Sasha on the Street

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Canadian Value Engineering Conference. Value Engineering? Value Engineering (VE) is much like a design vignette. A group of individuals including engineers, technicians, planners, etc get together and brainstorm solutions to a given construction opportunity. That might be a new subway, a GO expansion, a highway rehabilitation, a bridge replacement …

This all ties into what my Technology, Society and the Enviorment professor, Dr. Vanderburg, teaches each week …

… we are all specialists in one area but we cannot solve the problems to the consequence of our solutions. However, if you take a team of experts one can find the solution to the problem that employs the least harm on our environment.

In essence Vanderburg is talking about the triple bottom line; people, planet profit (do what is right for society, protect the environment and still make some revenue). VE seeks to do the same thing, to see the big picture, to find the optimal solution but takes into consideration the impact on society and the environment. And instead of seeking to maximize profit VE seeks to maximize the total opportunity cost of our society, its environment and revenue.

I’m on board for VE. Used at the right time in the design process, at the preliminary phase, the great ideas that result from the VE process can be championed throughout the design process.