The commissioner of New York’s City Department of Design and Construction, responsible for new building and infrastructure projects across a £6bn project portfolio, has been telling Construction Manager why he has turned to the CIOB to help build the skills capacity of the organisation’s 1,200 staff.
Last month, the NYC DDD and the CIOB entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, under which NYC DDC staff will be offered individual advice and training options that will allow them to seek chartered status. Employees will also gain access to the CIOB’s CPD resources and staff and be offered qualification workshops on topics such as project management, sustainability, and planning.
NYC DDC commissioner Dr Feniosky Peña-Mora FCIOB explained: “We are better when we learn from others and build on others’ knowledge. I saw the level of professionalism in our agency, the great engineers and architects and administrators. But I feel that we have to be careful not to be myopic in our view of where knowledge resides, where it is created, is developed, and be more open to ways we can learn from others.
"I felt there was a lot of learning happening throughout the world that we could bring to our approach."
NYC DDC commissioner Dr Feniosky Peña-Mora FCIOB
“I began immediately to support the availability and exposure of that knowledge to our employees. We first started with the American counterpart to the CIOB, the Construction Management Association of America, entering an agreement with them that allows their knowledge to be accessed by our employees.
“In the first day of that agreement over 350 of our employees became members of that association and started accessing its knowledge modules. It showed the desire was strong among our employees to increase their knowledge base.
“So I thought, okay, our people have good knowledge about New York, and now we’ve made knowledge across the US available, but I still felt there was a lot of learning happening throughout the world that we could bring to our approach. So the CIOB became the beacon for knowledge of what is happening in construction around the world.”
Peña-Mora was asked to be the DDC commissioner by mayor Bill De Blasio, who assumed office in January 2014.
A Dominican-born engineer, his academic career has included serving as Dean of Columbia University’s Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and also as the Associate Provost of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
The NYC DDC builds and renovates structures across the public sector estate, including libraries, fire stations, police precincts, courthouses and “senior centres”. It is also responsible for sidewalks, sewage system and water mains.
It currently has a construction project portfolio in various phases worth approximately $10bn, and procures between $1.5bn and $2bn in new construction services each year.
Projects include the Police Academy in College Point, Queens; the Ocean Breeze Athletic Center, a regeneration project in areas impacted by Hurricane Sandy; and the transformation of Times Square into a pedestrian plaza.
According to its website, it has also built more than 42,000 wheelchair accessible ramps, and upgraded 10,000 fire hydrants.
The DDC is also supporting De Blasio’s “One City” initiative, which aims to make New York City better able to handle population growth, more sustainable, more equitable, and safer.
The MoU is the first of its kind for the CIOB outside of the UK and the plan is that in the future NYC DDC assessors will be trained to deliver the CIOB’s Professional Review assessment. By establishing this strategic alliance, it also hopes that construction management careers will achieve greater recognition in the North American construction market.
Bridget Bartlett, deputy chief executive at the CIOB, said: “The department plays a vital role in delivering quality services that ensures one of the world’s most challenging cities keeps pace with the needs of its citizens. New York is a demanding environment and with its long history for iconic construction projects there is a need for skilled professionals to maintain that ambition well into the future.”
