Mr. Swann has over 30 years of experience in the areas of engineering design, project management and consulting for a wide array of clients in diverse industries in the USA and abroad. Mr. Swann’s career has included engineering design of HVAC, Piping and Control systems; Project & Department Management, Commissioning, Forensic Engineering & Expert Witness engagements; Dispute Resolution and Project Execution Consulting. He has worked for clients on commercial, institutional and high-tech\industrial projects. He has worked in A/E, E\A and Design-Build firms and Construction Management and as liaison between the design and construction team.
Mr. Swann has authored several articles on several subjects in project execution and professional practice including the “Standard of Care”, Substantial Completion and Project Risk Management. Mr. Swann is active in several Technical Committees within ASHRAE, including TC 1.7-General Business, Management and Legal Education, TC 2.8-Sustainable Design, TC 7.1 – Integrated Design, TC 7.2 HVAC Design-Build and TC 9.11-Clean Spaces.
He served as President of the Engineers Club of Philadelphia from 2012 – 2014 and still sits on the Board of Directors. He is currently a Director on the Board of the Philadelphia Energy Authority where he serves as Treasurer. He is also on the PA State Uniform Construction Code Review and Advisory Council. In addition to ASHRAE, Mitch is a member of the USGBC, The Delaware Valley GBC, ISPE and the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Construction Forum. He previously was vice-chair of the ABA’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section Committee on Construction.
He is a graduate of Drexel University in Philadelphia with a BSME with a concentration in Thermal Fluid Sciences (aka “Energy”)
Design Build – Executing the Project (based on the ASHRAE Design Build Survival Guide)
Long ago in a land not too far away, TC 1.7 published the ASHRAE Survival Guide to Design-Build. Well, since that time, the Design Build (DB) delivery method has exploded. The TC has listened to members in Forums and meetings as they’ve asked questions and shared their joys and sorrows with DB. This program takes a look a Design-Build as an execution system and a provides an overview of the Design-Build Survival Guide. The program will:
- Identify key elements of the Design-Build execution strategy
- Present project risk considerations in Design-Build execution.
- Present discuss selected business considerations in Design-Build execution.
- Present emerging industry trends and technologies and their impact on Design-Build projects and practitioners.
Sustainability: Redefining Success in a Changing World
Sustainability has emerged in the marketplace as much more than an aspiration. It has become almost a mandatory consideration, especially in building and system design.
But sustainability is not a ‘line item’. It can’t be ‘added’ or ‘subtracted’ like an option on a new car. The industry is looking to determine how is it defined? How is it determined? How is it accomplished? How is it measured? And how are engineers to adapt ‘sustainability’ in a changing environment? The program will look at key green building and objectives and how climate change adaptation and resiliency will impact the design and construction decision tree.
"Can't We All Just Get Along?" – Keeping Your Eye on the Prize Despite Getting Poked in It (Alternative Dispute Resolution in Construction)
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) has a long history of use in labor, workplace and construction disputes. In fact, the construction industry is often seen as the lead innovator in the use of ADR techniques to address and resolve disputes in on-going projects while keeping the project moving forward. ADR is a broad subject. ADR is applied in all types of business and personal negotiations - from employment disputes to business mediations to neighborhood groups to international refugee crises. These situations may arise out of an impromptu confluence of circumstance or have a formal pathway for resolution defined by the contract. The program will touch upon the core principles and practices of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) with a special emphasis on contractual situations, such as construction, contract manufacturing and service outsourcing.
Design Build for Green Buildings – Integrated Delivery of an Integrated Idea
Green design and construction is leading the charge of new design approaches in almost every section of the building industry. The successful execution of a green building project, or more specifically a LEED certified project, entails a more integrated approach throughout both the design and construction processes.
A key component of green design is the merging of the architectural and engineering design effort to yield a more holistic design. The better the team coordination, the greater the opportunities to deliver a high-performance building. Another movement in the industry is in project delivery. Design\Build and partnering have become much more commonplace project execution techniques even in public sector projects. Design\build seeks to gain time and cost efficiencies by merging the lines between design and construction. Given that both philosophies – green buildings and design\build – have the integration of services at their core, it is only natural that the two would also merge in the delivery of projects. This program will highlight some of the key ideas, elements and issues that are inherent in both approaches and where and how they interface on a project.
Jedi Mind Tricks for IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) …but first, you’ve got to believe!
Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) is a project execution approach which seeks to merge all of the project players into a cohesive team operating with one objective in mind – the successful completion of the project. This may sound sort of …normal, but all too often our current methodologies of project delivery, while citing collaboration as a guiding premise, are structured in ways which make deep collaboration difficult. But IPD, with its real and significant changes to the ‘rules of contractual engagement’ offers
an opportunity to build cohesive, collaborative teams in ways that have not been readily done in commercial construction in the past. This program will look at some of the organizational and philosophical shifts which can pave the way for truly integrated and cohesive team participation to deliver a high performance project in a high performance fashion.
Connecting Green Building Outcomes to Enterprise Sustainability Programs
Green, or high performance have become a target norm for almost any sizeable capital for most “world class” business enterprises. The reasons for this focus can vary from broad based concerns about the ‘public persona’, or PR to a more laser like focus on bottom line ( $$ & ¢) savings direct to the balance sheet. However, it is sometimes difficult to translate what a new “bricks and mortar” office building or plant really means to overall corporate value and sustainability. Energy and resource savings can be reported cleanly on the bottom line, but there are other impacts which may not be readily captured and recorded. Properly assessing and capturing the impacts of green buildings in procurement, execution and operations on enterprise-wide sustainability metrics is essential to successfully measuring and monitoring a program’s real performance and value. This program will identify multiple impacts of green buildings on overall sustainability and how those impacts relate to key performance indicators as part of an overall enterprise sustainability program.
Are We There Yet? What is "Substantial Completion" ? (…and how do we know when we get there?)
"Substantial completion": These two words can change the course of history. Well, the course of your payment history, anyway. Many contracts contain that phrase as a key indicator of major project milestones for the release of retainage, the start of warranty periods and more frequently everyday, the start up of energy measurement and verification programs. But the definition of "substantial" and "complete" are wide and varied. This program will explore the permutations and implications of the various interpretations of "substantial completion" and how it can affect the happy family that is your project team.
Design – Build and the Standard of Care: Under which Standard? Under whose Care?
As design-build achieves a broader footprint both geographically and by project type, not only are more projects going that way, but there are more ways for that way to go. In this mix is the shifting sands upon which the “custom and practice” of the industry is based – the Standard of Care. The profession, in fact all professions, that operate under a Standard of Care recognize that what was standard at one time can be archaic and outmoded in another. This program will look at one example of a project within the context of a changing standard and some of the issues that can create.
Don't let your BIM go BOOM! (Risk management in the robot age.)
BIM is becoming a standard tool in the design and construction toolbox. BIM can provide unprecedented capacity to communicate, coordinate and collaborate within the design\construction team and deliver an information and operations dynamo to owners. This program will address the benefits of BIM; the major differences between BIM projects and 'traditional' documentation styles; the risk impacts of those differences; some of the challenges that can arise in BIM projects and some ways to minimize or mitigate those risks.
…and you may ask yourself “How did I get here?” Forensic Engineering and Forensic Project Management
On occasion our projects have…issues. And sometimes these issues can be difficult to discern at first glance. A common approach to understanding ‘how we got here’, is to use Forensic Engineering and/or Forensic Project Management to trace the project’s steps from the path of good intentions to be stick in the briar patch. Forensic engineering and forensic project management employ engineering principals and techniques, including root-cause analysis; Ishikawa (fishbone) diagrams and “The 5 Whys?”. The program will also show how forensic analyses are used in Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) techniques and common areas of trouble in mechanical and building systems.
