Professional Profile: George Malakidis, CPHB
Lab Design News spoke to George Malakidis, CPHB, project executive at Callahan Construction in Boston, about his favorite lab building and his career.
Q: How did you get started in your career? Did you major in your field in college, get an internship, switch careers mid-stream, etc.?
A: I was good at math and science in high school and went to Syracuse University to study civil engineering where I had an internship working on the Big Dig in Boston. After graduating, I worked for a civil engineering firm and then a construction company. I enjoyed the balance of being in the field and the office more than in civil engineering and have been working in construction for more than 20 years.
Q: What is a typical day at work like for you?
A: I am responsible for the preconstruction and construction of life science projects. I use the time in my car during my commute to check in with my teams, seeing if there are any issues I need to know about on our projects. I might meet with a client, visit a job site, work on a preconstruction proposal in the office, etc. My main goal is to be there for our teams and to take obstacles out of their way to ensure success on our projects.
Q: What’s a common misconception about your job?
A: It’s less about the individual and more about building a strong team, keeping people motivated, and empowering our employees to work as efficiently as possible to achieve the desired result – successful projects and satisfied clients. Communication among project team members is critical, especially given the difficulty in securing materials right now. Pre-planning and anticipating problems to avoid them are key skills to have to ensure a successful outcome.
Q: What is your favorite building, lab-related or not?
A: The Ocean Science & Exploration Center at the University of Rhode Island (URI) outside Newport, Rhode Island. It houses the Pell Marine Science Library which features Dr. Robert Ballard’s Inner Space Center. Dr. Ballard is a deep-sea explorer known for discovering the sunken R.M.S. Titanic and the German battleship Bismarck. The location was gorgeous, overlooking Narragansett Bay, and the building includes office and laboratory space, museum displays of undersea discoveries, a central computing facility, and is linked to research ships at sea.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
A: I am working on a project at Revolution Labs in Lexington, Mass. We demolished an existing office building and built a new 180,000 sf core and shell building for the lab and office. The developer, Greatland Realty Partners has secured five life science tenants, and we are finishing interior fit-outs for all five companies. It was fun to see it from beginning to end. I am also working on a new 320,000 SF core and shell lab building at 440 Bedford Street in Lexington, Mass. for Trammell Crow Company.
