FOURTH YEAR UNDERGRADUATE
Sabrina Wassay—DPI Construction Management Award 


About the Award

DPI Construction Management Award:
For a student who demonstrates excellence in project management.



As a fourth-year student in architectural science, I have had many opportunities to display my excellence in project management over the past few years. During my third year, I was able to excel in my project management classes, such as ASC522 Project Economics, and won the General Contractors Association of Toronto Award scholarship for project management.

In my first Co-op position, I worked for the City of Toronto in streetscape design for the BIA Office. As a technical trainee, I was responsible for assisting with project management, project documentation, and project design. For PM-related work, I completed the Scope of Work, preliminary cost estimates, RFP, and RFQ documents. I was able to apply my experience on a variety of projects ranging from Parkettes to street furnishings, which all help to beautify the city. I was able to work with various stakeholders throughout the project, including city representatives, community members, local business owners, vendors, and consultant firms. This gave me an opportunity to understand all perspectives that would be affected by the project and help create a design that would satisfy everyone. I was also able to attend site meetings and assist the PM and Landscape architects on site documentation from the initial design phase to the completion of the project. Working for the City helped me better understand how to respond to the public’s needs and priorities through design, and how to budget accordingly when thinking of a cost-effective design that promotes the community’s identity and prevents gentrification.

This experience helped me get my second co-op position at PSPC (Public Services and Procurement Canada) for 8 months. During this co-op position, I worked as a Project Coordinator under different project management teams to assist in government office fit-ups. Although many projects are considered confidential. I completed weekly reports shared with the team and consultants to communicate project updates and action items needed to be completed. I was in charge of following up with vendors, contractors, consultants, and PMs to ensure the project maintained its timeline. I also worked on important project management documents such as the Scope of Work, PMPs, Purchase Orders, and Change Order packages for PMs. I assisted PMs in site visits and documenting site conditions, stakeholder comments, and communicating this with the rest of the team in a timely manner. I was able to work on various projects, including new Passport, Service Canada, and Transit Canada office renovation projects, to support government workers in creating more efficient workspaces. As a project coordinator, I was given a lot of responsibility, and with that came a lot of first-time challenges I had to overcome, such as reduced budgets, delayed product procurement, and malfunctions in electrical systems, which all resulted in project delays. This experience taught me how to become a better Project manager and prevent such issues from arising from the beginning.

Overall, my education and work experience have supported me to learn and experience the Project Management industry in the public sector. I want to continue working in this industry, and this scholarship will help me to achieve this goal.

 


Toronto Metropolitan Department of  Architectural Science Toronto, CA.