9B20D012
COOPER CONSTRUCTION LTD.: GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
EXPANSION PROJECT
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On April 10, 2018, Jim Petsche, site superintendent (i.e., project manager) for the Goodman School of Business
(GSB) expansion project, was in a construction meeting reviewing the schedule for the rest of the project. He
was particularly concerned with the amount of construction scheduled for the Fall 2018 term; he knew the
uilding would again be full of students then and wondered if the construction would not only disrupt the classes
eing held but also delay the entire project, which was scheduled to be completed December 31, 2018.
The project included both new construction and a complete renovation of the existing business building at
Brock University (Brock) in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. This project was unique for everyone involved
ecause the CA$24-million1 expansion and renovation had to occur while the building was still fully
functioning as a business school; faculty and staff still needed offices, and classes had to be held in the
uilding. This caused disruptions for users and slowed the overall construction and renovation. The new
construction⎯including six new classrooms⎯would be done first and had to be completed by April 27,
2018 because classes were scheduled in the new classrooms for the spring term, which ran from April 30
to July 20, 2018. This work was on schedule.
In the meeting, Ken Klassen, the project lead, had reminded Petsche that although some of the interim
deadlines could be relaxed, the one that could not be delayed was the deadline tied to the completion of
eight of the renovated classrooms (in addition to the six new classrooms) for the start of the Fall semester,
which was September 4, 2018. Winter 2018 classes would finish tomo
ow, so Cooper Construction Ltd.
(Cooper) would be able to start renovating those classrooms on April 12.
Klassen had some good news for Petsche: although summer term classes (August 1−30) had been scheduled
in the six new classrooms, Klassen had asked to have those moved to other buildings on campus. Thus, the
Goodman building would be empty of all classes from July 23–August 31, 2018, allowing Cooper to work
largely unhindered in that part of the building during this time and opening up some other options for
scheduling tasks.
1 All cu
ency amounts are in CA$ unless otherwise specified.
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COOPER CONSTRUCTION LIMITED
Cooper Construction Ltd. (Cooper) was founded in 1905 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada as a general
contractor. Its strong work ethic and focus on uncompromising quality standards had resulted in a successful
113 years of business for the company. Cooper built all types of buildings, including large factories,
warehouses, banks, university buildings, shopping malls, car dealerships, large retail stores, and
pharmacies. In 2004, the company completed the first industrial building in Canada to earn LEED®
certification2 and built several more LEED®-certified buildings over the years.
Petsche started working for Cooper in 1971 as a carpenter apprentice after graduating from high school. He
was promoted to the position of site superintendent in 1974, leading to a long career organizing and
coordinating many construction projects. Petsche’s day-to-day tasks and responsibilities were typical of a
project manager even though his official title was different. Multiple visitors to the GSB site had
commented that they had never seen such a neat construction site; this response was due to Petsche’s focus
on organizing all materials and cleaning the site regularly. These practices were especially useful on this
project because the building was being used by the GSB during construction.
GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (GSB) AT BROCK UNIVERSITY (BROCK)
Located in St. Catharines, Brock was situated 20 kilometres from Niagara Falls and 120 kilometres from
Toronto. Brock was established in 1964, and the business program was launched in 1971 as part of the
Faculty of Social Sciences. The Faculty of Business was created in 1990; in 2012, when Ned Goodman
made a transformational gift, the school became the Goodman School of Business.
In April 2018, the GSB had 106 faculty members, approximately 30 part-time instructors, 40 staff,
approximately 3,000 undergraduate students, and over 550 graduate students. The large number of students
in co-op programs (1,400 undergraduate and 280 graduate) meant that classes ran year-round; many
students worked at their co-op placements during the fall or winter and thus needed to take classes in the
spring and summer. The school offered three different undergraduate degrees and five graduate degrees, all
of which had numerous specializations available. The GSB had accreditation by the Association to Advance
Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), the Canadian Institute of Management, Chartered Professional
Accountants of Ontario, and the European Foundation for Management Development. There was also a
Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter as part of AACSB.
GOODMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS (GSB) EXPANSION AND RENOVATION
The GSB had recently experienced unprecedented growth; the number of students had increased by an
average of 4.4 per cent per year, and by 2013, the faculty had over 3,300 students. The number of faculty
members had more than doubled, from 45 in 2001 to 95 in 2010, with co
esponding increases in support
staff, teaching assistants, and part-time instructors. No construction was undertaken nor was additional
space added during that period.
However, in 2015, design for the building expansion and renovation commenced. The existing 50,000 square
feet of space would be completely updated and renovated, including the flooring, walls, ceilings, and lighting
for all offices and all other spaces. New technology would be included for the nine classrooms, and 29,000
2 LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was a third-party certification program and internationally accepted
enchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings
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Page 3 9B20D012
square feet of new space was to be added. Due to the building’s location on campus, the 29,000 square feet
could not be added to one end of the building, so additions were designed to be attached to both the east and
west ends of the existing building. The budget for the expansion and renovation was approximately $22
million, and during the design stage, Brock added approximately $2-million worth of defe
ed maintenance
items (i.e., necessary but not urgent upgrades and improvements to the existing building).
The existing building consisted of three floors: denoted level 200 (the ground floor), level 300, and level
400. The east and west additions were designed to match this and to be completed in 2018 (see Exhibit 1).
Construction began in September 2016, starting with the new construction on the west and east ends. The
west end featured a large two-story glass atrium, the Bloomberg lab, interview rooms, and 20 faculty offices.
The east end housed six new classrooms and large washrooms. When the new offices in the west end were
completed in Fe
uary 2018, staff and faculty from the south half of the 300 level moved into those new
offices, freeing up the south 300 level for Cooper to start renovations there. The renovation portion was quite
challenging to schedule because faculty, staff, and student groups, as well as the graduate lab and lounge,
would have to move in stages as the work was completed; some would move into the completed section in
order to vacate another section of the building, thereby enabling further renovations.
Petsche coordinated all daily and weekly activities including all the sub-trades, material deliveries, Cooper’s
own workers, Brock’s Facilities Management department, and the GSB when power needed to be shut down,
when access needed to be restricted to a portion of the building, or for other matters. Petsche continually
eviewed and adjusted the schedule based on many things, including sub-trade availability, unexpected
developments, and scheduling requests from Brock or the GSB.
Petsche worked closely with Bruno D’Aloisio, the Cooper project manager (D’Aloisio was on the site about
once a week, doing many tasks remotely such as connecting with suppliers, the architect, etc.), and Ara
Mazmanian, the Cooper project coordinator. Brock had also assigned a project manager, Janet
Muenzberger, to the project. Her job included ensuring Brock’s needs were met by Cooper, managing the
overall budget, ordering furniture, and planning the moves. As a professor of Operations Management,
Klassen was asked to take on the role of project lead. Klassen had taught Project Management for many
years and had worked in the construction industry; also, he enjoyed scheduling and had published many
papers on scheduling. His tasks included representing the GSB’s interests to Brock’s Facilities Management
department, Cooper, and the architect (Elevate Architects); relaying complaints and comments from GSB
members to Muenzberger and Petsche; and helping to coordinate all aspects of the project that involved
GSB people, including the overall schedule, moves, furniture, and partial building closures.
The fact that the GSB continued to operate during construction necessitated a great deal of extra planning
and scheduling. Early in the project when the new construction was underway, one challenge was keeping
students away from construction areas. At times, a working area would have less activity, and despite
warning signs at these areas, students would sometimes walk right in, seemingly oblivious to the potential
danger. Whenever possible, Petsche would close the gates in the fence, but this was not always possible.
During both the new construction and renovation portions of the project, sub-trades had to be carefully
scheduled so as not to distu
the business school. At times, some work had to be done in a section of the
uilding that was occupied. For instance, in order to get power to the new construction, wiring had to be
un through the existing building. For these types of tasks and for particularly noisy work, night and
weekend shifts were often scheduled.
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