...with an agency CM contract. Going forward, the county will reimburse the contractor for hourly costs and those related to general conditions.

"It was a pretty exceptional reinvention that had an immense positive psychology on everyone," says Steven Halverson, Haskell president. "A consortium was built out of competing entities.’’ Participants say that they have learned the hard way that having a contractor at risk is no way to build a public performing arts center. "It is an opportunity to control costs, but there are many parties who each have a different vision of how the buildings should perform,’’ says Austin.

Going Forward. Under settlement reached last month, construction participants on the Miami project agreed to new claims terms, a set schedule and dispute resolution, among other things. (Photos courtesy of Cesar Pelli & Associates Inc.)

Participants are hopeful the change will work. "I hope this can be a case study to look at the success of different delivery methods,’’ says Halverson. "It’s the same project with the same people, but half of it will have been built with CM at risk, the second half using a design-build type collaboration." Halverson credits the county with accepting a radically different approach.

The architect also is pleased with the outcome. "Fundamentally, we’re very excited. For the first time, a public-sector project will be done on a collaborative basis,’’ says Fred Clarke, principal at Cesar Pelli and Associates. "A performing arts center is a very complicated building type, and when done as a public project, it becomes even more so.’’

Clarke says the original contract made it impossible for the architect and builder to work together as a team. "There was no mechanism to resolve disputes except to build a legal case,’’ he says. "We were quite concerned from the beginning.’’

Small but symbolic changes at the site remind participants of the single purpose now. "No one can wear a company shirt, only project shirts are allowed,’’ says Halverson. How well the approach will catch on is unclear, but principals will not be tolerating much resistance. "If they haven’t made the mental conversion in a month, they’ll be gone," says Halverson. "We have to take that kind of harsh attitude.’’