By Julia Parmley
Ever think about what’s involved in creating a University building? The process typically takes years, including months of planning, negotiations, reviews and permit applications before construction can even begin. Senior Project Manager Peter Chew calls it a “remarkable process,” and he should know— he’s been in the business for more than 22 years.
“I have always enjoyed building and constructing and see it as a way of leaving a positive marker of my time on this earth,” he says.
Since joining GW’s Facilities Department in 2002, Mr. Chew has managed the construction of Ivory Tower and renovation of Thurston Hall and the Law School’s Aston Residences. As the project manager for the Pelham Redevelopment Project on GW’s Mount Vernon Campus, Mr. Chew’s responsibilities include reviewing design drawings, preparing construction management requests for proposals and contracts, obtaining the necessary permits and overseeing the construction budget.
“During the construction phase, my most important job is managing the project costs, working to incorporate the needs and requirements of our end users while maintaining our budgetary controls,” says Mr. Chew. “Along with this, I integrate University vendors, both internal and external, into the construction process. These include GWorld, ISS, Security, Auxiliary Services and others. Finally, I am tasked with turning over the building in the scheduled time to Facilities Maintenance, Residential Property Management and Housing and Auxiliary Services.”
Mr. Chew has experience in all phases of construction thanks to summers he spent with his uncle building custom homes and doing historical renovations in Pennsylvania and Delaware. Outside of GW, Mr. Chew has built switch and data centers for communications companies, a bio-defense lab, hospitals and numerous office buildings.
“I spent many years working in the field, first as a laborer and then a carpenter and finally as a superintendent, so I know how things go together in a construction project,” he says. “The move into the office as a project manager was partly driven by both my dislike of the cold weather and being outside during the winter and my desire to manage and coordinate the numerous facets involved in major capital projects.”
Mr. Chew says his most challenging project was a 50,000-square-foot data center for ARBROS Communications in Fairfax, Va., because of its “design and installations of very complex electrical systems” as well as its short time frame.
And the most fun? “The Constellation Energy Commodities trading operations office in London was great. Our office was in the west end of London, just off of the Strand,” he says. “We stayed in the Savoy Palace Hotel overlooking the Thames River, strolled around Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey and spent numerous evenings enjoying the night life of London all while building a 20,000-meter trading floor.”
The Pelham Project, slated to open this fall, will have 287 student beds and three apartments for professional staff, meeting rooms, a fitness/exercise space, a dining hall, a student theater space, and recording, dance, music and digital media, and fine arts studios. It’s a massive facility and one that has been in the works for years.
“The process of designing and constructing a building like Pelham is truly remarkable when you stop to think about it,” says Mr. Chew. “It begins with an idea or need expressed by someone, somewhere in the University. Then, over the course of a year or likely two, a building is designed on paper. This flat, two-dimensional drawing is then transformed over the next two years into an incredible three-dimensional building.”
Mr. Chew says a project of Pelham’s size is always an “active” one, with constant adjustments to openings and installations so that everything is exactly how it was designed—until changes are needed. “Typically on a project this size, approximately 100 workers are on site each day,” he says. “The project is almost always in a state of active design as changes are made by the University and shop drawings for each building system are completed by the contractors. The entire process is dynamic, never stagnant for a moment.”
Mr. Chew says student collaboration has been invaluable during the design process, with input from senior Ryan Geraghty of the Student Theater Council on the sound and lighting systems for the black box theater; junior Marty MacAlister on the physical space and equipment requirements for the recording studio; and Presidential Administrative Fellow Natalie Kaplan on the selection of everything from colors and fabric finishes to furniture for the “campus life” spaces. Both Mr. Geraghty and Mr. MacAlister have also agreed to help during the installation process.
“I believe Pelham will truly be the jewel of the Mount Vernon Campus with all of its campus life spaces,” he adds. “Under the guidance of Dean of Freshmen Fred Siegel, the project team has reached out to GW students to create a unique collaborative design process. Pelham will be a building for the students, designed by the students.”