Below is a listing of the stories in this month's DATELINE, organized by categories. The full text is available to DBIA members through the mail.
Featured Stories
Integrated Processes in Building Construction 
By Barbara Golter Heller, FAIA
The business model of the construction industry remains essentially unchanged since the Renaissance. Team members are identified by trade or professional specialties that have their origins in medieval guilds.
How Design-Builders Can Remain Competitive in the Face of a Shrinking Skilled Labor Market
By Jim Kissane, CDP
Should public owners, who are increasingly moving toward design-build delivery, have cause to be worried?
Cover Story: Design-Build Under Fire
By Elaine Eliah, Brent Nixon, Ph.D., P.E., and Gary Bergman, RA
DBIA humbly acknowledges Mesopotamia's great ruler, Hammurabi (1795-1750 BCE), for including the concept of design-build in his famous Code of Hammurabi, the earliest written code of law. But they neglect to mention the downside - a design-builder whose collapsing building killed someone would join murderers and thieves in line for Babylon's executioner.
Keeping Pace at the Pentagon Post 9/11
By Kathryn T. Prigmore, FAIA
Renovation was underway at the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. Wedge 1 (of five) was complete and Wedge 2 was undergoing work that day. To avoid cost overruns inevitable with construction delays the schedule was compressed to maintain the original completion date.
What are the Changing Roles When Going from Design-Bid-Build to Design-Build?
By S. Richard Benton, P.E., FASCE
The use of the design-build delivery method continues to increase in comparison to the tried-and-trued design-bid-build method. Since most of our procurement, construction, and design professionals have learned their trade using design-bid-build, they have developed ways of doing business that have brought them success. But those ways do not necessarily bring success in a design-build delivery environment.
Back to top
DBIA News
2006 National Design-Build Awards Competition
Introducing DBIA's NEW Owners' Series!
Back to top
Departments
Board Reflections: Design-Build
The thing that I find most interesting about our industry is that each and every job we build is a custom product. A unique combination of brains and brawn, of art and science, of form and function, each project a tribute to the numerous architects, engineers, and construction companies whose contributions led to its very existence.
Current Construction Market Conditions Present Price Challenges To Owners and Design-Builders
By John Giachino
Forward pricing has emerged as one of the prime advantages of the integrated design-build project delivery method. Forward pricing is when the design-builder includes a guaranteed maximum price (GMP), lump sum, or initial pricing as part its proposal or offering.
Editor's Notes: Design-Build and the Public Sector
This month we look at design-build and the public sector, emphasizing the critical role that public sector owners play in determining the selection and implementation of a vast array of design-build projects.
FHWA Report Declares that Design-Build is an Effective Method of Project Delivery
By Cara W. Welch, Esq.
Vice President, Advocacy, and General Counsel
In an exciting confirmation of nationwide trends in public procurement of design and construction, one of the first major comprehensive study to compare similar design-build projects with design-bid-build projects from the owner agency perspective has found that design-build "represents a collaborative effort that integrates the various resources involved in the development of a highway project and provides incentives for a high level of technical performance and consistency with contractual budget and schedule terms."
Legal Briefs: Limitations of Liability - Do They Really Work? Part Two
By Robynne Thaxton Parkinson, J.D., DBIA
This is the second in a series on limitations of liability. In this article, I will discuss how parties can use the claims and notice provisions to rein in claims and limit liability.
Members in the News
Projects to Watch
The Ethics Advisor: Do Unto Others
By G. William Quatman, FAIA, Esq.
I have always respected contractors. My great-grandfather was a demolition contractor in Dayton, OH. My grandfather had a degree in engineering and owned a construction company at one time.
Publication Focus: Easy-to-Use Guide Provides Direction on Sustainable Construction
Sustainable construction is a building approach that incorporates environmental protection and energy conservation standards in the execution of construction projects.
Back to top