New build & refurbishment £7m-£10m
Gold – Mike Walmsley MCIOB, Willmott Dixon Construction
Project: Royton Leisure Centre, Oldham: Two-storey leisure centre completed in 75 weeks
Value: £8m
Contract: JCT D&B 2011
It’s not hard to see why Mike Walmsley’s client was thrilled by his outstanding management on this leisure centre project with pool, gym and dance studio. Defect-free delivery two weeks early with quality build and finish helped greatly in defusing the opposition generated by the closure of two other pools in the town.
Walmsley was proactive, flexible and user-focused. He was not daunted by never having installed a Myrtha pool (stainless steel frame and panels, with internal PVC lamination) and visited a site in Glasgow where one was being installed to understand what was required.
He got the supplier to redesign the panels for the sloping section of the pool, which brought flexibility as to how the sections of floor for the pool could be poured, reducing any potential damage. Similarly he found a lightweight aggregate to backfill behind the panels of the Myrtha pool rather than pea gravel, again reducing the risk of panel damage as well as cost and time.
He moved a 1,500-litre water tank from the roof to the ground floor to reduce the size of the foundations and steelwork required. He replaced the blockwork for the lift shaft with precast, allowing the lift install to start early. And he rejected in-situ concrete for the leisure centre’s retaining walls in favour of hollow concrete blocks fitted over starter bars and then filled with concrete. It eliminated time and budget-consuming shuttering and temporary works.
His initiatives also improved quality. He ran design workshops to identify interface and buildability issues and he gave each manager a tablet to use daily to raise and address snags instantly. Zero defects on an early-completed and within-budget project was a great achievement.
Silver – Jim Wilson ICIOB, Morgan Sindall
Project: Lairdsland Primary School, East Dunbartonshire: New build school delivered in 59 weeks.
Value: £7.1m
Contract: D&B development agreement
Just as the piling works were about to start on Jim Wilson’s project, a breeding pair of mute swans chose the canal-side scheme as their nesting site.
With their 12-week breeding cycle, the protected species posed a big risk for the 59-week programme. Wilson responded with a variety of measures. He installed noise and vibration monitoring systems that issued text alerts to the site team if an agreed level of disturbance was exceeded — if the nest was abandoned because of site disturbance, the project would have been liable. He installed a camera to monitor the nesting swan, and he resequenced the piling to begin in the area furthest from the nest to accustom the swans to the activity.
The swan successfully hatched her eggs and a 12-week delay was avoided. But it wasn’t the only challenge. Land contamination, Japanese knotweed, and extensive service diversions also figured.
Wilson implemented the lean agenda of look-ahead programmes. He engaged all subcontractors in collaborative planning sessions and fortnightly progress meetings. And he backed that up with daily monitoring of site activities.
His management programme progressed four weeks in advance of the contract programme. That gave a final month for the rigorous snagging that rounded off a robust quality plan that included creating a sample classroom to ensure quality buy-in early on.
The result was a 10/10 recommended score from the client for a safe, on-time and snag-free delivery.
New build & refurbishment £5m-£7m
Gold – Alan May, Sir Robert McAlpine
Project: OneSubsea, Kingswells, Aberdeen: Construction of two-storey office, completed in 43 weeks
Value: £6.6m
Contract: D&B/Scott 2011
In his first project management role, Alan May completed this two-storey office block ahead of programme, within budget, snag and defect-free, and without the accident book being taken out of its cellophane. That’s some feat, was and the product of proactive management and forward thinking.
This was the seventh building Sir Robert McAlpine has put up at the business park. May held meetings with the construction and design teams from previous projects to get their feedback. He used what he learned to streamline his own project, enhance buildability and quality, and make financial savings.
For example, he altered the roofing interfaces to give better detailing, which in turn produced programme and sequencing benefits. And he ensured holes were made through the facade for CCTV cables and brackets, so minimising the additional setup and installation costs typically incurred.
He delivered a target programme two weeks ahead of the contract programme by early strategic planning of the front-end concrete, steel and envelope packages. Good communication and openness at the procurement stage won the necessary buy-in from the subcontractors. His decision to have M&E elements manufactured offsite gave the programme a further lift.
May took on the technical challenge of connections to the steelwork with a 3D model. All parties used it to establish their links to the main steel frame and define their secondary steel requirements, which were then incorporated into the main steel erection. Likewise, a 3D M&E coordination model minimised potential service clashes.
And he empowered the team to enhance safety protocols. The scheme was accordingly delivered injury and accident-free.
Silver – Mark Wolverson ICIOB, Willmott Dixon Construction
Project: St Matthew’s Primary School, Plymouth: Three-storey school, completed in 38 weeks
Value: £6.8m
Contract: NEC A
On his first job as lead manager, Mark Wolverson delivered this three-storey school new-build by implementing programming techniques common in residential. By splitting the project into zones, he allowed activities to be efficiently sequenced and more even periods of subcontractor work offered to ensure consistency and quality of output.
The lean approach worked: Wolverson handed over seven weeks early on a 46-week programme with zero defects.
After losing a fortnight because of frame procurement delay, he recouped the time by splitting the building into three zones to allow for just-in-time working. The frame contractor installed the decking sheets, followed by the scaffolders back-propping the floors. And then came the ground workers with mesh reinforcement and the concrete pour.
The strategy ensured work continuity for the three trades and allowed sufficient curing time for the frame concrete before work started on the next floor.
When the top floor was watertight, Wolverson could have flooded the building with trades in all areas working at top speed. Instead, he ensured no subcontractor ran out of work after a few helter-skelter weeks by insisting they all stuck to his programme. He focused the trades on quality and snagging at hold points before allowing them to move on.
Wolverson combined this very modern approach with a calm management style that focused as much on the end-user as it did on the client. He listened to end-user concerns and offered flexibility on decision-making.
By being genuinely concerned about delivering satisfaction to a broad group of stakeholders, he resolved end-user issues while always respecting the client’s red lines.
