Bringing 35 years of
top-tier engineering knowledge, experience, and skills to every client, project and problem.
James T. Miller, PE
Principal / Founder
Listener, Problem Solver,
Facilitator & Collaborator
Leadership
Passion
Perspective
Integral Design Engineering & Advocacy is the culmination of Jim Miller’s 35 years providing creative design solutions, exceptional engineering, and superior service laser-focused on clients’ needs and aspirations.
As an INTEGRAL member of your team – not just an independent outside observer -- I will...
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Complement the team as a deep technical expert and engineering thought leader, and
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Supplement the team, if appropriate, as a natural extension advocating for your best interests, project goals, and priorities, from Pre-Design and Conceptualization, through Design Development and Construction.
Integral is a novel concept in Engineering Services for the A/E/C community, intent on delivering technical excellence for every client’s unique needs and organization, and bringing world-class engineering knowledge, experience, and skills to community, regional and national healthcare, science and higher education institutions.
Who am I?
For 35 years, Jim Miller has led multi-disciplinary teams to deliver high-quality, on-budget engineering solutions for large, medium and small projects in Healthcare, Science, and Higher Education for some of the most renowned institutions in the world. He is a servant-leader, recognizing personal success is just a reflection of the success of his Clients, colleagues, and proteges. An advocate for pragmatic engineering, truly identifying and solving root problems rather than work-arounds (whenever possible), and an environmental realist, Jim is a thought leader and disruptor of the status quo engineering culture with high aspirations for what the A/E/C community can help our clients accomplish.
Why Integral?
“Integral” encompasses everything that I have been passionate about for my entire career, and reflects the things that bring me true satisfaction on my most noteworthy projects: teamwork, collaboration, engineering excellence, technical innovation, and resilient design -- always with client-centric partnership, respect, and trust. Integral provides independent engineering leadership that is truly an extension of your teams -- representing, complementing, or supplementing the project management, facilities management, construction management, and design professional teams. I will be your project facilitator expected and obligated to “question the way things are or have always been done” and to advocate for ‘higher aspirations’ on projects within time and budget constraints.
Innovative Design
Innovation must be guided by the Owner’s project requirements – goals, expectations and budget. Some projects/problems require considerable creativity and unconventional thinking to expand the boundaries of current good practice to achieve aggressive project targets while many projects/problems can be effectively and affordably addressed through conventional, formulaic (commodity) engineering approaches. We can discuss what is appropriate for your project expectations and I will design accordingly to avoid over/under design and the related impacts on budget and schedule.
Resilient Engineering
Nearly all design and performance criteria for the MEP systems and equipment on a project, regardless of market sector or building type, are grounded in one or more of the four corners of my Resilience Pyramid. Thus, using Resilience criteria as a key target keeps the team focused on the core values and expectations of the Owner for their project.
Owner's Project Managers, Facility Managers and Trade Partners rarely have a senior design engineer on staff to monitor and advocate for their interests with the Project Team on highly-technical, engineering-intensive projects. Integral can unburden project managers and O&M staff from the added responsibilities and efforts that can distract them from their primary duties and daily demands associated with keeping their facilities running to support the core institutional mission. Integral can help balance workloads and improve quality outcomes by taking on appropriate roles advocating for your interests as an extension of your in-house team.
Client Advocacy
Markets
Healthcare
Acute Care Hospitals Ambulatory Care Clinics Oncology Treatment Surgical Departments Ambul Surgery Centers Diagnostic Imaging Clinical Labs Central Sterile Process Pharmacies - Compounding Labs Emergency Medicine Rehabilitation Hospitals Long-term Care Hospitals Behavioral Health Medical Office Buildings Physician Practices Urgent Cares Central H&C Plants
Science
Life Sciences Labs - cGMP - BSL-3 - Genomics / Cell Therapy - Gross Biology Physical Sciences - Chemistry - Physics - Engineering Teaching & Research
Higher Education
Laboratories - Research - Teaching Academic Buildings Administration Buildings Recreational Facilities Campus Centers Student Housing Heating & Cooling Plants - Buildings - Campus
MEP Infrastructure
Central Heating Plants - Hydronic | Steam - All-electric | Hybrid Central Cooling Plants - Hydronic - Heat Recovery Buildings Campuses District Systems Emergency Power CHP
An INTEGRAL Member of your Team
for Owner & Developer Project Managers
Complementing your project leadership team with decades of practical engineering experience on small to large projects in health, science, and higher ed from planning through design, construction, and close-out.
Owner/Developer's Engineer Representative
Owner's direct technical resource and professional surrogate advocating for project goals and priorities throughout Design and Construction
Design Management
Manage design process and design professional team to ensure focus on Owner's requirements and expectations.
'Associate' Project Manager
Assist Project Director/Manager with oversight and collaboration on highly-technical, engineering-intensive projects
Independent Multi-disciplinary Team Facilitator
Lead technical meetings, design charettes, and team collaboration sessions as independent third-party
Engineering Design, Permitting and Construction Administration
Full-service MEP engineering (Engineer-of-Record) for small to medium building and infrastructure projects
Peer Review
Independent technical reviews at design phase milestones to ensure solid engineering concepts and quality documentation by EOR
for Facility Managers
Operations and maintenance staffing is usually thin and budgets stretched in Health, Science and Higher Education. Facility managers must constantly make difficult decisions and shift priorities to keep buildings and infrastructure systems operational to maintain critical functions such as patient care, life-changing research, and sustaining revenue streams. Integral can supplement your O&M team by addressing core MEP infrastructure problems that your staff has perhaps been bandaging for years, with the knowledge and experience of national firms, fees that fit into your O&M budget, and personal service as an extension of your in-house staff.
Troubleshoot Under-performing Systems & Equip
Unburden your O&M team from constantly bandaging issues.
Investigate, Diagnose and Resolve core problems to run energy-efficient and staff-efficient.
Facilities Engineering Representative
Peer Reviews, QA/QC Reviews, Submittal Reviews, Construction Progress Observations & Punchlist
Create and maintain Design Standards, Best Practices and Master Specifications
Vendor and Consultant Pre-qualification administration & reviews
Planning / Master Planning
MEP Infrastructure, Central Plants
Energy / Decarbonization
Resilience / Emergency Preparedness
Design Standards & Specs aligned with Infrastructure Master Planning
Conceptualization
Project Scoping and Budgeting
Pre-design / Programming
Schematic Design
Bridging Documents for D-B
Facility Assessments
Due-diligence investigations
Deferred maintenance prioritization and planning
Engineering Design, Permitting and Construction Administration
Full-service MEP engineering (Engineer-of-Record) for small to large infrastructure projects
for Architects
Architects and Developers are often asked to team with Engineers with whom they have little or no history or perhaps have modest experience for the project type, scope, or size (especially in Health+Science). The Owner may trust them and such opportunities are how firms grow their experience and resumes. Integral can provide technical oversight and guidance on the Architect’s, Developer’s, or Owner’s behalf to ensure a solid design approach, well-documented and coordinated design documents, and technical support through construction to assure a successful collaboration!
Design Management
Assist/advise MEP Coordinator in managing design process for engineering-intensive projects
to ensure meeting Owner's requirements and expectations
as well as solid collaboration
among trades
Facility Assessments
Due-diligence investigations
Planning / Master Planning
MEP Infrastructure, Central Plants
Energy / Decarbonization
Resilience / Emergency Preparedness
Engineering Technical Advocate
Peer Reviews, QA/QC Reviews, Submittal Reviews, Construction Progress Observations & Punchlists
Create and maintain
Conceptualization
Project Scoping and Budgeting
Pre-design / Programming
Schematic Design
Bridging Documents
Engineering Design, Permitting and Construction Administration
Full-service MEP engineering (Engineer-of-Record) for small to large infrastructure projects
for Engineers
Very few projects today require a full-time project manager, design manager or even senior project engineers. Senior staff can overburden project budgets and non-chargeable overhead during market downcycles. I can fill a variety of senior staffing roles to the precise hours you have budgeted -- as an integral part of your team, with superior qualifications, familiarity with the local health and science markets, and a focus on servicing your clients beyond expectations — all to make your team look good! …and free-up your senior staff and principals from technical tasks to focus on winning new work.
Supplement Internal Team
An integral member of your team with a Design Principal skill set, without expanding staff, payroll or overhead. Always acting in your best interests
Peer and QA/QC Reviews
Peer Reviews, QA/QC Reviews, Submittal Reviews, Construction Progress Observations & Punchlists
Construction Administration
Supplement your staff by providing Submittal Reviews, Onsite Progress Observations, RFI responses
Mentor/Guide Junior Staff
Mentor, advise, and supervise junior staff and maturing staff such as first-time discipline and project leaders
Technical Administation
Create, update master specifications
Review and coordinate specifications, details and schedules libraries
Assist in developing/updating Design Standards and Guidelines and materials for training, lunch & learns, etc.
for Trade Partners & Contractors
Interest continues to grow in Design-Build and Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) models for large, medium, and even small projects in Health, Science, and Higher Education, and especially for engineering-intensive Infrastructure projects supporting Resilience, Energy Efficiency and Decarbonization. With the digital BIM tools commonly used today to layout and coordinate construction fabrication models, engineering costs can be dramatically reduced without sacrificing innovation and design excellence by partnering with Integral as the MEP designer and Engineer of Record providing design conceptualization, calculations and guidance, and supervision of a contractor document production team. With 35 years on the Design Team side, I can provide a unique perspective to help your Construction Team anticipate issues and resolve problems quickly and efficiently, Pre-bid through Commissioning.
Engineer-of-Record
Design-Build and IPD projects
Major Maintenance Projects
Equipment / System Replacements
Energy Efficiency Upgrades
Engineering Design, Permitting and Construction Administration
Full-service MEP engineering (Engineer-of-Record) for small to large building and infrastructure projects
Peer and QA/QC Reviews
... of Design/Contract Documents at progress milestones, concurrent with estimating/budget pricing Constructability Reviews and Collaboration with MEP coordination team to proactively resolve
fit and layout issues
Pre-bid Documents Review
to identify Risks, Scope Gaps, and likely Change-orders
Construction Administration
Preliminary Submittal Reviews
Coordination with Vendors
Responses to Design Team Review Comments
Construction Progress Observations and Internal Reports
Pre-construction Facility Assessments