Commercial Development going strong

The Employee Magazine for Skanska USA
2013/Issue 02
coasttocoast
Commercial
Development
going strong
Our newest business unit has 16 projects
completed or under way in four cities
What’s in your building?
Beyond LEED, there’s the Living Building Challenge
with its stringent materials requirements
Building children’s smiles
Forget Tonka toys and Legos: On this children’s
hospital project, we’re engaging the kids so
they can experience real construction
USA Commercial Development recently signed its biggest-ever
tenant lease at Parcel L1, this 17-story Boston office tower
The business case for diversity
»
Green was key to our team’s approach. About 90 percent of construction waste was recycled, and more than half of the wood was certified through a responsible sourcing program, such as the Forest Stewardship Council. (© Jeff Goldberg/Esto)
Delivering one of the world’s
most advanced libraries
The James B. Hunt Jr. Library that Skanska recently delivered
for North Carolina State University is helping redefine the role
of a library in the digital age, both in its function and its use
of technology. Similarly, we used the construction process to
innovate new uses of technology to help us build smarter.
For this 220,000-square-foot, $78 million campus landmark,
books are not the main feature; rather, the focus is technology
and collaboration. There are about 100 rooms for group study and
collaborative projects, and the technology includes immersive
270-degree, 3-D digital environments to support the kind of
sophisticated gaming that’s becoming ever more important for
complex training.
The complex curtain wall system was the most challenging
aspect of construction. To manage this, our team pioneered the
use of BIM 360 Field jobsite management software running on
iPads to track each of the 800 curtain wall units to facilitate
installation coordination, sequencing and scheduling.
“Communication was outstanding on this project,” said Mark
Collins, USA Building project executive. “Everyone that was
involved – including the Skanska team, the design team and the
university – would say they had a pleasant experience. That was
the project’s culture from the beginning to the end.” ◆
»
The library’s two million books are only accessible by an automated storage and retrieval system called bookBot that has four robotic cranes. Norway-based Snohetta designed this facility. (© Mark Herboth Photography LLC)
I hope you all shared my
enthusiasm for Skanska USA’s
first Diversity and Inclusion Week
held in April. It was great seeing
people pinning flags to maps to
show where they or their ancestors
originated, witnessing the
standing-room only launch of the
Skanska Women’s Network, and
having jobsites across the country
start each day with discussions on
how to make our workplaces more inclusive.
We can look in isolation at those activities or that week and see
them just as meaningful events. But they’re much more. So I’d like to
put our diversity efforts in perspective, and share why I think it’s so
important for our business to do them.
As an urban builder and developer, we need to look like the
communities in which we operate. These communities are diverse in
terms of gender and ethnicity, as are our customers in every industry.
Today, we, and the construction industry as a whole, look like the
engineering classes of maybe 20 years ago. That’s a problem because
America’s demographics are changing. Already, in such places as
California, Texas and Washington, D.C. – all areas where Skanska
operates – the majority of the population is made up of people
whom the Census defines as minorities. That’s a trend that’s going
to continue across the country. This presents an opportunity, as the
first major construction company to become truly diverse will gain a
significant business advantage.
Skanska is working hard to improve. Our efforts include taking
steps to get a broader group of students interested in construction
careers. You may know that we are a long-time supporter of the
ACE Mentor Program, which encourages high school students to
pursue careers in designing or building. But often by high school,
kids already know what they want to be. So we recently sponsored a
book – called "Those Amazing Builders" – aimed at showing middle
schoolers the variety of fulfilling careers available in construction.
We back such programs in the urban environments where we
work, so we’re recruiting not only from a bigger but a more diverse
talent pool. We’ll really need that expanded pool once the economy
recovers, given that so few people have entered construction over the
last several years because of low demand. I’m proud that last year, 48
percent of our new graduate hires were either women or minorities.
As we continue building a more diverse workforce, a stronger focus
on internal inclusion will make them feel more welcome.
There’s a parallel between the diversity of our workforce and
the diversity of those with whom we subcontract. In all of this,
I’m talking about doing more than complying with MWBE and
any other contractual obligations – such requirements are like
OSHA regulations for safety. What we’re trying to do – and need to
do – regarding diversity is more like our Injury-Free Environment®
mindset: we’re trying to make a better company and improve our
industry, not just follow laws.
I hope you’ll join me in not only fully supporting, but also being
actively engaged in, Skanska’s diversity and inclusion efforts.
Mike McNally, President and CEO, Skanska USA
Contents 2013 • Issue 02
Safety
2 Our ninth Safety Week, with several firsts
Our new InjuryFreeEnvironment.com website and a
global webinar help us share our safety culture
3 The gray zone: Ethics questions and answers
Our People
4 How diversity has changed my career
Brian Freeman learned that building a diverse team is
essential to growing our business
5 A day in the life… Janine Ruggiero, USA Civil
6 Celebrating our first Diversity and Inclusion Week
7 Community timeline
Our Projects
8 What’s in your building?
Our team’s materials research was key to the Bertschi
School Science Classroom becoming the first school on
the U.S. mainland and the fourth building worldwide
to be certified under the Living Building Challenge
10 Building children’s smiles
Focus
12 Commercial Development going strong
Winning Skanska’s global Project Development Business Unit of the Year Award is one of this business unit’s latest milestones
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coasttocoast Publisher Mike McNally Editors Gregory Richards and Nicole Didda
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Our ninth Safety
Week, with
several firsts
The website was a great success. From when it went online
at the beginning of Safety Week through the end of June,
InjuryFreeEnvironment.com has been viewed more than 25,000
times. Teams at our projects and offices uploaded photos of their
activities – hopefully you’ve checked them out. The Occupational
Safety and Health Administration praised us after viewing the
Safety Week activities on our IFE website. “Wow… Skanska does
such great work at protecting and educating your workforce,” said
OSHA spokeswoman Gina Harps.
The IFE webinar attracted 280 attendees from seven countries
and 11 business units, along with government agencies, clients and
subcontractors. Mike McNally, Skanska USA president and CEO,
told the audience that Skanska will back you 100 percent if you
stop an activity because of safety concerns. He also said that when
there is an accident or a near miss, we will conduct a thorough
investigation not to place blame, but to learn how to prevent future
occurrences. In return, Skanska needs you to take care of yourself
and your entire team. “If everybody in the pool is a lifeguard,
nobody drowns,” McNally said. He added that if you’ve exhausted
the normal management channels and a safety concern still isn’t
addressed, you should call him directly. ◆
Our new InjuryFreeEnvironment.com
website and a global webinar help us
share our safety culture.
A new time of year wasn’t the only first for our ninth annual
Safety Week, held in May. Other firsts included launching our
new InjuryFreeEnvironment.com website, which is a year-round
resource to support and share our Injury-Free Environment®
mindset, and holding a public webinar in which top executives
shared with a global audience personal stories about why safety
is important to them. For this year’s theme of “Learn and lead in
safety… Taking the next step,” we challenged everyone to commit
to taking two actions: one to improve their personal safety outside
of work and another to improve the safety of their project or office.
»
InjuryFreeEnvironment.com is our new year-round public safety resource - be sure to visit
and share the link!
»
The American Red Cross instructed Skanska Infrastructure Development employees in Alexandria, Va., on how to properly respond to injuries.
The gray zone: Ethics
questions and answers
Question:
Being a leader in ethics is a focus area in our 2015 Business Plan. What does this mean?
Answer:
Ethics is not an abstract concept. Instead, it’s part of every decision you make each day.
Fundamentally, it’s about making choices of which both you and Skanska can be proud. But
arriving at that answer is not always easy.
Whether you work in purchasing, marketing, estimating/preconstruction, operations, human
resources or another area, we all face ethical dilemmas. But you may not recognize an ethical
dilemma before you if it lies in the gray zone between obvious right or wrong answers, or perhaps
in our assumed comfort zone. As a leader in ethics, we must create and foster an open and
engaging environment in which dilemmas and concerns are regularly discussed.
It’s essential that we all understand what defines ethical leadership. Here are some key
attributes that we all need to make part of our daily lives:
•
Treating colleagues and business partners fairly
•
Being transparent and honest in business dealings; a leader in ethics goes beyond what is simply legal and sets the bar for the rest of the industry
•
Calling out inappropriate behavior and reporting any misconduct
Most importantly, we all should report concerns or observations of misbehavior without fear
of retaliation (see contact information below). If you do the right thing, Skanska’s leadership will
always support you. ◆
»
2
At the Novartis Cambridge Campus Expansion near Boston, the fire department demonstrated personnel extractions using a tower crane to maneuver a rescue basket into the 50-foot-deep excavation.
coast to coast
Have an ethics question? Either talk to your supervisor, human resources or legal representative, or
an ethics and compliance officer. To report an ethics breach, contact one of those professionals, call
Skanska’s confidential ethics hotline at 877-516-3385 or use the ethics hotline link on OneSkanska.
coast to coast
3
Editorial
How diversity has changed
my career
Brian Freeman didn’t always notice the importance of diversity. Now, it’s
A day in the life...
Janine Ruggiero
Equipment operator
USA Civil, New York City
•
•
It’s 4:30 a.m. and I’ve already hit the snooze button three times. Time to rise and shine!
I quickly get ready so I'll be ahead of traffic on my way to my jobsite, the Catskill/
Delaware Ultraviolet Water Treatment Plant in Valhalla, N.Y. Getting there early central to how he leads our Texas Building operation.
lets me start my day with a peaceful walk around the jobsite: it's exercise and I enjoy watching the foggy sunrise over the reservoir.
•
I take part in Stretch and Flex, and then I check fluids and fill out an inspection sheet before climbing into my office – the cab of a Cat 966H rubber-tire loader. I turn on the
two-way radio and get moving.
•
In the morning, every crew on the job needs something, usually at the same time. It gets a little hectic, so I make jokes to the crews about whom I’ll be helping next. Thankfully, it typically calms down later in the day.
•
Earlier in the job’s life, I would spend entire shifts doing nothing but loading trucks. Today, though, I’m doing everything: loading trucks, grooming the stockpile, and switching from the front bucket to booms and forks to move things like fuel cells, concrete pipe and geotechnical filter fabric. It’s back and forth like that all day.
•
Finally, it’s time for a coffee break – I step down to the ground to stretch my limbs. No matter how many hundreds of people I work around each day, I spend most of my time isolated in the enclosed cab. So a little face time with my colleagues is always a plus.
•
While I’m in the cab, my eyes are on everything all of the time. You’d be surprised how many people walk behind my 26-ton loader when I’m backing up with the alarm on – it’s like they don’t even see me. I need to pay attention even if they’re not.
•
»
4
move for someone to make a comment about women in construction. That’s not Skanska’s culture, but it takes some people longer to adjust.
Our Texas team won USA Building’s 2012 Diversity Award.
When I began my career in construction in the early 90s, the
industry was rather segmented: those in management positions
were typically white men with construction or engineering
backgrounds, craft workers were more ethnically diverse, and you
saw very few women on either side. And truthfully, this wasn’t
something I paid much attention to until Skanska started talking
about diversity.
In 2007, Skanska asked me to move to Texas to help grow our
operations in that state. While Texas was a melting pot of people
from diverse backgrounds, our Skanska team did not reflect that
diversity, particularly in such cities as Houston and San Antonio.
We had opened a Houston office in the early 2000s, acquired a
company based out of Temple in 2003, and opened a San Antonio
office in 2007. But despite those commitments over the years,
we were still viewed by many as an outsider. So it very quickly
became apparent that in order to be successful, it wasn’t going
to be enough to bring in strong talent from other parts of the
Skanska organization. We also had to pair that with local talent that
reflected our communities.
Early on in Texas, we focused heavily on education and
healthcare projects, two sectors that are greatly influenced by
local communities and demographics. As we grew our team, it was
important that we hired people who had strong resumes in those
sectors. But it was also important to look at potential employees
Being a woman operating heavy equipment, I have to be 10 times more careful. No matter how many things I do right, all it takes is one wrong who were bilingual, as well as local individuals from the craft side
of the business with strong talents and a proven work ethic who
were eager to advance their careers and be a part of the Skanska
team. We also brought on a diversity manager to help us better
engage with minority- and woman-owned subcontractors and
vendors, and with local, diversity-focused organizations.
While these efforts have been a learning process, they have
helped our business in several ways: we are a better reflection of
the communities where we work, we have a greater knowledge
gained from our diverse backgrounds, we have improved our
subcontractor base as a result of education, we are helping smaller
and diverse companies grow with us, and we are a stronger
organization because of the unique perspectives our team members
and partners bring to the table.
Today, our Texas team looks very different than it did back in
2007, and I am proud of that. While it will always be vital to have
skilled construction professionals driving our business, looking
outside the traditional pools in which to find that talent has
allowed us to take our business to the next level. ◆
— Brian Freeman
USA Building executive vice president and Texas general manager
San Antonio
coast to coast
•
•
Bouncing around in the cab all day is like riding a horse for eight or 10 hours. By the end of the day, my whole body is tired.
I’ve been operating equipment for 16 years. I love what I do – I’m like a kid playing in dirt all day. But unlike a kid, I get to drive past important projects like this and know that I helped build it. That’s a great feeling. ◆
What near-miss accident stands out most for you?
Mike Richotte
Senior
superintendent
Seattle
“When I was working as an ironworker
with another firm, we placed a bay of iron
on a foundation that turned out to be
incorrectly built. When we started erecting
the second bay, the first bay collapsed on
my partner and I, severely injuring us both.
We easily could have been killed.”
coast to coast
Analyn Nunez
Environment, health
and safety coordinator
New Orleans
“When working for a concrete
subcontractor, a crane dropped a load of wall
forms from 45 feet up. My boss and I rushed
to the scene, where all but one worker was
accounted for and safe. My heart was racing
as I thought the worst – but then we saw the
missing carpenter walking towards us. He
had taken a break without telling anyone.”
Michael DeMonaco
Field engineer
New York City
“On the No. 7 Line Subway, a piece of
oddly shaped electrical equipment was
being lowered 130 feet down the shaft
when the load struck a work platform
bridge, causing the load to fall about
eight feet to the floor. Fortunately,
there were no injuries. This led us to
implement additional rigging training.”
5
Community timeline
Left: In Seattle, team members marked a map to show which country or state they identify with as their background. Right: In Milpitas, Calif., our VTA BART Silicon Valley Extension project team hosted a discussion on diversity of origin and how to build effective teams.
Celebrating
what we have
in common
»
Skanska USA’s first
Virginia Beach, Va.: Helping
injured service members
recover through surfing
Through a first-ever golf
tournament, USA Building
and USA Civil raised about
$21,000 for the Wave
Warriors Surf Camp,
which provides weekend getaways for injured service
members and their families.
In New York City, the Skanska Women’s Network-USA was launched to help our female team members develop professionally and gain role models. We plan to expand this program to other locations nationwide.
Diversity and Inclusion
Week was a great success.
6
»
In Tampa, Fla., our Interstate 275 team discussed the meaning of diversity and shared how their lives had
been defined by their personal backgrounds.
Diversity and Inclusion Resource Directory
Our work to become a more diverse and inclusive company must
continue throughout the year. To help local offices and projects increase
their diversity and inclusion efforts, our National Diversity and Inclusion
Council has developed a D&I Resource Directory. Type in this link to find
this document on OneSkanska: http://one.skanska/usadiversity.
coast to coast
Hampton Roads, Va.: Cleaning the Chesapeake Bay
Sixty-seven volunteers from our local team and their
families participated in the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s
25th annual Clean the Bay Day,
an effort to clean up debris
along and increase awareness
of the Chesapeake Bay.
Philadelphia: Walking to help Ethan
Our local office participated in
and sponsored the first annual
Ethan’s Heart Journey Walk-AThon to raise funds to provide
cardiac care for the grandson of a
recently retired, longtime Skanska
employee. More than $23,000
was raised.
coast to coast
JUNE
We started a new tradition in April – Skanska
USA’s first Diversity and Inclusion Week.
Colleagues from all parts of the U.S. came
together on their jobsites or in their offices to
develop more inclusive workplaces, strengthen
relationships with diverse partners and build
stronger communities. With a theme of “It
includes me,” the goal of the event was to raise
awareness and understanding of our corporate
commitment to diversity and inclusion. Being
diverse and inclusive is key to Skanska being
successful. (To put this in greater perspective,
please see Mike McNally’s column on p. 1.)
It was incredible how much energy our
colleagues put towards this week. On this page
are a few snapshots that highlight the many great
activities from across the country. More images
can be seen at Skanska USA’s Facebook page. ◆
Boston: Hope the water wasn’t too cold!
A few brave Skanska employees took to their oars and
participated in the Run of the Charles Corporate Canoe
Race. They finished
ninth overall,
sixth out of 50 in
their division, and
managed to tip
over the canoe
only once!
San Antonio: Getting dirty for charity
About 16 team
members and their
families tackled the
Foam Fest, a mud race
that, by supplying lots
of foam, doubles as a
human car wash. The
event supported Big Brothers Big Sisters of Texas.
MAY
»
Washington, D.C.: Rebuilding for a widow in need
Representing all four business units, nearly 20 Skanska
employees and family members spent a Saturday
repairing the home of a widow in need as part of
Rebuilding Alexandria.
Brush clearing, painting
and minor plumbing and
carpentry work were part
of the rewarding day’s
work.
APRIL
Riverside, Calif.: Picking up litter for Earth Day
Eighteen team members picked up trash at several
city-owned parcels on
behalf of Keep Riverside
Clean and Beautiful, before
celebrating with a lunch
back at the office.
Tampa, Fla.: Raising $100,000 for charity
Our team organized a “Heart Walk on Water”
Fishing Tournament that
raised $100,000 for the
American Heart Association.
The event brought together
150 participants from 46
project partner firms, and
36 boats took part.
Seattle: Contributing 400 hours to clean a park
About 40 Skanska
volunteers spent
a combined 400
hours the first
weekend in May
clearing debris from
Lake Wenatchee
State Park, which had been hit hard by winter storms.
Detroit: Walking for
healthy hearts
Skanska was wellrepresented at the
Metro Detroit Heart
Walk at Ford Field.
7
»
Suggested by students, a glass-covered interior runnel transports rainwater from the roof to a cistern, where it’s held until needed for exterior irrigation. The runnel, shown above in the foreground, is just one aspect of the building that helps educate students about sustainability.
What’s in your
building?
Beyond LEED, there’s the Living Building
Challenge with its stringent materials
requirements. Our team was ready for
the challenge.
On the Skanska team’s journey to achieving Living Building
Challenge certification for the Bertschi School Science Classroom,
one of the most significant challenges was also one of the most
basic: explaining the requirements of this relatively new green
building rating system to subcontractors and suppliers.
Those providing this Seattle project’s materials and products
would be essential partners to achieving this sustainability goal.
That’s because the Living Building Challenge (LBC) has strict
requirements over what materials can be used, both to minimize
the building’s environmental impact and to ensure healthy indoor
spaces. Not only do materials need to be regionally sourced, but
new timber products not harvested on site must be certified that
they’re from certain responsibly-managed forests. And then there’s
the Red List, which bans 14 materials and chemicals, including
formaldehyde, neoprene and polyvinyl chloride. (See sidebar for a
breakdown of all Living Building Challenge requirements.)
At stake was more than just a happy client and a successful
project. There was also the pride that would be associated with
creating one of the world’s first projects to hold this coveted
8
certification, which is more difficult to attain than the better-known
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) label.
Today, the Living Building Challenge is better known than it was
in 2010 and 2011, when this project was under way. Back then, calls
to manufacturers to check the material breakdown of their products
were typically met with confusion. Many people assumed our team
members were talking about LEED. Others didn’t even have a guess
as to what our team was talking about.
“When we first started talking about the Red List, nobody knew
what it was,” said Stacy Smedley, USA Building preconstruction
manager in Seattle. Smedley recently joined Skanska after managing
the Bertschi design for that project’s lead designer, KMD Architects.
Up to eight hours researching each material
In leading the effort of verifying materials for their Red List
compliance, Skanska’s team streamlined the process as much
as possible. They produced a document highlighting the
differences between LBC and LEED, and a form to be signed by
each manufacturer certifying that their product met Red List
requirements.
Still, the research effort was great. It often went something like
this: A manufacturer sales representative – someone typically not
well-versed in detailed product chemical compositions – would
complete and sign the form verifying compliance and return it to
Skanska. Our team would look at it and say, “This can’t be right,”
and they’d call the manufacturer again to speak to someone else
with more product information. Back and forth they’d go.
Sometimes, vendors didn’t want to disclose what they said
were proprietary chemical combinations. Others didn’t want to be
bothered.
“A solar panel company didn’t want to respond to us at all,” said
Caitlin Powell, the USA Building senior project engineer who led the
product research effort. “We wound up calling 20 days in a row with
no response. Finally, we called their HR department and begged the
woman who answered to help us.”
coast to coast
This research was a team undertaking, with both the
mechanical and electrical subcontractors providing important
assistance once they understood the project requirements.
Complicating the research, however, was that Bertschi was the
first project seeking certification under the second version of
LBC, which necessitated a lot of dialogue with the organization
behind LBC, the International Living Future Institute, to clarify
aspects of the new requirements.
In all, between six and eight hours were spent researching
each of the nearly 500 materials and products used in this
project, said Steve Clem, USA Building vice president of
preconstruction in Portland. That burden was spread among
the designers, subcontractors and Skanska, but it fell most
heavily on us. Powell estimated she worked 12-hour days for
about three months, with that time dedicated to ensuring the
proper materials were being used.
In the end, numerous products and materials initially
specified for the project needed to be substituted. But our team
was able to find what was needed to meet performance and
design requirements.
“What we found was if you do your due diligence, you can
find what you want,” Smedley said. “It just takes time.”
Much of this in-depth research was being done as
construction was under way, which provided an important
lesson learned to the key project stakeholders: that more
Red List and other product research needs to be done during
design. In one case, the pouring of a concrete slab was delayed
four weeks while a solution was devised regarding whether
galvanized conduit needed to be installed within or underneath
the slab on grade – LBC and the building code had conflicting
requirements, and both had to be met.
Growing market for product transparency
At 1,200 square feet and $850,000, the Bertschi School Science
Classroom is certainly not one of Skanska’s largest projects. But
this undertaking – for which Skanska provided construction
management services pro-bono – was intended to have an
oversize influence on green building.
As only four projects are certified globally under the Living
Building Challenge (Bertschi being the most recent, having
received its notification in April), Clem noted that some
manufacturers might not see a need to disclose more product
information for what may seem to be a small market. But
whether through LBC or such other green building certification
systems as LEED, there is definitely a trend towards full
disclosure of building materials, he said.
Already, Skanska is working on another Living Building
Challenge project, an environmental center for the Chesapeake
Bay Foundation in Virginia Beach, Va., for which we’re the
program manager.
“It’s often misunderstood that Living Building Challenge
projects are elitist or pie-in-the-sky,” Clem said. “The reality
is we’re green business people. Green is good for Skanska’s
business: it gets us more work and it opens the doors to so
many conversations. We just need to continue developing our
processes so LBC-type projects are both profitable and more
easily replicated.” ◆
coast to coast
»
Greywater from sinks is used to irrigate a green wall, enabling all greywater to be treated inside the building. The plants provide an additional benefit – they help purify the indoor air.
What is the Living Building Challenge?
Living Building Challenge (LBC) is widely considered the
world’s most rigorous building performance standard. A
Living Building generates all of its own energy through
clean, renewable resources; captures and treats its own
water; incorporates only non-toxic, appropriately sourced
materials; and operates efficiently and for maximum beauty.
A building must perform as designed for one full year of
occupancy and pass a third-party audit before receiving
certification as “Living.”
Want to see more of
the Bertschi School
Science Classroom?
Scan this QR code or type in the link below to see a great
infographic explaining all the elements that went into
creating the Bertschi School Science Classroom.
http://usa.skanska.com/bertschi
9
Building children’s smiles
A helpful diversion
Hiding Where’s Waldo-like characters on the jobsite. Making
wheelchair bulldozers. Dancing in fundraising videos. All in a day’s
work for this children’s hospital team.
Those building hospitals tend to have a special connection to what
they’re creating, as they understand the healing that their efforts
will enable. That connection runs deeper with hospitals devoted to
treating children. It’s even more unique on this campus, with the
children able to watch from their rooms as the expansion rises.
Stretch and Flex is one of numerous activities we’ve done in
partnership with Nemours to help brighten the stays of children,
many of whom are there for months at a time and begin to consider
the hospital their home. Our team has outfitted a wheelchair like
a Cat bulldozer for the hospital’s Halloween parade. They’ve had
excavators and loaders do demonstrations for kids watching from a
balcony, and sung happy birthdays to children via two-way radios
from the job site. They’ve discovered it’s possible to order kid-sized
hardhats and safety vests. And every week, there’s a raffle – started
by craft workers – to raise money for the hospital, usually around
$150 per week.
“You come away from this and count your blessings,” said Frank
Gavaghan, a USA Building superintendent formerly on the project.
“And you hope that if you ever have a child in this situation, that
others would be so caring and giving.”
Team members said it’s been easy to recruit both Skanska
colleagues and craft workers to help out. All of these efforts are
voluntarily done, and normally over lunch breaks.
“Helping these kids has touched the hearts of even the most
hardened construction workers,” said Marty Corrado, USA Building
project executive.
Creative process
Ideas for new activities have emerged from all levels of Nemours,
Skanska and other project partners, including the patients, who
recently requested to have construction workers dance in the video
they’re making for the hospital’s radiothon fundraiser. Helping spark
these ideas is that until recently the construction process has been
quite visible, with concrete being poured and steel rising. But in June,
the building topped out and facade installation began. From their
rooms, the kids will soon be staring at a colorful curtain wall, not giant
pieces of yellow equipment.
Yet our team is confident they’ll find new ways to connect with the
patients before the project – for which we have a $216 million contract
– is completed in 2014. One idea under consideration: using iPads to
have workers in the field talk with children back in their beds via the
device’s FaceTime feature. And perhaps as the building becomes more
of a finished structure, patients will even be able to visit.
“These activities are fun for us,” said Chris Manning, Nemours
senior public relations manager. “But they’re monumental for the kids.” ◆
»
»
We worked with Nemours’ Youth Advisory Council to develop 35 construction-themed coloring pages. Then our team – including Superintendent Ken Behrns, above – came in to color with the kids. “We really view these activities as a partnership with Skanska,” said Beth Allen, a manager in the Nemours Project Management Office.
For anyone, but especially a child, staying overnight in a hospital
usually isn’t fun. Yet on the morning of May 16, three-year-old
Will Hendershot was so excited that he couldn’t wait to get out
of his bed at the Nemours/A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in
Wilmington, Del. The reason? He knew he was about to spend time
with some of his favorite type of action heroes – the Skanska team
expanding the hospital.
Just before 7 a.m., Will and his mother were led to a third-floor
balcony overlooking the 450,000-square-foot expansion, parallel to
the existing building and just seventy feet away. Going there, they
thought perhaps one or two construction team members would
be there to talk with them, and that would be the extent of Will’s
morning fun. Instead, a line of hospital staffers greeted Will and
his mom, along with a girl holding an IV pole and two other boys.
The children were given neon yellow Safety Week shirts to slip
on – after all, it was the fourth day of our Safety Week. Then they
were told to look over at the expansion, where – directly across
10
from them on the new building’s third floor – about 230 workers were
waiting to have the kids lead them in Stretch and Flex.
Via two-way radios, a hospital official introduced Will and the
other children to the workers. The kids all said hello to the workers,
who responded with waves and claps. And then a Nemours wellness
professional guided the kids – and, in turn, the workers – through
Stretch and Flex. Smiles abounded both on the balcony and on the
jobsite. For the children, it was a happy activity that distracted them
from why they were at Nemours.
A month after the event, Will’s mother, Shannon Hendershot, said
her son was still talking about Stretch and Flex. She said Will still
wears his Safety Week shirt to bed.
“That activity really brightened his whole day, and he still raves
about it all the time – it’s his favorite story,” Shannon said. “I want
to make sure that the workers who did it realize how much they’re
impacting little children by doing what they did. It’s an amazing and
wonderful thing. What they did for Will was awesome.”
coast to coast
Skanska and Nemours wanted to develop a Where’s Waldo-like character for the jobsite for which the children could search from their windows. The result is Freddy, a nearly eight-foot-
tall cartoon construction worker made out of aluminum. Every morning in the dark, our team moves him to a new location. Even that early, sometimes the team sees kids watching them, already looking for Freddy.
“I want to make sure that the workers
who did it realize how much they’re
impacting little children by doing
what they did. It’s an amazing and
wonderful thing. What they did for
Will was awesome.”
Don't miss this video!
Scan this QR code or type in the link
below to see this heartwarming video of
our Nemours team interacting with kids.
http://usa.skanska.com/nemours
»
With this mock blasting box and some subtle two-way radio commands that our team used, children were able to cause the earth to heave.
coast to coast
11
Q&A with Mats Johansson, USA Commercial Development president
What do you wish more people knew about USA
Commercial Development (CDUS)?
CDUS fast facts
•
•
•
»
16 projects totalling 4.8 million square feet completed or under way
$840 million in committed investments
45 employees nationwide
USA Commercial Development's portfolio of completed or in-progress projects.
USA Commercial
Development going strong
Winning Skanska’s global Project Development Business Unit
of the Year Award is one of this business unit’s latest milestones.
It has been a rapid journey for USA Commercial Development:
launched in 2009, it won Skanska’s global Project Development
Business Unit of the Year Award last year.
Operating in Boston, Houston, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.,
the unit invests Skanska’s money – generated primarily from
construction – in highly sustainable, urban office and multi-family
developments that are flexible to tenants’ and renters’ long-term
needs. With a typical project investment of up to $200 million, it
sells those projects when they’re fully leased to recoup that outlay.
USA Commercial Development (CDUS) achieved a major
milestone last year with the highly successful sale of its first
development, the 733 10th Street office project near the White
House in Washington, D.C. In August, it announced its biggest-ever
tenant lease, securing accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers for
75 percent of Parcel L1, a 440,000-square-foot, 17-story office tower
in Boston; the deal triggered the start of construction.
Building off that success, and staying ahead in a resurgent real
estate market, requires change. To advance with sustainability, the
unit requires that each project test a new green feature not tried
in another CDUS project – what it calls a Big Hairy Audacious
12
Green Goal (BHAGG). While its early projects have been
entirely self-financed, Skanska is now bringing in co-investors
for select projects. And to fine tune the partnership between
CDUS and USA Building, a task force – funded by a USA
Building Innovation Grant – is exploring more efficient ways
of collaborating, as well as how to best integrate building
information modeling (BIM) and partnership-based integrated
project delivery (IPD).
Explore the following five pages to learn about USA
Commercial Development’s activities nationwide! ◆
Development is a high-risk business that has the potential for
high rewards, given that every project is a big investment with
Skanska’s own money. For us to be successful, we need to be highly
focused on our markets so we can develop projects that are desired
by prospective tenants. This means we need to be successful in
every part of the development process, including acquiring land,
obtaining approvals, design, construction, property management
and property sales. If we do them all right, the upside for Skanska
will be big. But if we do something wrong – for example, if we
develop an office building in the wrong location, poorly designed
for the tenant group, poorly built and with no or few leases – the
downside could be even bigger than the upside.
Everything went right on our 733 10th Street project in D.C.,
including a highly competitive property sale market, which is why
that project was so profitable for us. But keep in mind that the
profit we make from our property sales needs to be high, as we are
tying up a significant amount of Skanska’s capital with each project.
On what does CDUS’ growth depend?
Skanska’s construction operations globally produce cash that
is used in project development: Commercial Development for
buildings; Infrastructure Development (ID) for highways, bridges
and the like; and Residential Development (RD) in Europe. This
limited pool of capital creates a competitive situation in which the
CD, ID and RD projects that are projecting the best returns get the
money. To manage CDUS and its capital needs going forward, we
have started bringing in outside investors for some projects. But
even so, the only way for Skanska’s development units to expand in
a major way is for the Construction units to grow their revenue and
positive cash flow.
What differentiates CDUS in its markets, and why
is collaboration with USA Building so important?
Until now, the big thing that has differentiated us is that we’ve
had a strong cash position and we can buy land with cash. As the
real estate market starts to recover, capital in which to invest will
be more freely available, so that differentiator will be less of an
advantage – but it’ll still be there. Having our own capital to invest
What does it take to successfully close deals?
It takes what we call solution-oriented deal making – it’s about
putting yourself in your client’s shoes. It’s not about sitting there
and bragging about how good Skanska is and all the things we can
do – that doesn’t
solve anything
for the person
on the other
side of the table.
This approach
applies no matter
which business
unit you’re in –
everything we do
is about trying to
find solutions for
our clients and
prospective clients
by understanding
their needs and
perspectives. ◆
» Mats Johansson
Introducing Workplaces by Skanska
"It’s about putting yourself in your
client’s shoes. It’s not about sitting
there and bragging about how good
Skanska is and all the things we can do
– that doesn’t solve anything for the
person on the other side of the table."
coast to coast
with, we can buy sites more quickly than others who solely rely on
external money.
A second differentiator is our integrated model for investing,
developing and building. That’s a rather rare model in our markets.
Having USA Building as part of our team is a huge benefit to Skanska
as a whole – but only if CDUS and USA Building work together
in the right ways. That means early engagement on projects and
collaborating in smart ways to find low-cost approaches to providing
smart tenant solutions – that’s the only way for us to beat the
competition on the cost side.
A third differentiator is the long-term perspective we take in
our building design. In terms of space flexibility, sustainability and
quality, we’re always thinking about the first-, second- and third
owners of each property. That begins by starting with the users of
the building and focusing on meeting their demands – working from
the inside out. We’re also community focused. We don’t just develop
the building by itself; rather, we take a more holistic perspective to
include how the building fits into the local community because we
know that creates value for the building itself.
To help differentiate Skanska’s office development
projects, Skanska has launched Workplaces
by Skanska. Now in use by our Commercial
Development units worldwide, this is a framework
that highlights four focus areas: green, work
environment, tenant profitability and placemaking,
the planning, design and management of public
spaces. Our office development marketing efforts
coast to coast
are now based on this common foundation.
This initiative is noted visually by a new
Workplaces by Skanska symbol that represents a
seal on a diploma, highlighting the quality and
uniqueness of our office projects. This symbol,
shown to the left, will be used in marketing
materials and on jobsite signage for office
development projects. ◆
13
CDUS Boston
CDUS Seattle
Expanding into multi-family development
New ideas for engaging our markets
There will be a dog-washing station – in its own first floor room
– and a dedicated yoga center. “Innovation units” that average just
397 square feet will offer stylish living within the budgets of many
recent college graduates. And residents may be able to adjust their
programmable thermostats through their smartphones, an effort
to meet their request for features to save them money.
Welcome to Watermark Seaport, one of USA Commercial
Development’s first multi-family projects. Like our other Bostonarea development projects – including the recently completed 150
Second Street office and laboratory project – the 300,000-squarefoot Watermark Seaport is responding to the vibrancy of the
Boston economy, which is fueled by the region’s 58 colleges
and universities. Many recent grads and others want to live in
Boston close to places where they can work and play, but there
haven’t been many significant urban multi-family projects here in
recent years. Because of this, Skanska sees a great opportunity to
broaden our development portfolio.
Located in South Boston’s emerging Seaport District,
Watermark Seaport – scheduled to break ground this fall –
will consist of two linked buildings: a 17-story tower with 281
apartments and a six-story loft building with 65 apartments.
Per city regulations, 15 percent of the apartments will be small
innovation units, a type of micro-housing intended to help lower
the cost of housing for those who don’t qualify for affordable
housing. The innovation units are part of a new city initiative to
foster entrepreneurial and creative talents.
Rethinking urban housing
Though small, Watermark Seaport’s innovation units are highly
efficient. They feature small appliances (such as three-burner
stoves) and compact refrigerators. As the units are all studios,
fold-down Murphy beds are being explored to maximize the
living area. But to differentiate them from dorm-style living, these
units include walk-in closets and full bathtubs.
“We want to include as many features from the larger
units as possible,” said Chris Wholey, a USA Commercial
Development manager.
Notable Big Hairy Audacious
Green Goal (BHAGG)
On our 150 Second Street project, a 3,000-gallon
underground storage tank captures and filters rainwater
to be used to flush toilets. This system is designed to
reduce potable water in sewage by 85 percent.
»
While USA Commercial Development is just starting to develop
residential properties – other projects are planned in Seattle and
Washington, D.C. – it doesn't see a learning curve. Many of our
development colleagues have previously done multi-family projects, and
there’s freedom in undertaking something new.
“Many residential developers in Boston are good at what they do, but
they produce the same thing over and over,” Wholey said. “At Skanska,
we take our blinders off and dive into new opportunities, like the
innovation and loft units. That’s liberating.”
Major South Boston presence
Watermark Seaport will be one of several Skanska developments
planned for the Seaport District. Next to this site we’re planning a
440,000-square-foot office project called Parcel L1, and we have an
option to build 400,000 square feet of office on another adjacent parcel.
Having such a concentration of Skanska projects makes a powerful
statement about our development and construction capabilities.
“You’ll have Skanska signage on three contiguous blocks in the heart
of Boston’s hottest submarket,” said Shawn Hurley, USA Commercial
Development executive vice president and Boston regional manager. ◆
In this home market of Starbucks, Microsoft and Amazon.com,
Skanska is doing something that seems obvious, but yet rarely
achieved by many: fostering an understanding of the needs of our
markets and seeking new ways to serve our customers, enabling both
our clients and us to be more successful at what we do. With this
customer-centric mindset, our Seattle Commercial Development
team doesn’t focus on past achievements and successes. Rather,
their efforts are targeted towards discussing and managing the real
risks facing companies today. This approach is creating a market
perception of Skanska as innovative.
Obtaining deep market knowledge requires active engagement
with companies and the communities where they operate. As
an example, 400 Fairview, a 345,000-square-foot office building
we’re planning, faced several challenges in its zoning plan. To
gain community support, our Seattle team launched a website
through which neighbors could connect with the project and
identify retail types they’d use and patronize. (Forty-two ideas were
posted, including an indoor bocce court and a Chinese street food
restaurant.) Our team also applied this approach physically to the
site, erecting a mural with chalkboards on which passers-by could
share their retail desires for the site. These engagements led to our
team including a smaller-scaled ground floor retail approach.
Cross-pollinating ideas
Other approaches included events called salons. At these gatherings,
influencers in our core tenant markets were offered opportunities
to engage with other key market leaders from across industries.
Our team’s intent with these events was to gain early knowledge
How partnering with USA Building
develops better project solutions
How partnering with USA Building
develops better project solutions
“In negotiating with a major tenant for Parcel L1, we
honestly couldn't have done the deal without USA
Building. The timing is very tight, so we need a partner on
board who will execute the building. Collaborating with
USA Building is critical to our success.” - Shawn Hurley
»
14
Our Seattle Commercial Development team
“We engage USA Building as we’re pursuing deals - even
before we work with an architect. This strategy allows
us to develop a better approach for the offering. Our
competitors can’t do this.” – Lisa Picard
Our Boston Commercial Development team
coast to coast
coast to coast
Notable Big Hairy Audacious
Green Goal (BHAGG)
Stone34 is the first project in Seattle’s Deep Green Pilot
Program, an ambitious platform that requires buildings
to reduce both energy and water usage by 75 percent.
Stone34's innovative technologies include chilled beams
and a phase-change material tank.
of how to design and craft our offerings, while also giving our
market influencers an opportunity to learn something by attending.
Key learnings from these sessions revealed changing workplace
dynamics and trends in food and commerce.
Through these activities, Skanska’s local team is working to
understand our customers and markets, “sometimes at a level
they aren’t able to perceive, given they are so busy running their
businesses and competing in challenging marketplaces,” said Lisa
Picard, USA Commercial Development executive vice president
and Seattle regional manager. “This is where Skanska can provide
amazing value to our markets.”
For Brooks, it’s all about the runner
Applying a customer mindset when crafting a vision for Brooks
Sports’ new headquarters, Skanska focused on what is most
important to running shoe maker Brooks – the runner. That led to
Stone34, a 113,000-square-foot office building located at a head of
Seattle’s most popular multi-use trail. Stone34's design connects the
trail to the movement within Brooks.
“Often developers use an approach in which they create
what they want,” said Murphy McCullough, USA Commercial
Development vice president. “With everything that we’re doing,
what’s most important is what our customers want. If we can give
our customers what they want even before they know it, we’ll have
no problem leasing and then selling our buildings.” ◆
15
CDUS Washington, D.C.
CDUS Houston
Building on success
Shaping this booming city
Our nation’s capital is where Commercial Development first showed
that its business model could successfully transfer from Europe to
the U.S.
Skanska bought the development rights to 733 10th Street – USA
Commercial Development’s initial project – in October 2009, using
our inherent flexibility and self-financing capability to secure this
site five blocks from the White House. We began construction of
the 171,000-square-foot mixed-use building in spring 2010 on a
speculative basis, which raised eyebrows given the then-depressed
state of the real estate market. And when we sold the project in early
2012 we generated a significant profit, demonstrating the value that
our development capability – with a little good fortune – provides
for our shareholders.
Now that the economy has improved and other developers
have easier access to financing, USA Commercial Development’s
competition has increased – both in D.C. and nationwide. To
continue its success, the D.C. office is relying on its ingenuity to
develop the best tenant solutions and its deep relationships in the
local market.
“We’ve got to be out there every day building those relationships
with landowners, brokers and prospective tenants,” said Rob Ward,
USA Commercial Development executive vice president and D.C.
regional manager. “If you think you’re going to put up a sign and sit
back and wait for people to come through the door, that’s not going
to happen.”
Designing from the inside out
Having gone through the full development cycle with 733 10th
Street provided great insights as to what matters most to tenants
and eventual real estate buyers. We’ve learned that small touches
carry big weight. Those include mobile phone signal repeaters
How partnering with USA Building
develops better project solutions
“Having USA Building willing to roll up their sleeves and
work with us early during the design and development
processes helps Skanska provide buildings that offer
tenants the highest value.” – Rob Ward
in below-grade parking garages, so tenants don’t lose calls as
they’re coming or going, and such meaningful amenity spaces
as country club-like locker rooms with towel service and roof
terraces with catering kitchens.
“We design from the inside out, thinking like the occupant,”
Ward said.
The D.C. team is applying such thinking to the four
development projects they’re planning in D.C: 580,000 square
feet of office and 330,000 square feet of apartments north
of Union Station, and a 235,000-square-foot office building
adjacent to Nationals Park.
Sustainability test kitchens
Skanska’s focus on sustainability continues to be a differentiator,
he said. For example, at our 140,000-square-foot 1776 Wilson
Boulevard project, a rooftop photovoltaic array generates a
portion of the building’s power, and a building dashboard allows
tenants to see energy usage in real time.
“Green features would be the first things cut with other
developers,” Ward said. “Skanska believes that green features add
value, though that value may be over the long term. That’s our
view of the world and that’s how we invest in our buildings.”
“We see all our development projects as little test kitchens of
sustainability,” he added. “We’re trying to find the green features
that are most beneficial, and demonstrate them to others.” ◆
Notable Big Hairy Audacious
Green Goal (BHAGG)
At USA Commercial Development’s D.C. office in our
1776 Wilson Boulevard project, an extensive submetering
system tracks the energy used by the whole office, as well
as each workstation. The energy used by each employee
is prominently displayed on a monitor, inspiring a bit of
competition to see who can use the least amount of energy!
»
16
In Houston, the capital of America’s energy sector, the booming
economy is fueling growth. And that means opportunities for
Skanska, even in some unexpected ways.
This fall, we’ll complete our first Commercial Development
project here, 3009 Post Oak Boulevard in the city’s Uptown
District. Given that this 302,000-square-foot, 20-story building
(12 office floors atop an eight-story above-grade parking garage)
is located at one of the busiest intersections in the country, it’s
been a great opportunity for us to help shape the skyline – and to
announce Skanska’s presence as a major, local developer.
“Houston has a ‘show-me’ attitude on delivering new
development,” said Mike Mair, USA Commercial Development
executive vice president and Houston regional manager. “We’re
doing that with 3009 Post Oak, and that’s elevated our presence in
Houston in a big way.”
Green differentiators
This project is also enabling Skanska to differentiate ourself
with the value we place on green building, as 3009 Post Oak is
pre-certified as LEED Platinum. That’s rare on a speculatively
developed office building because most developers would not want
to take on what can be an added expense. But Skanska sees the
value in reaching challenging environmental goals.
“If you look back to 2008, if you hadn’t pushed the bar then in
terms of what people are expecting, today your buildings are no
longer as competitive,” Mair said. “There’s a business case to be
made to plan for the future.”
Making great public places
That one of our next development projects here will create a
valuable public space might be a bit unanticipated. Houston is,
after all, a sprawling place that is the only major U.S. city without a
formal zoning code to guide development. Not having that, public
gathering spaces might seem unappreciated, even unneeded. But
with our 675,000-square-foot Capitol Tower project (34 stories tall,
including 10 levels of above-grade parking), our local Commercial
Development team saw a chance to create a great place that would
add value not just for our tenants, but for the local community.
How partnering with USA Building
develops better project solutions
“Beyond tapping their expertise for pricing and value
engineering during preconstruction, collaborating with
USA Building enables us to think smarter about how to
mitigate risks during complicated construction operations,
such as that for Capitol Tower.” – Mike Mair
Our D.C. Commercial Development team
coast to coast
coast to coast
»
Our Houston Commercial Development team
Notable Big Hairy Audacious
Green Goal (BHAGG)
Working in partnership with the University of Houston,
carbon emissions were tracked with academic rigor on
3009 Post Oak Boulevard. This effort even included
surveying craft workers on how they commuted to
the jobsite. We found that 80 percent of the project’s
carbon emissions came from the concrete, emphasizing
the need for more carbon-efficient concrete mixes.
Houston’s downtown is tied together by a series of underground
tunnels meant to shelter pedestrians from the city’s often
oppressive heat and humidity. Most downtown buildings are
served by one tunnel, but Capitol Tower’s site is at a node served
by five tunnels. At this extraordinary connection point, Skanska’s
local team saw an opportunity to not just improve the connection
between the city’s streets and tunnels, but to create a public
meeting space.
Their solution is to create an airy two-level connection between
the basement-level tunnels and the street. With street-facing
walls clad in glass to maximize daylight and enable views from
pedestrians walking by on the sidewalk, the connection will have
wide steps similar to Rome’s Spanish Steps, and trees and other
greenery. Our team unveiled its Capitol Tower plans two weeks
after Houston’s mayor publicly called for better connections
between the streets and tunnels.
“When the mayor said those words, it was confirming the
direction that we had been working on for years,” said Joel Ambre,
USA Commercial Development director. ◆
17
coast tocoast
The Employee Magazine for Skanska USA
Connect with us
The Skanska Top 10
Our Bertschi School Science
Classroom project in Seattle
is the first school on the U.S.
mainland and the fourth
building worldwide to be
certified under the Living Building
Challenge, a rigorous green building
certification program.
Skanska’s I-4 Mobility Partners
team – including Infrastructure
Development North America and
USA Civil – has been shortlisted
for Florida’s roughly $2.1 billion
I-4 Ultimate PPP project.
We signed a $401 million contract to raise the roadway of the
Bayonne Bridge connecting Staten Island, N.Y., with Bayonne,
N.J., to allow larger cargo container ships to pass below. The
total value of this joint venture project is $743 million.
Besides Bayonne, we announced $1.3 billion
in other wins in the second quarter, including a
$101 million contract for Industrial Contractors
Skanska to install an air-quality control system
at a power plant.
To make Skanska shares more readily available
to general U.S. investors – beyond just Skanska
employees – we formally launched an American
Depository Receipt (ADR) program. The ADRs are
publicly traded in the U.S. on the OTC market under
the symbol SKSBY.
Skanska resigned our membership in the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce to protest the Chamber's
backing of a chemical industry-led initiative to
effectively ban future use of the LEED green rating
system in federal buildings. Our action brought great
attention to this issue and green building in general through
coverage in such
publications as
ENR and The Wall
Street Journal.
Nicole Heran, a project
manager based in our Dania
Beach, Fla., office, was selected
by the South Florida Business
Journal for its 40 under 40 Class
of 2013. Congratulations!
We are the fourth-largest contractor by
U.S. revenue, according to ENR data.
We’re also the third-largest general
building company, fifth-largest domestic
heavy contractor and the New York
region’s second-largest contractor.
To help middle- and highschool students broaden their
perspective of the construction
industry, Skanska is the lead
sponsor of a new book aimed
at such young people; it's called
"Those Amazing Builders."
Skanska received a Boeing Supplier
of the Year award for our exceptional
performance and contributions to
Boeing’s successful 2012. Selected
from a pool of more than 17,500
Boeing suppliers in 50 countries, we were one of 17
organizations to receive this honor from the jet maker.