Design Excellence is about much more than what the building looks like; design excellence reflects the practice of good judgment throughout project procurement, development and execution, as well as sound decision-making within the limitations imposed by budget, scope and schedule. Design Excellence achieves memorable design solutions that include state- of-the art engineering solutions, delivering facilities that are high performance and sustainable and that demonstrate a holistic design awareness that considers context, site and the environment.
The Owner plays a significant role in setting the expectations, goals, requirements and best practices for any Design Excellence project.
This session will provide an overview, brief history and examples of the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Design Excellence program and the GSA Design-Build Design Excellence guide. While the specifics discussed will be about how Design Excellence is practiced at the GSA, all the techniques and processes can be universally applied to other public and private Owner organizations.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the owner’s role in defining design excellence.
2. Understand the value proposition behind Design/Build Design Excellence and how true design excellence is defined.
3. Understand how design excellence has evolved into a holistic discipline that is practiced throughout the project delivery lifecycle.
4. Find documents and tools available to help other owners develop design excellence programs.
Laura Stagner, FAIA, PMP, DBIA
GSA Public Buildings Service, Office of Project Delivery (Retired)
Stagner Consulting, LLC; U.S. General Services Administration (Retired)
Laura Stagner is the former Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Project Delivery for the Public Buildings Service (PBS) of the US General Services Administration. In this role, Laura led the successful consolidation of project management functions within the into the Office of Project Delivery, evolving an organization that was responsible for capital projects into an organization that is now responsible for all projects delivered by PBS, including capital, small, and reimbursable projects. Under her leadership, the Office of Project Delivery developed processes designed to better manage project risk: a national project resource board to ensure that the best available talent is matched to the risk profile of the project, and a project delivery method selection tool. Laura has been an advocate for the adoption of alternative delivery methods within PBS, particularly design/build and Construction Manager at Risk. She has served on the national board of the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA), and is currently on the national board of the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA). Additionally, she has been an appointed member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Project Delivery Knowledge Committee since 2016.
Laura is currently the principal at Stagner Consulting, LLC, a practice devoted to providing federal project delivery advisory services.
Thomas Foley, PE, CCM
Deputy Commissioner
New York City Department of Design and Construction
Tom Foley currently manages the overall direction of New York City’s Department of Design & Construction (DDC) Public Buildings Division, supported by almost 450 executives, managerial, professional and administrative staff with over 711 active projects, serving 26 client agencies with portfolios valued at over $10 billion dollars. He is responsible for the management of the design & construction of the Public Buildings Capital Program including Civic, Uniform Structures and Project Controls such as Cultural Institutions, Libraries, Public Safety, Health & Human Services within the City’s five (5) Boroughs. Tom has guided DDC towards an integrated design-build project delivery approach with an emphasis on Design-Build Done Right® for New York City’s DB projects.
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