Case Studies Region: Northeast

Kevin O’Rourke says everything he does at St. Francis College comes back to the students. As vice president of capital projects and facilities management for the Brooklyn-based college, he says this approach is central to the college’s 2023 strategic vision. He says it’s also evident in a new academic building he and his team finished […]

While people have been exploring nature during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kirk Smith has been busy making sure their feet stay comfortable. He’s the director of engineering and maintenance at Darn Tough, a Vermont-based company that makes durable socks for outdoor activities or everyday wear. With a company saying of “Still Made in Vermont,” it won’t […]

So how does one build a career in construction management? “Relationships and partnerships have gotten me here,” replies Keith Ledwith, who’s fashioned an impressive livelihood in building and engineering for the past 20-plus years. Tap the know-how of those who’ve been in the business, he goes on to say. Leverage their experience and when you […]

Municipal zoning questions about construction projects rarely make for exciting conversations, even as they determine what will be built and where. Kyle Hardie’s work as director of design and construction for Indiana University Health involves zoning, but it’s often the spatial zoning—what’s inside those facilities—that occupy him, particularly as he assists the system enter a […]

When an organization is in the midst of a major renovation project, it usually doesn’t expect the new guy on staff to make a suggestion that impacts the bigger picture. But that’s exactly what Karl Ingoldsby did—and his idea is paying off in more ways than one. When he was hired as the facilities director […]

It was not a fun job, but there was Kelly Fleming, a little girl cinched up in a toolbelt, picking nails out of the dirt and dust at construction sites. “I wanted to spend time with my brothers and my dad, and that’s what they made me do,” she recalls. Picking up nails was just […]

Experience counts, and Keith Watkins has tons of it when it comes to managing school facilities. For 30 years in towns and cities throughout upstate New York, Watkins has been on facilities management teams. He’s also led national and state associations of school facilities managers, all in the spirit of protecting and maintaining buildings, students […]

She was only touring an intern, but it could’ve been a high-level corporate meeting or a group of industry guests, to see one of Merck’s buildings. Certainly, Kathryn Gibbs was still delighted to give a tour, especially to show how her company, global pharmaceutical giant Merck, strives to make itself accessible and safe for its […]

With most Subaru of America personnel working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the headquarters were less hustle and bustle when Keith Metzger spoke with Blueprint in May. Senior executives and people deemed essential to the operation, however, still come by daily to the gleaming 250,000-square-foot facility in Camden, New Jersey, as does Metzger, director of […]

Over a time-intensive four months, workers meticulously did their jobs. They cordoned off stalls using plastic barriers, vented dust and odors and repainted. All this while in adjoining areas, large animals including horses, alpacas, goats and sheep were undergoing surgery, MRIs, ultrasounds and other procedures. “Painting a facility for animals is tricky enough but painting […]