Dive Brief:
- A Massachusetts school building committee has chosen Gilbane Building Companies to serve as construction manager at risk for a $145 million ground-up high school project, according to Wicked Local-Malden.
- The Minuteman High School Building Committee said it selected Gilbane from a field of four other contractors because of its extensive school construction experience, particularly with high-performance vocational schools. The new school will provide 16 career and technical majors, including robotics, biotechnology and multimedia engineering.
- The Gilbane contract will include a guaranteed maximum price. Construction is expected to begin sometime this year, with completion scheduled for 2019.
Dive Insight:
CM at risk provides the owner with more control over costs and reduces risk for the owner. Typically, the contractor in this arrangement does not only construct the building, but manages other design and engineering aspects, relieving the owner of the responsibility. Although the contractor guarantees the price in this type of contract, the project is still subject to change orders for major deviations from the original scope of work.
Construction in the educational sector is expected to grow this year, as Dodge Data & Analytics predicted a 9% increase in starts in 2017. The main driver of growth in the educational sector has been K-12 schools, rather than higher education institutions.
Career training has received increased attention in response to rising college costs and student loan debt. In addition, groups like the Associated General Contractors of America are constantly touting it as a way to train the next generation of workers, as the lack of younger people coming into the industry as well as an expected wave of retirement has left the construction industry facing crippling skilled labor shortages.
Most recently, the AGC implored President Donald Trump and his administration to include workforce development and career training as part of his proposed program of $1 trillion in infrastructure projects.