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John T. Riordan School for Professional Development

Development, Design and Construction I Institute

Course Descriptions
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Development, Design and Construction: The Overview

The intro course that gives you the big picture of shopping center development, design techniques and construction processes. Learn what is going on globally with innovations in every part of the world. Take a closer look at bold concepts here in the US and how companies big and small are changing the retail landscape, creatively managing costs and building highly efficient, award winning projects. Get an overview of the roles played by the professionals involved in each discipline. Learn the entire process from pre-development through construction. Both developer and retailer viewpoints are represented throughout the class for a true broad-based learning experience.

Devising A Pre-Development Plan

Discuss market opportunities …conceptual planning …retailer interest and financial feasilibility. Learn retail fundamentals such as types of centers …parking ratios …types of retailers and their co-tenancy requirements … market research and sales projections. Analyze site selection criteria including access …zoning laws …land use and environmental analysis. Acquisitions, real estate agreements and the government approval process are discussed along with financing requirements. Pro Forma development, ROI (return on investment), IRR (internal rate of return) and sensitivity analysis are taught in detail.

Design Techniques and Trends

Learn the role of the design architect. Get an overview of the design process from pre-design to schematic to design development to construction documents to the actual building process. Look at current design trends in retail in every shopping environment. Discuss everyday issues such as energy consumption, maintenance, handicap accessibility, customer convenience and future applications.

Construction and Construction Management

The different roles of the construction manager—owner’s rep, project manager, program manager, process manager and general contractor—are taught in detail. Pre-qualifications and the selection process are also discussed. Owner-contractor agreements and standard forms are analyzed. The construction process from pre-construction . . .schedule . . .sub-contractor selection . . . site and building construction . . .safety and quality control to close-out—the entire process broken down and dissected from a practical standpoint with a real-life property as the model.

Retail Store Planning

Key objectives of retail planning lead off this class which concentrates on designing the optimum retail store. Process and roll out design are taught in-depth from prototype to pre design to final. Materials, visual merchandising and marketing as well as the key constraints of inventory and traffic flow are factored into the mix. Retail planning from the landlord’s perspective –purposes, processes, and how they relate to different kinds of property—allow you to see retail planning from both sides of the industry.

Tenant Coordination

Like many classes in this curriculum, tenant coordination has two sides—developer and tenant. You’ll learn both as you assume the role of a tenant coordinator. You’ll learn what you need to know—architecture, engineering, construction, codes, legal and property operations. You’ll review the lease language, go through a design review and culminate with the complete tenant construction process. As a post-script, you’ll learn about close-out procedures and reporting requirements.

Legal, Insurance and Ethics

Learn the interworkings of legal agreements—development, tenant, consulting, and construction. Receive a primer on insurance requirements—general liability, builder’s risk, owner controlled, professional liability and bonding. Get into insurance documents—policy, certificate of insurance and availability of coverages. Explore ethical responsibilities—those of the owner/developer, the architect/engineer and the contractor/subcontractor.

Project Cost Management

Get an overview of overall project cost—soft costs, hard costs and owner contingencies. Discuss how a construction budget is actually developed. Look at financial feasilibility, risk mitigation and financing. You’ll see how a budget is developed by both the developer and the retailer. Analyze the components of a construction budget from the competitive bid process to historical costs to dealing with escalation and inflation. Finally, discuss ongoing cost management from forecasting (monthly reporting, budget vs. actual and estimating costs to complete project) to change order management, pay application process and contractor contingency.

Codes, Rules and Regulations

Learn how to best work with governing municipal agencies to insure conformance with all applicable codes, rules and regulations. Discuss when and how regulatory variances are granted. Get an overview of project accessibility to include the importance of establishing and enforcing worker safety standards. Review building and energy code applicability to specific project use. Learn the vocabulary, meaning and timing of the permit process including occupancy and building permits. Finally, discuss the critical requirement for life safety systems within your new project—what they are and how best to integrate all within base building design.