Partner Profile: John D. Blignaut, AIA, ACHA

January 2007

A new feature that will appear in upcoming issues of egbbn is the Partner Profile. In each issue, a Partner will be introduced and answer a few questions. If you weren’t already familiar with the leaders of our firm, now you’ll be able to put a face with a name and a face with various projects (past, present and future) featured.

John D. Blignaut, AIA, ACHA, is this issue's featured Partner.

John became a Partner in 1999, and is in charge of Operations for GBBN's Healthcare Team.

Born and raised in South Africa, John graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. His wife Nancy is from this area and they currently live in a Victorian house in Newport (KY), which they have called home for the last 27 years. The Blignaut's have two children: Anton (25) and Marguerite (21). Anton works at the Kenton County Library, while Marguerite is completing her degree in nursing at the University of Louisville.

What are some of GBBN's projects that you've been involved with?

  • Cincinnati Children's -- Location S Research Building
  • Cincinnati Children's -- Location A Clinical Building
  • Groups Health Associates -- Anderson Medical Offices
  • Mayfield Ambulatory Surgery Center

What are your goals for the firm in the upcoming year?
I have a very ambitious year planned!

  • Healthcare operations and project delivery at GBBN needs to be coordinated between our Cincinnati, Lexington and Beijing offices.
  • I am currently heading GBBN's Quality Assurance/Quality Control group. We have a number of important initiatives to complete this year. In addition, our Associates Advance in March will focus on Quality. The goal is to do the best work possible so that we can compete with the leading firms, nationally and internationally and provide the highest quality to our clients.
  • I also serve on the national board of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Academy of Architecture for Healthcare. My area of responsibility includes the organization's website. The goal for this year is to improve the website so that it is the go-to place to serve our members (architects and medical planners).

So, it will be a busy but exciting year!

What is your personal mantra?
I can always hear my grandmother saying, "A job worth doing is worth doing well!"