Girl Power: Women Guiding Construction of Huntsville Amphitheater

While most construction-oriented publications show the percentage of women in the industry hovering between nine and 10 percent, the percentage of women classified as construction managers has grown from 5.9 percent in 2003 to 7.7 percent in 2018.

As construction begins on the Huntsville Amphitheater at MidCity, the Rocket City is on the cutting edge with two women holding critical leadership positions on the much-anticipated building project.

Senior Project Manager Rallisa Jones and Regional Virtual Design/Construction Manager Hannah Harrison, both with Robins & Morton, the building contractor for the amphitheater, are playing pivotal roles in building the distinctive facility designed by Matheny Goldmon Architects + Interiors.

As low as the 9 to 10 percent number is, Jones said it has indeed greatly improved since she got into the construction industry right out of Auburn University 25 years ago.

In fact, her first big building project was with Robins & Morton here in Huntsville in the mid-1990s when they built Alabama A&M’s Louis Crews Football Stadium, the School of Business, and the school’s first dormitory and cafeteria.

“It was sometimes tough, but believe it or not, the fellows took care of me and made sure I was represented at events,” she said. “I can’t say I ever got a lot of pushback, in fact, I was somewhat welcomed, and I sort of enjoyed being an anomaly in the building science classes at Auburn.”

Jones admits there was a learning curve however, when it came to self-growth working in a predominantly male industry.

“I had to learn early on to be comfortable in my own skin,” said Jones. “I don’t need to worry about how my male counterparts are doing their jobs. I needed to know how I am doing at my job. That was the biggest challenge for me as a woman in the building industry, accepting that it was okay for me to be me first, and then I could be a project manager.”

Originally from Birmingham, Jones got her inspiration for building by watching new structures change the skyline of downtown Birmingham when she was growing up. Thinking she wanted to become a materials engineer, she enrolled at Auburn and won a co-op opportunity with NASA at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

“I was given an assignment to analyze metals from outer space,” Jones said. “They kept the samples in a controlled environment in what amounted to a cooler. I would sit for hours, not talking to anyone, polishing metals from outer space and analyzing how they were different from earth rocks and how they reacted to earth’s exposure.”

She said that was not exactly what she had in mind and knew instinctively she needed to pursue a new career path. A colleague was studying architecture and building science and suggested she try it out.

“I fell in love and haven’t looked back since,” she said.

As senior project manager on the amphitheater, Jones acts as a solutions provider to Robins & Morton; The Venue Group, who will be operating the Huntsville Amphitheater; the Public Building Authority; and the City of Huntsville. She makes sure there is collaboration and coordination among the parties and is on the front line solving problems from preconstruction, all the way through to the finish line.

“The way I explain it, we speed the construction machine to make sure the building can be built physically on-site,” Jones said. “We coordinate with the design team, we coordinate with our trade partners, we procure materials, we write some contracts, we make sure everybody gets paid, and we answer questions.

“Essentially, we keep the machine oiled and fed, from groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting.”

Jones is passionate about bringing women into the building industry and helping to grow the incoming generation of female builders.

“It takes women like Hannah and I to be advocates for women in construction and to get women involved in our career.”

Hannah Harrison is a Huntsville native and daughter of an architect, but she went to Auburn to study veterinary medicine.

“About a year into it, I realized that was not really for me so, like Rallisa, I started looking at another career opportunity,” she said. “My dad suggested the building sciences and, after taking some classes, it turned out to be kind of cool.”

As a virtual design/construction manager for Robins & Morton, she implements technology solutions using 3D computer modeling coordination. From the steel to the big anchor bolts to the big beams, every section of the amphitheater will have a precast model.

“We have precast models of the entire building including a concrete model for the footings and the structure; mechanical plumbing and electrical models,” Harrison said. “And we basically build the building in a 3D computer model, before they physically built it on site, and we coordinate it to make sure everything fits the way it needs to fit.”

She said the modeling has been available to the construction industry for more than 20 years but it was only used on select projects until 10 years ago. Now it is the norm.

“3D modeling helps minimize problems in the long run for the guys in the field,” she said. “By building it in a model before building it onsite, it minimizes the problems in the field and expedites the installation and minimizes waste. By fabricating things from the model, the builders can put the fabricated pieces together like a puzzle on site.

“It’s a race to build the model prior to construction because that way they can order the materials they need and get it on site and in time to build it on schedule. In other words, we work out the kinks in the virtual world, so the kinks aren’t as expensive in the real world.”

The amphitheater is in the beginning stages of construction and she gives an example of her recent work.

“We have a model of all the foundations to the amphitheater and we have a model of all the underground plumbing and electrical,” Harrison said.

“We are coordinating the plumbing and electrical pipe around each other and around the footings because you can’t have an electrical pipe running through a plumbing pipe or through a footing. If we can identify problems and work out those problems virtually before we have material onsite that is already made to fit something, we can prevent laborers onsite waiting around waiting for an answer before they can continue with their job.”

That is another benefit of 3D modeling. She says you will not see a cluster of people in the field standing around trying to work out the kinks, slowing down the progress and costing time in labor.

According to Jones, it is important they get off on the right foot with the Huntsville Amphitheater because with its round shape, everything must tie together perfectly, so they connect at the right points.

“Hannah helps us mitigate most of our problems so with the problems solved in advance, its less time you are waiting around for a solution, which in turn helps the process schedule and keeps progress on track,” she said.

Both women live in Huntsville and worked together on the Jefferson Hotel project in downtown Huntsville.

Jones said Huntsville is a much different place than it was 27 years ago when she was working on construction at Alabama A&M.

“Huntsville has become so diverse,” Jones said. “I am excited as a woman to be contributing to something that will help the city grow and that will connect the community.

“The amphitheater is looking to be a 100-year legacy to which I was able to contribute that will make the community grow and prosper. I believe things are going to happen at the amphitheater we haven’t see before and those happenings will be talked about across generations forever.

“And we do it all the time, change the face of cities with hotels and athletic facilities, event venues and hospitals. It is a wonderful feeling to be building a new neonatal ICU that gives babies a better chance of survival.”

Jones and Harrison believe women are genetically predisposed to manage multiple things at one time.

“I think women and men are equal but not the same,” said Harrison. “It is in our nature to work on multiple jobs and on multiple projects. It involves things I do well naturally like networking, relationship-building and team building, in addition to the operational aspects.

“I think those qualities come more innately easy to women.”