January, 2024 Presentation

Speaker: Jim Talian

Date: Thursday, January 18, 2024

Topic:  CMAR Helps Preserve Downtown Businesses During Disruptive Construction

Presentation: Video

Summary: The Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) process has helped a highly disruptive construction project in a downtown central business district to be performed while reducing impacts to the thriving but fragile downtown business community.

The features of the CMAR process that contributed to project success are the ability to select a CM based on their willingness to be flexible: the guaranteed maximum price which enabled the selected manager to successfully budget contingencies; the ability of the CM to select subcontractors based on capability and understanding; and the participation of the CM in the design process so that surprises during the project were minimized.

Bio: James Talian, P.E., has over 45 years of professional engineering experience, primarily in water resources engineering.

He has modeled flood plains in Kentucky and Missouri; regulated dams on the Mississippi River; designed subdivisions in St. Louis; developed management policies for multi-purpose reservoirs in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama; designed and managed water, sewer, stormwater, street, and building projects for the City of Lynchburg, Virginia, and currently serves as the Capital Projects Program Manager for the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Mr. Talian has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Penn State. He has been active in engineering licensing policy, and government affairs with the American Society of Civil Engineers and is currently chair of ASCE’s national History & Heritage Committee. He is a licensed professional engineer in North Carolina, Virginia, and Missouri.