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An urban appeal
Duran says there is a strong push toward urban architecture, with people moving back into downtown, and that’s a market Turner Partners plans to pursue.
“If you look at the way Houston is structured, there is more development on the transit corridor, and that will be a driver for future development,” Duran says. “People want to be close to work, to be downtown. The younger generation is wanting to move toward the hot spots.”
Mixed thoughts on modeling
HKS employs building information modeling on all of its projects, even if clients do not understand the benefits.
“BIM produces better-coordinated sets of documents and it, ultimately, will provide good data for contractors,” Hawkins says. “We see more integrated project delivery in the future.”
Lind says demand for BIM is off from a year ago.
“It’s an emerging technology that doesn’t quite satisfy all of the expectations certain clients have of it,” he says. Still, Corgan continues to invest in the software and training.
Turner Partners is “more aggressive in pursuing BIM-related projects, which might lead us into doing more government work,” Duran says. “There are not a lot of firms our size that have BIM capabilities. We think that will give us a leg up.”
Federal dollars
Few federal stimulus dollars have not tricked down to Texas design firms. Corgan has received federal work related to its core markets, but those projects were funded before Congress passed the stimulus package. HKS also has picked up more ongoing federal work, outside the stimulus package.
Lueck says some school districts have received funds for technology and infrastructure projects.
“We’re hearing about some grants for districts for renewable energy, geothermal and those types of renewable energy,” he adds.
Other trends
Projects are coming in costing less than estimated, Lueck says. For example, at Mansfield High School for the Mansfield ISD, the low bid was $59.4 million from Lee Lewis Construction of Lubbock for the 421,000-sq-ft school. Original construction estimates ranged from $85 million to $90 million.
“That shows how big a dip we have seen in the market,” Lueck says. “Contractors are bidding projects very low. It makes forecasting future pricing more difficult.”
Hawkins says he does not expect the recovery to occur until next summer. However, he anticipates Texas will rebound more quickly than some other parts of the economy.
“I’m hopeful for our profession, the whole design and construction industry, that we get back on the road to recovery pretty quickly,” he says.
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