homeWelcome, sign in or click here to subscribe.login
     


 

 

Construction


print  email to a friend  reprints add to mydjc  
School Construction 2001

August 30, 2001

How interagency cooperation works for Seattle Schools

  • Plenty of people will want their say in the Seattle School District’s ambitious building plans. Here’s how local agencies have learned how to cope.
  • By OVID THOMPSON
    City of Seattle

    Ballard High School
    Photo by Steve Hornaday, courtesy of Heery International
    The 240,000-square-foot Ballard High School is Seattle’s first new high school building in 40 years. The $48.2 million school was designed by Mahlum Architects and built by Kiewit Construction Co

    A six-year cooperative effort between the city of Seattle and the Seattle School District is resulting in construction of Ballard High School — Seattle’s first new high school building in nearly 40 years — and other projects, including the new African American Academy, Cooper Elementary School and major renovations at 15 other schools.

    Building Excellence (BEX), the $330 million levy adopted by voters in 1995, will see all 19 of its school projects built largely on time and on budget. A big share of the credit for this success goes to the city-district interagency permitting team, called the Building Excellence Team.

    The team approach to school construction is an outgrowth of lessons learned from the first multiproject capital improvement program launched in the mid-1980s, when school renovations were hampered by problems with permitting, communication and delays.

    Determined not to let that happen again, the city and the school district conducted a partnership conference in which the principles of partnering and cooperation were affirmed.

    Whittier Elementary School
    Photo by Steve Hornaday, courtesy of Heery International
    Whittier Elementary School in Ballard was completed in 1999 for $13.5 million. The school was designed by the DLR Group and built by Wick Constructors.

    The conference produced a signed agreement that detailed changes in city-district relationships. In the area of project-related decision making, for example, each party pledged to deal with issues openly and at the field and staff level.

    Roles and expectations were clarified at the beginning of a project, and there was a commitment to fast, effective problem solving.

    “The partnership conference allowed the city and the district to examine what the critical success factors for these projects would be and then established our personal commitment to adhere to the principles we all agreed to follow,” says Rick Krochalis, director of the city Department of Design, Construction and Land Use. “It has been a very positive experience for all parties involved.” (See the accompanying article on this page.)

    Further solidifying the principles of partnering is the city-district master cooperation agreement. The agreement describes the role of each department and agency in the permitting process and establishes the framework and operation of the Building Excellence Team.


    Who's on the team?
    The Building Excellence Team includes representatives from city departments involved in the permitting of school capital projects and the Seattle School District. City departments include Neighborhoods, Human Services, Fire, Parks and Recreation, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle Transportation, Office of Housing, Seattle City Light, Strategic Planning Office, and Design, Construction and Land Use. The Health Department, Arts Commission, and Police Department are consulted as needed.
    Members from the school district include the district’s facilities planners, BEX program managers and individual project managers from Heery International, the district’s construction consultants.

    Team members meet to review the project schedule, note upcoming plan submittals, and discuss permitting and construction schedules.

    The success of the BEX Team is attributed to the retention of skilled professionals dedicated by their departments and agencies to meeting project goals.

    The consistency in membership over the six-year project span cut down the learning curve required of revolving membership and built a solid information bank for the team. Project managers and city staffers continue to confer at monthly meetings, apprising each other of plan review schedules and construction progress. Regular exchanges of project and permitting information leads to a more manageable project schedule.

    The permitting solutions that emerged from the BEX Team also have broad application to other multiproject programs. Last February, Seattle voters took notice and approved a second school construction levy.

    Building Excellence II is now under way and the BEX Team is determined to make sure cooperation in permitting and communication produces the same value for voters and Seattle’s students.

    Construction insiders have recognized the team as a major contributor to the success of the program. The district’s construction consultant, Heery International, is seeking similar partnering arrangements with other school districts across the country.

    “Having an open line of communication is key to the success of the program,” says Ralph Rohwer, Heery’s program director.

    Mayor Paul Schell and Superintendent Joseph Olchefske will update the master cooperation agreement this fall, as the start of the second Building Excellence program gets under way.


    Ovid Thompson is capital levies liaison, Office for Education, in the Seattle Strategic Planning Office.


    Other Stories:


    
    Email or user name:
    Password:
     
    Forgot password? Click here.