Program Management for Urban Improvement

The US city of Richmond, Virginia has launched a program called Building a Better Richmond to ignite systemic economic, social and environmental improvement in the city. Led by Mayor Dwight Jones, the program ties together a broad range of improvements, from those in the built environment to those in the operations of the city's government and municipal services. AECOM is serving as program manager for the architecture, engineering, transportation and environmental works.

Founded in 1737, with initial settlement dating back to 1609, Richmond has witnessed much of American history, including the Revolution and serving as the Confederate capital during the Civil War. Richmond grew through the twentieth century, with a development boom in the early sixties, but much of the city's buildings and infrastructure are now outdated and in need of replacement. With Richmond located in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and subject to the 1998 Chesapeake Bay Initiative, stormwater runoff concerns are also a factor.

Building a Better Richmond will include new educational facilities. Phase 1A, AECOM's initial award, includes a new Huguenot High School (the first built in the city in more than 40 years), Broad Rock Elementary School, Oak Grove Elementary School, and Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School. Two more elementary schools and one more middle school will be awarded in the second phase. The program also will include the renovation and expansion of a city jail along with the formulation of new alternative incarceration programs for non-violent offenders. The transportation component will include road works and new bus stops and will be linked with future housing and community development. Environmental works focus on eliminating combined sewer overflow (CSO) so that sewage and stormwater do not mix and empty into the Bay via the James River during high rainfall events.

As program managers, AECOM will be drawing on in-house expertise from our Water, Transportation, Economics, Architecture and Building Engineering business lines to complete the program. Our responsibility is to represent the best interest of the owner, often to serve as the owner by proxy, assigning managers to the individual projects and ensuring that quality, quantity, schedule and cost are optimized throughout the entire program. We will manage documentation and communication and use ePM, a software tool to help track the myriad information that will be involved. The new schools are required to achieve a minimum LEED-NC Silver certification, and we will review the designs accordingly.

Through increased fiscal responsibility, Mayor Jones's administration has been able to assemble the funds for this program without need of a bonding program. This type of urban renewal program is about leveraging improvements against each other to simultaneously raise the quality of the entire city. Improved educational facilities improve the quality of the education itself. Better-educated students catalyze a stronger economy. Economic vitality draws more people to the city. Larger populations require improvements in transportation and environmental infrastructure. The program could extend through 2020 in all of its phases.

Michael McIntyre of Program + Construction Management leads the program for AECOM, working out of Richmond City Hall, where he is embedded with the client. "When Mike talks to you, it's me talking," is what the city's Capital Projects Division tells their A&E consultants. The program will draw on AECOM expertise from the Washington, D.C., area as well as from Denver.

Jake Herson