The team has since built on that strategy, using those techniques at its 75/125 Binney Street project in Cambridge, which was completed in March 2015, and the 530,041-sq-ft 50/60 Binney Street, which broke ground in July 2014.

"On 225 Binney Street, Andy saw an opportunity to test this process," says Matthew Michel, principal at design firm SGA, which worked on the 225 Binney Street project and is now part of the 50/60 Binney Street project. "On 50/60 Binney, he saw an opportunity to improve that process."

Michel says the team drew up an extensive list of lessons learned from the 225 Binney Street project, including a full review of the project's change orders. "It was a very detailed process," he adds.

Brian Chase, construction executive at Turner Construction, says that the support for new tools and techniques from owners like ARE is critical for advancing new ideas. Turner is the construction manager on the 50/60 Binney Street project. "For people in construction who are trying to move forward, we can't do it without an owner who is willing to try different things and be the one to push the envelope in terms of project delivery," he says. "New England is pretty conservative, and people are less willing to change here. Andy is willing to try things that are different and invest in those ideas as long as there is some feasibility to it."

Reinach's approach is backed by five principles that he believes are "vital" on any project: innovation, communication, honesty, accuracy and timing—or ICHAT, for short. As part of good communication, Reinach asks for honest and accurate information, provided when it can be most useful. "If you tell me you'll get me something on a certain date, we can plan on that and keep everyone on schedule," he says. "Schedule is everything. If we miss schedule, that can set off a series of issues."

Alexandria Real Estate will have several more opportunities to implement its ideas in Kendall Square in the coming years. Next in its development plan is 100 Binney Street, Cambridge—a ten-story, 401,516-sq-ft shovel-ready project.

While Reinach will continue to push for innovation, he hopes many of these techniques will become common practice in the region. "I'd like to see it evolve so that we, as owners, don't have to challenge the team—they want to be challenged," he says. "I'd like to see it more commonplace that [designers and contractors] want to be creative. We know a lot of contractors who can build buildings, but it's the way you deliver the building that is the differentiator. Collaboration shouldn't be a buzzword, it should be commonplace. I love taking what we've learned and applying it on the next project. We can continuously improve and be a better owner, so that people want to work with us and be successful with us."