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Alison Landry Named DDC’s First Associate Commissioner of Alternative Delivery
New York City’s Leading Capital Construction Agency Creates New Position to Lead More Efficient Alternative Delivery Approaches
Ian Michaels, 646-939-6514, michaelia@ddc.nyc.gov
(Long Island City, NY – August 23, 2022) Commissioner Thomas Foley of the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC) announced today that Alison Landry, a licensed architect and expert in methods of capital project delivery outside of the City’s traditional lowest bidder system, has been appointed to the new position of Associate Commissioner of Alternative Delivery.
“This new senior management position represents DDC’s commitment to quality-based contracting that provides taxpayers the best value for their money, not just the lowest bid. This is the future of City construction and it’s a critical part of our Blueprint for improvement,” said DDC Commissioner Thomas Foley. “Alison Landry’s enthusiasm and experience managing major City projects outside of the lowest bidder environment makes her ideally suited to lead our teams. Her work leading our design-build pilot program and overseeing important health-related construction using alternative delivery tools during the pandemic has been extraordinary.”
“It is an honor to lead DDC’s alternative delivery team, collaborating with our agency’s talented staff, our sponsor agencies, and world-class design and construction partners to adapt our approach to quality-based procurement and integrated project delivery,” said Associate Commissioner Alison Landry. “The projects in our current design-build pilot program range from community-facing facilities, like recreation centers and public space improvements, to the vital infrastructure that keeps our City running, like maintenance and operations facilities and green infrastructure. As we advance design and move into construction in coming months, these projects will serve our city with a more equitable, resilient and sustainable future and provide a wide array of case studies that allow us to continually assess and refine our work as we initiate additional projects and expand our program.”
Prior to 2019, DDC was prevented from using alternative contracting methods outside of the lowest-bidder approach, mandated by New York State law for more than a century. Other contracting methods such as design-build were well-known to offer fast, efficient project delivery and had been in use by government agencies across the country, including New York State which had used design-build to deliver some of its capital program. In December 2019, the State legislature finally passed the New York City Public Works Investment Act (PWIA) authorizing various City agencies to use design-build for certain projects.
Since then, Ms. Landry helped lead DDC efforts to establish a design-build pilot program that now encompasses seven public buildings and three infrastructure projects, with an additional eight projects in the pipeline. (Overall, by the end of 2021 City agencies had 44 design-build projects in the works valued at nearly $8 billion.)
DDC was previously authorized by the State to use design-build in the City’s Borough-Based Jails program, which will remain a stand-alone program within DDC. DDC’s first design-build project, a flexible community space and parking garage at the Queens location of Borough-Based Jails, started construction in mid-2021 and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2022, a full three years faster than would have been possible using the old lowest bidder contracting method.
DDC also demonstrated the value of alternative delivery methods during the COVID-19 pandemic when the State’s emergency health declaration suspended the usual contracting requirements for pandemic-related construction.
During the COVID-19 pandemic Ms. Landry led DDC teams that employed other alternatively delivery approaches to build field hospitals in Queens and Brooklyn, completing the first one in 11 days, as well as three large COVID Centers of Excellence community clinics for the City’s public hospital system valued at more than $117 million. DDC built a range of emergency COVID-response facilities including community clinics, testing and vaccination sites and more in a fraction of the typical time using a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to select and award contracts to firms with a demonstrated track record of delivering quality projects on time and on budget. The agency was able to accelerate project schedules while still delivering projects within budget, with fewer delays and an exceptional rate of participation from minority- and women-owned businesses.
DDC’s Blueprint urges State legislation that will make more alternative delivery tools available to DDC on a non-emergency basis, as well as adding further refinements to design-build authorization that will make it a more flexible tool.
Ms. Landry joined DDC in early-2020 to lead the agency’s Public Buildings design-build pilot program in a role that evolved with the emergency response projects and eventually expanded to support the application of design-build for Infrastructure as well. Previously, she was Vice President at the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), where she oversaw the city’s first design-build streetscape in partnership with the NYC Department of Transportation and the Hudson Square BID, as well as numerous CM-build projects such as resilient infrastructure upgrades at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue and the renovation of historic buildings for the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
She was formerly an associate at Handel Architects, where she led the design team for the NYC Parks’ Idlewild Nature Center in the Jamaica Bay, winner of a 2015 Excellence In Design Award from the New York City Public Design Commission. She has also held positions at Architecture for Humanity, Project New Orleans, Manning Architects and Alison Popper Design Studio. Ms. Landry holds a Masters of Architecture degree from Tulane University, where she serves on the alumni council. She is also a recipient of a Frederick O’Reilly Hayes Prize Award for outstanding public service.
The City highly encourages participation in its design-build program by Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs). To learn more about how eligible firms can become certified as an M/WBE, please visit Certify With the City.
More information about design-build contracting opportunities at the NYC Department of Design and Construction is available at https://designbuild.ddcanywhere.nyc/.
About the NYC Department of Design and Construction
The Department of Design and Construction is the City’s primary capital construction project manager. In supporting Mayor Adams’ long-term vision of growth, sustainability, resiliency, equity and healthy living, DDC provides communities with new or renovated public buildings such as firehouses, libraries, police precincts, and new or upgraded roads, sewers and water mains in all five boroughs. To manage this $15.5 billion portfolio, DDC partners with other City agencies, architects and consultants, whose experience bring efficient, innovative and environmentally conscious design and construction strategies to City projects. For more information, please visit nyc.gov/ddc.