Meet Brian Platten

Can you share an interesting project story?

Recently, I finished my work at the Goodyear Water Treatment Facility. This was the City of Goodyear’s first water plant and the first surface water treatment plant in the Phoenix West Valley. That was very exciting because we were the first to build a surface water plant in the west valley treating Colorado River water. Goodyear is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, and water is quite scarce in the desert, the plant has been operating a while now and it is working well.

One unique aspect of the project was that we started construction in late 2019, so we had to continue work throughout the pandemic, not missing a beat. We overcame many challenges to keep the project on schedule and still finished on time. Another unique aspect is that we started with no initial design concept and a critical element was the eight miles of 20” pipelines that required design, land acquisition, construction easements, permitting and coordination with farmers and land users, all before we even got to construction. We really did it all.

What’s your favorite part of your role?

My favorite part is leading multiple teams and watching it all come together. Throughout the lifecycle of a project, I get to work with the business development team, the preconstruction team, the design team, the construction team and many others, and it takes every team to make the project successful. Working alongside them and then integrating that with our client’s needs to deliver a project on time and within budget is golden. 

What differentiates Jacobs when it comes to design-build projects?

Something we do well at Jacobs is how we communicate with our clients. We outline all the risks, pricing and other factors critical to successfully delivering a project. We also detail our delivery methods and the timeframe, and by delivering all these plans, we can give our clients confidence in what we are doing. We do this consistently and use that experience to execute efficiently and save the client money.

One example is during the Goodyear project. The client decided that a third-party construction manager was not necessary because our transparent approach provided the necessary oversight. Most owners would not feel comfortable with not having a third party to oversee a large project, but Goodyear felt confident that we would deliver a high-quality project and ultimately save them significant costs, which we did.

What’s one piece of advice you would give to young professionals?

My advice is to find a good mentor and people to learn from. I am grateful for the opportunities I received early in my career and the ongoing educational resources I was able to utilize. It’s important to seek out those you can learn from throughout your career.

What do you enjoy most about working at #OurJacobs?

I truly enjoy working in the Design-Build group and the design-build delivery method. For instance, with the Goodyear project, the client said we want an eight million gallons per day plant, and we want you to build it here, and we want you to build a pump station somewhere to the east with a pipeline connecting it to the plant and to figure it all out – and we did. That’s what I love about this method. You have so much flexibility on the project, yet you know it demands being able to deliver a lot more for the client and community.