NEW YORK CITY-If one were to take the helm of a 93-year-organization, he or she might assume that it would be ok, after being elected to steward the group, to sit back and rest on one's laurels. After all, the group—in this case, the New York Building Congress—must be doing something right if it's approaching the 100-year mark.

But that's not so with Thomas Scarangello, who was elected chairman of the association last week. In fact, the structural engineer, who also serves as chairman and CEO of Thonton Tomasetti, has an agenda for his term that includes one ambitious goal: to champion, and ultimately institute innovation, he tells GlobeSt.com.

His leadership of NYBC will include other initiatives too, of course, including work to grow and sustain membership, but it won't be the signature item of Scarangello's administration.

“Given all of the projects that are going from design to construction now, Building Congress members and supporters feel this is a great opportunity to not just talk the talk of being the best but to walk it, in terms of doing things smarter. We want to look at everything from ways to reduce cost to methods of increasing safety and the speed of construction.

“The changes are very fast out there,” he says, “whether it's virtual modeling—which has taken a huge leap in the last five to 10 years—in construction, there are new waves of building methods and even scaffolding that are more economical and safer. For example, we're seeing modular construction start to take hold [Editor's Note: this method is being used at Atlantic Yards] and there's more people-friendly types of scaffolding that have signage with a utilitarian purpose and that have a reduced likelihood of debris.”

Scarangello plans to research methods used elsewhere—including other countries. “We have the resources to do the studying. I'm going to add a working committee to do the outreach to the design, construction and real estate industries to talk about how to identify, validate and advocate for what I'm calling innovation but really is best practice in all aspects of the building industry. Then, eventually we would want to make things codified.”

But members shouldn't have unrealistic expectations for the timing of this initiative, he notes. “If I can get this up and running in my two-year term, I'll have reached this goal. I'm hoping within first year to have this in place, identify and drive innovation in the second year, becoming a leader that other cities look to for best practices.”

Scarangello also intends to work to grow NYBC's membership, he says. “We always want to grow membership, not just for the membership but because the more people that are in the conversation, the better. The issues will continue to change so if we don't continue to grow and advocate, we won't be able to keep up. Those are the table stakes: bigger and stronger.”

Instant Insights /

Scarangello: NYBC's Next Step Is To Find and Mirror Innovation

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