Tocci Building Companies is nearing completion of Chelsea Place, a four-story, 56-unit apartment complex that will not only be certified LEED Silver, but will go from conception to occupancy in near record time thanks to a modular development system used in the construction process…Typically, a building of this type would have a construction schedule of over a year, but Chelsea Place will be ready for occupancy in less than nine months.

For the full story, click here.

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The group [CMAA] honored Tocci Building Companies with the Building Project of the Year in a Renovation/Modernization Project Over $20 Million category at their New England Chapter awards luncheon last week. Developed in partnership with Yule Development Co., and Ganek Architects, the Mill’s metamorphisis transformed the 150-year-old fabric mill into 131 residential units.

CEO John Tocci responded to the award:

This award is a tribute not only to the entire construction team as individual components – the owner, architect, subcontractors and Tocci – but also to the spirit of collaboration that enabled the team to adapt and implement the design changes to this complex project in a timely and efficient manner

The full article is available here.

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This is a great opportunity If you have a minimum of ten years of experience leading to full charge leadership in the programing, design and construction of major clinical facilities ranging in size between $10 to $400 million dollars and are ready to apply your client and patient-focused experience to help lead implementation of hospital projects such as a 200 million dollar, 5 year master-planned consolidation and expansion using full IPD.

Specific experience required includes:

• In-depth knowledge of multifaceted clinical projects including planning, resource management, cost management, and quality measurement
• Effective communication leading to trusted liaison with hospital administration, department leads to achieve on-time and durable decision making as well as clear status reports on specific projects
• Ability to motivate design teams and established construction teams.
• Comprehensive understanding of managing information technology resources in a clinical setting
• Clear understanding of and ability to manage project deliverables to ensure adherence with established quality standards.
• Assign tasks of assembling project teams, identifying appropriate resources, assigning individual responsibilities, and developing schedules to ensure timely completion of project.
• Lean Healthcare and Lean Construction experience a plus.
• Integrated Project Delivery of Healthcare Projects a plus.

Tocci combines over ninety years of building experience with unique collaborative processes to optimize the cost, design and assembly of buildings that deliver enduring value through better performance.  If you’re passionate about blameless project execution, and lean construction process as drivers of extraordinary building performance you probably belong with us.   Please send cover letter and resume to jobs@tocci.com.

The post Healthcare Project Director – IPD appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

Required

• Degree from an accredited graphic design program
• 5-10 years of design/marketing experience
• Demonstrated ability to adhere to brand standards while developing proposals, presentations, brochures, and other print collateral
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite

Recommended

• Experience with content management systems such as WordPress.
• Competency developing wayfinding and environmental graphics
• Basic knowledge of HTML / CSS
• Experience with Video Editing and Motion Graphics (Premiere Pro/After Effects)
• Photography Skills

Tocci values design thinking as a strategic differentiator within our industry. We combine over ninety years of building experience with a unique collaborative process to optimize the cost, design, and assembly of buildings that deliver enduring value through better performance.

Interested candidates should apply with a resume, cover letter, and a link to an online or PDF portfolio. Tocci is an equally opportunity employer.

The post Senior Graphic and Marketing Designer appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

Required

• Degree from an accredited graphic design program
• Competency developing content for the web, especially through content management platforms such as WordPress.
• Proficiency in Adobe Creative Suite, especially InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop. Bonus points for Dreamweaver, Premiere, and After Effects.
• Strong data visualization and storytelling skills

Recommended

• Basic knowledge of HTML / CSS (extra credit for PHP & Java)
• Photography, Videography, and Video Editing Experience are always a plus

Tocci values design thinking as a strategic differentiator within our industry. We combine over ninety years of building experience with a unique collaborative process to optimize the cost, design, and assembly of buildings that deliver enduring value through better performance.

Interested candidates should apply with a resume, cover letter, and a link to an online or PDF portfolio. Tocci is an equally opportunity employer.

The post Junior Graphic Designer appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

DON’T force large scale, full time colocation. On smaller projects, trade partners may not have the budget for a modeler and/or a project manager to colocate full time. Show that you respect for your team members’ time and choose the most valuable times (such as leading up to deliverables) for face-to-face colocation.

DO hold coordination charrettes. Short and dense colocation sessions give j the benefits of colocation without requiring a full-time commitment away from home offices. DON’T lose focus of the objectives that need to be accomplished during this time. Keep the team focused and making decisions.

DO be mindful in your flexibility. Certain disciplines may not attend all sessions, but there should be a time (say, once a week) where all disciplines are together to work through issues and decrease miscommunication.

DO use web-based meetings and check-ins frequently when you cannot meet face-to-face. This will help keep the team focused and moving forward even when they are not in colocation.

Colocation for Chelsea Place

DO incorporate an IT session at colocation kickoff. Make sure everyone has the appropriate tools to share and collaborate on-site and from their home office.

DO require a modeler and decision maker (PM) to be present. Even if the modeler is not modeling during colocation, it will help mitigate information loss between working sessions and modeling.

DON’T forget to send out meeting minutes after each colocation session.

DO encourage team members to reach out to each other when they are not colocating. Encourage off-site collaboration through phone calls, video conferencing, WebEx or other means.

The post Micro Colo – Strategies for Smaller Projects appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

DO Have an IT planning session to make sure everyone can access each firm’s respective home networks, model sharing platform, file sharing platform.  A lot of troubleshooting  is needed based on various firms’ set-ups so it is best to have the IT guys all talk IT so the project team can focus on the project.

DO Create a project orientation for all colocators prior to colocation kick-off. Consider a DISC work styles activity during orientation to help all team members get to know each other and create communication and work protocols.

DON’T Forget to orient for new team members as they come on board . Not everyone will be present at the initial orientation, latecomers need to learn the protocols that the team developed together to keep them present but at arm’s length from the rest of the team.

DO Make sure the space is large enough to have plan tables at the workstation for trades that are used to working with that set-up. Perhaps create a colocation needs checklist for each team member prior to setting up the big room

DO Create a cluster for each major building component: building envelope, structure, interior architecture, MEPs etc. Establish a cluster leader that is responsible for communicating / following up with other cluster leads on items that require cross-discipline coordination.

DON’T Be rigid with systems. Each team is unique and adaptations to the structure will be necessary.

DO Set a goal of continuous improvement and let that guide your team protocols rather than religiously adhering to initial plan.

DON’T Expect that everyone will love colocation right off the bat. Your team will likely experience Tuckman’s stages of group development – Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

DO Make it a goal to address conflicts openly and honestly.

DO Create opportunities for group bonding – sports outings, luncheons, movie outings. Make the colocation site a great place to work by fostering camaraderie.

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RESEARCH

A Harvard Medical School study analyzed the impact that colocation has on the quality of biomedical science research. The study used the number of times a paper is externally cited as a measure of quality. Findings:

• Two heads are better than one. Research with multiple authors prevailed over that of a single author.
• One room is better than two. Research quality (statistically) significantly improved when collaborators colocated.

Source

MANUFACTURING

General Electric colocated a team of design engineers, manufacturing engineers, line workers, staff from marketing, and sales to move manufacturing of its GeoSpring water heater and dishwasher lines from China to the US.

What started as a manufacturing challenge became a redesign with impres

GE’s geospring water heater manufacturing relocated to the US for lean manufacturing.

sive results. The colocated US design and manufacturing team:

• Cut material costs by 25%
• Cut assembly time from 10 hours to 2 hours
• Cut factory to warehouse delivery time from 5 weeks to 30 minutes
• Improved design quality and energy efficiency
• Reduced retail sticker price by 19%

Source

CONSTRUCTION

A recent project colocated the owner, design team, and construction team during Design Development and Construction Documents to finalize, coordinate, and document the design. While the team found it difficult to document the value of their on-going communication and collaboration, they recorded several discrete examples including ceiling height optimizations, beam penetrations, and alternate design solutions.

Bean Penetration Sketch from Colocation at 225 Binney St

The colocated team reduced the design schedule by several months and delivered cost savings in excess of $1,000,000 in savings.

Source: ROI Calculations Performed by Tocci Building Companies

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01 Plan

Recognize your responsibilities and be accountable for them.  Communicate to others what you expect of them.

Define potential risks and assess them with your team’s strengths and weaknesses in mind.  Gauge the pros and cons, calculate the probability of failure, and then trust your gut.

Push to do difficult things that offer a big payoff if executed correctly.

Consider all aspects of what it will take to accomplish a goal.  Details matter as much as the big picture, because all those small components add up to the larger success of the team and the project.

02 Do

Maintain your equipment properly – clean and oil daily, and quickly address deficiencies to keep everything in working order.  This will minimize the risk of injury, downtime, and productivity loss.

Perform routine tasks even if they seem boring, as they are a huge part of maintaining overall health, which contributes to great performance.

Pursue educational opportunities to sharpen basic skills and expand your “toolbox” of technical abilities.  Racking up years of experience doesn’t mean you’ve been doing it right the whole time.  Keep improving.

Prepare to be tested.  Once you prove yourself proficient, people expect that you will create – and implement – solutions to complicated problems.

03 Check

Know when you need to have hard focus on a particular element v. stepping back and looking at the whole picture with soft focus, so you can get a pulse of how everything and everyone is working together.

Be aware of the line between keeping everything under control and being controlling.  You may be able to force others to do what you want for a short time, but eventually their resistance will turn to rebellion.

04 Act

Make constant corrections to stay on course – don’t wait for an issue to become so big that a sudden, dramatic action is required to fix it.  Others may not notice you taking small, proactive measures; therefore, the ‘dramatic action’ method may get you more pats on the back, but only because it became obvious you just avoided disaster.  I’d rather make it look easy than pull off a desperate attempt.

Be authentic when communicating and give frequent feedback.  Build relationships on trust, and others will be more likely to follow your lead.  Trust creates confidence that together, all things are possible.

Share specifics of your lessons-learned and best practices without coming across as condescending.

Let’s Go to the Videotape

A video of “Bucky” and I jumping at a recent horse show.  The day before this competition, I drafted the above post.  Even with all that fresh in my mind, I still made a few poor choices under pressure.

I am proud to report we followed some Golden Rules that apply to construction as well:

• Do your work thoughtfully.
• Maintain a sense of humor, even when things go wrong.
• Give praise and credit when deserved.  Reward good behavior.
• If you make a mistake, keep going.  If you fall off, have the mettle to get right back on and execute Plan B.
• Strive for perfection.

The post What Horses Taught Me About Construction Management appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

With the help of Jason Hartz from Sandler Training, this first event focused on the wants and needs of today’s young professionals. Shockingly there was one common theme amongst these go-getters: the desire to collaborate. Each individual clearly stated the reason they attended the event was to exchange the skills relationships both individually and as firms. As a business graduate I could not help but tie this back to economics 101 and the rule of comparative advantage:
The ability of a firm or individual to produce goods and/or services at a lower opportunity cost than other firms or individuals.

Sitting in a circle to facilitate conversation each of us offered one way we could help another as well as one way the group could help them. This made it easy for attendees to discover exactly what there comparative advantage was and how they could use it to leverage the help of others.

After a great first event, Tocci is looking forward to hosting, collaborating and participating in this Young Professionals Group.

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Wall art and mural paintings are only the tip of the iceberg. The Bartlett team also plans on kicking off Bartlett Events, known as “Mural Fest,” an all-day art extravaganza on May 18th, where dozens of local artists will be on site painting murals and interacting with the community. When completed, the site is expected to be the largest collection of street art Boston has ever seen. In addition local muralists group from “Team Rekloos” are planning to create a “Wall of Hope,” a 120± foot mural overlooking Washington Street. The mural is intended to raise awareness about the community and pay homage to the victims and heroes of the tragic events of the Boston Marathon.

Repurposing abandoned buildings with murals and community art raises the question:  should this be the norm moving forward?  The failed highway project some two generations ago left behind many vacant lots and abandoned buildings around Roxbury. “Why not allow local artists the freedom to release their creative juices and stress through paint?” ask one of the artists. There are great plans ahead for Bartlett Yard, although its resurrection is long overdue, this new development is refreshing.

Kudos to the local owners for tapping into Roxbury’s rich artistic community. Looking ahead to the new developments, here’s what we can expect them to do:

• Provide a variety of new homes ranging from apartment buildings to townhomes for 312 households, including a wide mix of incomes, renters and homeowners, families, singles and seniors.
• Bring new shopping opportunities and services to a neighborhood with tremendous buying power but limited retail options.
• Create jobs, including construction jobs, over a 3-year buildout period and permanent jobs in the small businesses that will operate at Bartlett Place along the Washington Street commercial corridor.
• Be LEED- certifiable for new housing (LEED for Homes) and new commercial construction (LEED-NC), by incorporating passive solar heating, geothermal heat pumps, rain and gray water recycling, and safe, renewable finishes and materials.
• Promote lively streetscapes outside of homes and business, with easy connections to neighboring Fort Hill streets.
• Reduce auto dependence: located one-quarter mile from the busiest bus terminal in Massachusetts and within walking distance to housing, jobs and schools.
• Transform a contaminated brownfield site into safe, welcoming homes, public plazas and play areas for families and neighbors.
• Use recycled site materials to build infrastructure.

The post Repurposing Bartlett Yard in Roxbury appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.

Congratulations to the extended Harmon Cove team, including G. Niles Bolton Architecture, Jordan & Skala Engineering, and of course, Hartz Mountain, our client.

The post Harmon Cove Achieves LEED for Homes Silver appeared first on Tocci Building Companies.