The Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) student chapter at UMKC recently won the regional DBIA Student Competition for the second year in a row.  The team consisted of four UMKC students and two faculty advisors.

As winners of the regional competition, the UMKC team was invited to the national convention held in Las Vegas from Sunday, Nov. 3 to Wednesday, Nov. 6.  While only the top three teams compete at the convention, the remaining regional champions are still given a national rank, and UMKC’s team placed 9th overall.

The DBIA Student Competition is designed to provide students with the design-build process typical of industry and to identify the teams’ understanding of the process.  The competition is designed with specific milestones in place.  First, student teams receive a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) questionnaire and have one week to return a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ), a document typically in excess of 30 pages.  Responses are then collected and evaluated at a regional level, and teams are ranked.  The top three teams nationally are then selected by a team of judges and are issued a RFP, or Request for Proposal, which includes information more specific to the design.  The goal of the competition is to demonstrate a working knowledge of how to implement the Design-Build best practices set forth by DBIA.

This year’s project was centered around a residence hall to be built on a university campus.  The building was to be between 110,000 and 130,000 square feet, with a budget of 33-40 million dollars.  The building included a dining hall, office areas, and common facilities such as lounges and outdoor spaces.

The UMKC DBIA competition team consisted of Civil Engineering students Sean Rivers, J’Adrienne “Jade” Rodell-Tipton, Brock Worthley, and Urban Planning and Design student Benjamin Bachwirtz.  Faculty members Dr. Ceki Halmen and Chuck Williams served as mentors to the team.