Competition Winners Work Towards Building Green Homes
Last Spring, AIA Ohio kicked off its first-ever Affordable Green Homes Competition. This competition, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, sought to provide affordable green home designs that would benefit all 70 Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Ohio. There were three entry categories, Urban, Rural and Suburban, and competition entries had requirements of cost, sustainability, energy savings and environmental strategies. Through a grant from AIA Ohio, first place winners in each category were given funding to create the construction documents necessary to allow Habitat for Humanity to start using these affordable green home designs, a process which has now begun. To learn more about this successful AIA Ohio program, and to see the winning designs, click here.
“One AIA” is the Efforts of Many
It’s Saturday morning and it is now apparent that we have finally made it through the holidays and into the new year. The sun is shining (a rareity), we finally got around to having the office holiday party yesterday evening (think of it as the national championship, it always seems to get further into the new year), and my boys are scampering around the house doing chores in hopes that if they work hard enough, in two or three hours, they will complete the half hour of work ahead of them. And finally, I keep humming the song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, due in part to the fact that I probably watched “Elf”, or parts of it, at least 15 times over the holidays and partly because of the 22 degree “warm-up” outside.
Ohio House Authorizes School Financing of Renewable Energy Generation
Budget Bill Delays Construction Reform, But Authorizes 3 Pilots
If you were hoping that a Construction Reform proposal (that the Senate tacked onto the Governor’s $850 million Budget Bill) would quickly authorize alternative construction methods for state projects, you’ll be disappointed. Though construction reform started life as a giant, last night it shrank to a pigmy.
Instead of authorizing design build, construction manager at risk and other alternative delivery systems, the Budget Bill agreed to Thursday evening merely authorizes three (3) pilot university projects selected by the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents that will use different alternative methods of construction delivery, but all qualifying for LEED certification.
The alternative methods of construction are defined as: construction manager at risk; design build; general contracting & design assist.
The pilot projects will not be exempt from prevailing wage, bonding, EDGE, retainage, prompt pay, equal opportunity, affirmative action, domestic steel or public notice and advertising laws currently on the books.
House, Senate, Governor Reach Agreement on Construction Reform HB318
At midnight Wednesday, both houses packed it in for the night, announcing that they will return later in the day on Thursday to address the budget bill, HB318.
Senate President Bill Harris (R-Ashland) told bystanders “We’ve got an agreement with the governor and the speaker, and tomorrow we’ll be in session with the five votes to pass it with their [Senate Democrats’] 12 votes. It will include the tax increase and construction reform,” Harris said, unwilling any longer to call the first provision a tax cut delay.
Asked whether House Democrats were in agreement with the proposed changes to the budget bill, HB318, Harris said, “To my knowledge, House Democrats have said yes. They are on board.”
A major breakthrough in the compromise relates to an agreement to implement three construction reform pilots. “There will be three model projects that will be directly implemented,” Harris said, the identity of which is still to be determined. “They’ll have to get the chancellor involved, and Bruce Johnson will also play a major role,” he said referring to the former lieutenant governor and current president of the Inter-University Council.
Inclusion of construction reform has been a key element in securing Republican support for the bill, with Harris repeatedly explaining that the state needs to begin taking steps to address spending.
The Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee is scheduled to reconvene at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday with Senate President Pro Tem Sen. Tom Niehaus (R-New Richmond) expecting the Senate vote to take place around 3 p.m.
The House is scheduled to meet at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday.
Planning for a New Year
This time of year finds many of us planning for the holidays by either decorating our homes, addressing holiday cards or spending endless amounts of time shopping. We might also spend part of our time trying to figure out which bowl game our favorite team might be playing in, or not, or who the team’s next coach might be, or not. Regardless of what we might rather be doing, we find ourselves looking ahead to prepare for next week, next month or next year. The same can be said for AIA Ohio. While the regional convention held in October in Covington might seem like a long time ago, I can assure you much has occured since. As most are aware, the website, in development since mid-September, was put online over the Thanksgiving holiday. During the first week on November, AIAOhio and chapter representatives met to discuss member needs and to continue to plan programs and events for 2010. In the past week, our fall newsletter was released, input and discussion occured on the proposed inclusion of the Ohio Construction Reform recommendations in HB318, and the preliminary agenda for the first meeting in 2010 was released to board members, chapter presidents and chapter executives for input and comments. All of this “behind-the-scenes” activities take place with weekly discussions occuring between members, officers and staff with the simple goals of meeting our mission and improving the services we offer to our members.
As we move forward over the next several weeks, we will be meeting with the vice president of component affairs, releasing information to and planning more meetings of the Strategic Alliance Task Force, creating the request for proposals for a media consultant, and working to organize and implement programs and events for the coming months. Over a year and a half ago, AIA Ohio created strategic goals, under the leadership of Paul Hollenbeck AIA, to guide us through the next several years. These planning strategies will be integrated again this year with suggestions from the Strategic Task Force and the AIA Strategic Plan to better coordinate and focus programs and services through all levels of AIA.
AIA Ohio will continue to work with members, the legislature, and allied professionals to ensure that the needs of architects and the public are advanced through our support or development of programs, legislation, and leadership in construction. We ask that every member support the efforts of your chapters, volunteer for porgrams, and work with your state directors to help AIA Ohio meet our mission and to continue to become an effective and important “Voice of the Profession”.