivery LEGAL BRIEF: 28 Ending Cost Overruns and Project Delays Forever: If You Think it Can’t Be Done, Think Again 30 INDEX TO ADVERTISERS Published By: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. 5605 Riggins Court, Second Floor, PO Box 41270, Reno, Nevada 89504 Toll Free Tel (866) 999-1299 Toll Free Fax (866) 244-2544 www.matrixgroupinc.net President & CEO Jack Andress Operations Manager Shoshana Weinberg (sweinberg@matrixgroupinc.net) Publishers Jessica Potter, Julie Welsh Editor-in-Chief Shannon Savory (ssavory@matrixgroupinc.net) Senior Editor Alexandra Kozub (akozub@matrixgroupinc.net) Editors Jenna Collignon, Kaitlin Vitt Finance/Administration Lloyd Weinberg, Nathan Redekop (accounting@matrixgroupinc.net) Director of Marketing & Circulation Lloyd Weinberg (distribution@ matrixgroupinc.net) Sales Manager – Winnipeg Neil Gottfred Sales Manager – Hamilton Jeff Cash Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Account Executives Andrew Lee, Bonnie Petrovsky (in memoriam), Brian MacIntyre, Cheryl Klassen, Colleen Bell, Frank Kenyeres, Jim Hamilton, Jon Beroud, Rob Gibson, Sandra Kirby, Tanina Di Piazza, Tenisha Myke Advertising Design James Robinson Layout & Design Kayti Taylor ©2020 Matrix Group Publishing Inc. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the publisher. The opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of Matrix Group Publishing Inc. Published For: The Construction Users Roundtable 2245 Gilbert Avenue, Suite 100, Cincinnati, Ohio 45206-3000 Tel: (513) 563-4131 Fax: (513) 733-9551 E-mail: construction-users@curt.org Web: www.curt.org On the Cover: More than ever, mental health and well-being are essential topics in occupational safety, health and wellness culture/practices. The construction industry, however; has often been silent on the issue, despite the CDC stating that workers in this sector have one of the highest suicide rates among men. According to the CDC, the total suicide rate among all men is 27.4 individuals per 100,000, but the rate among those in construction is 49.4 per 100,000. This article continues the conversation that began with Cal Beyer stepping onto the main stage at CURT’s National Conference in February 2020. Since then, this topic has been featured in each issue of The VOICE and at several CURT events. The conversation continues on page 18. To update your subscription information, email distribution@matrixgroupinc.net. Note, all past issues are available for free at www.curt.org if you prefer to read the electronic version. Have a conversation with CURT – and all of our great connections – in the digital world. Stay up to date on industry best practices, upcoming events, and the latest sector news by clicking to one (or all!) of these sites. You can also access them all by scanning in the QR code below, or, if you’re reading this issue digitally, click on the links below! CURT members, did you know that by creating an account on the CURT website you can access a database of members, our Knowledge Center, and AskCURT? It’s quick, free, and easy to access these great online resources. See you in cyberspace. Connect with CURT in Cyberspace! Web: www.curt.org LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/groups/1286907 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CURT.orgThe Construction Users Roundtable 5 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CURT President M y how the world has changed since I last shared a message in The VOICE back in August. I hope each one of you is doing well, that your families are safe, and that we all can connect in person at some point in the New Year. As long as this year has felt, it has also gone by in second. I do believe that all of the challenges presented this year have given us the opportunity to pause and truly reevaluate our priorities and the path to the future. I believe we all have a new appreciation for our families and friends, for those living in our communities, and for those we work with and depend upon to get projects completed. During all of the changes and uncertainty, the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) has still been taking care of business. Even though we are unable to meet in person, CURT has been very active in engaging our members and the industry virtually. In August, we hosted several online Summits and I think I speak for everyone when I say that it was nice to connect and learn, even from afar. If you visit our events page, www.curt.org/ events, you will see that there is lots more to come, including guest speakers, themed CURT Connect events, and Summits on Technology and Productivity, and Procurement and Contracting. Just because we have to meet virtually, doesn’t mean we can’t continue to learn! Events like these, even if they’re not in person, provide terrific learning opportunities for our members. They feature speakers who are senior officials at their respective organizations; men and women who have insightful, astute, and thoughtful information to share that is critical to our sector. I strongly urge you to join the conversation. This issue’s cover story was chosen at our 2020 National Conference in February and its timing could not be better. I urge you, our industry’s leaders, to read what Darcy Gruttadaro, Center for Workplace Mental Health, and Cal Beyer, Vice President of Workforce Risk and Worker Well-being for CSDZ, have to say on the topic of mental health. It is our obligation to take this matter seriously – men and women in our employment are suffering in silence and they need to know our industry cares about their mental well-being. We cannot discount the fact that this is a safety concern for our projects. If you have not already, I encourage you to engage with your organization’s HR professionals to develop a plan of engagement with and support for your employee base. As construction leaders, it is up to us to drive this focus, just as we have been doing in regards to the physical safety of our labor force for the past 50 years. The next issue of The VOICE will come out in the New Year so let me take this opportunity to wish all of you a peaceful holiday season and safety now, and into the next year. All the best. Jim Ellis CURT President SABIC, Global Engineering Manager Engineering and Project Management If you have not already, I encourage you to engage with your organization’s HR professionals to develop a plan of engagement with and support for your employee base. As construction leaders, it is up to us to drive this focus, just as we have been doing in regards to the physical safety of our labor force for the past 50 years. Overcoming Challenges CURT Weekly is a roundup of industry news, blogs, upcoming events, and much more! Email construction-users@curt.org to sign up for this free and informative construction sector tool.The Construction Users Roundtable 7 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CURT Executive Vice President W hether you are the Captain of a football team, manager of a mid-sized business, or parent of a child, it’s important to think strategically. To think about what’s next. To think about the future. This is also true with the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT). With each passing meeting, the conversation is ongoing between me and our staff, the Board, our Committee chairs, and our valued industry partners. In September, I sent an email to each CURT member announcing that CURT has been discussing the formation of a collaborative Alliance with CII (the Construction Industry Institute) and ECC (The Association for the Capital Projects Engineering & Construction Community). If you didn’t receive this email, and would like to be added to our e-mail list, please reach out to rdubro@curt.org and we will be happy to send you a copy of the letter. For the past few years, the CURT Board and our Leadership Team have been thinking strategically about ways to transform our industry, improve your capital project efficiency, and deliver unparalleled value to you, our CURT members. We believe that an Alliance with these other closely affiliated and highly esteemed organizations is a logical way to achieve these goals. In my many years, I have built both a personal and professional relationship with these groups and I have come to respect and value Dr. Stephen Mulva (CII’s Director), and Mr. Tony Bazzini (ECC’s Chair). Both men have regularly attended CURT events and we, of course, have attended and often presented at theirs. We each lead our respective organizations with passion and competence, but we all share a desire to A Modest Proposal improve the value proposition to our members, and the cost- effectiveness of this entire industry. Now, we are each dedicated to exploring what a Capital Projects Cost Effectiveness Alliance would look like, how it might improve the value to our members, and provide transformational leadership for a better construction and engineering industry, both in the United States and around the world. To be clear, the Alliance is not a merger of our three organizations. Rather, it is a strategic collaboration that combines the best that CURT, CII, and ECC have to offer. We are identifying each organization’s strengths, and aligning in ways that complement each other to improve the industry. Each organization will assume a key deliverable that reflects their strength. CURT will likely be developing and implementing the products and services component designed to improve how you plan, execute, and manage your projects. These products and services will synthesize CII research and the CURT body of knowledge, and make it available in an easy to use, easily accessible format. We are excited to be a key stakeholder in this endeavor. More to come! Finally, thank you for your continued participation in CURT. We are deeply appreciative of your involvement and look forward to continuing to serve you and your organization in 2021. Stay safe and take care of one another. Greg Sizemore Executive Vice President The Construction Users Roundtable We are each dedicated to exploring what a Capital Projects Cost Effectiveness Alliance would look like, how it might improve the value to our members, and provide transformational leadership for a better construction and engineering industry, both in the United States and around the world.The Construction Users Roundtable 9 INDUSTRY LEADERS A Message from the CII Director Y ou may have seen the announcement letter and video heralding the upcoming Alliance amongst the Construction Industry Institute (CII), the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) and the Engineering and Construction Contracting (ECC) Association – if not, please see the reprint of our joint letter at www.curt.org/portal/knowledge- center and check out a video that showcases our plan at www. curt.org. I’d like to use my column this quarter to add some personal remarks about why this Alliance matters to you and why I’m bullish about its potential to drive needed improvements in our capital projects industry. First, some background. Twenty years ago, my wife Megan was part of the management group at Delta Air Lines that negotiated its global alliance called SkyTeam. Their vision was “to take you from anywhere to everywhere” – pretty catchy! The problem was, Delta knew that they couldn’t do it by themselves and that they needed the diverse operational expertise of other airlines flying in different regions around the world. The negotiations to assemble the alliance were difficult, owing to different financial models, regulations, and ownership structures of Delta’s partner airlines. Eventually, however, they got the alliance completed and it has been successful – for the airlines and their customers. The lesson I learned from Delta was that any successful alliance must be based on trust – trust amongst the customers and management teams. Notably, the first person I reached out to when I became CII’s Director in December 2015 was Greg Sizemore. While I didn’t know back then what the future might hold, I knew that Greg and I shared the goal of helping our respective members to be more successful. In the years since, Greg has become a trusted ally and friend both to CII and to me, personally. Similarly, my relationships with ECC’s Chairs and staff have also grown in the past several years. Today, my perception is that a good amount of trust exists amongst our collective members and leadership. It’s important to stress that the Alliance amongst CII, CURT and ECC is not a reaction to COVID-19 or any strained financial condition at any of the partners. Rather, the opposite is true – all three organizations are doing well and have experienced overall growth in recent years. In fact, CII has more than doubled its R&D program in the past five years, increasing by 147 percent. Like Delta, CII realized that we couldn’t achieve everything that our members needed purely by ourselves. But, we might be able to put together an Alliance with our trusted colleagues at CURT and ECC to collectively provide the inventive content, products, and experiences that you need to have better and more predictable outcomes for every capital dollar that you spend. What exactly do I believe this Alliance will do for you? Two words: access and diversity . Without a doubt, you will have unparalleled access to the state-of-the-art work practices, technologies, leadership development opportunities, and experiences. The Alliance could have nearly 300 organizations as members at its inception next year, providing a critical mass of, and access to, the thought leaders in every corner of our capital projects industry. The Alliance also rebalances the cost-volume equation in your favor. In a relative sense, we’re able to leverage the precious human (volunteer) and financial (dues) resources that you provide to do even more for you. As one example, the Alliance can use its scale to move a great idea from concept to reality in record time and at reduced overall cost. Which brings me to diversity and the value it brings to you. The multiple perspectives (i.e., geographic region, industry sector, amount and types of experience, age, gender, ethnic background – or any other perspective) that the Alliance can provide, will undoubtedly create more pathways and ideas to drive improvement in capital projects. For instance, one benefit of having CII based at the University of Texas is the access we have to a great diversity of thought about our industry and its role in society. Interfacing with the energetic and bright minds of people at a University continues to create immense value and breakthrough opportunities. I promise that your ability to engage in these conversations will be much better in the Alliance and that will increase your potential as a leader in our industry. Even though we don’t have all the details about the Alliance figured out yet, its promise and potential compels us to move forward. As we consider these details, I’m eager to hear your thoughts regarding the Alliance and how it can best serve you and your needs. Above all, I continue to appreciate your support of CII and CURT. I’m confident that we’re stronger together! Stephen P. Mulva, Ph.D. Director, CII Delivering More Value to Industry The lesson I learned from Delta was that any successful alliance must be based on trust – trust amongst the customers and management teams.Next >