Gold: Stephen Pedro MCIOB, Telford Homes
Project: Stone Studios, Hackney Wick, London
Scope: Construction of five blocks with 120 apartments, completed in 67 weeks
Contract: JCT
Value: £38m
A barrage of complaints from worried neighbours about odours released during the groundworks phase of this project forced Stephen Pedro to rethink the design of the attenuation tank. The smell was due to benzene and naphthalene – mothballs – coming from the former metalworking site.
Stephen got the works moving again by reducing the depth of the attenuation tank dig and spreading it over a wider area. With no further need to excavate deep below the water table, there were no more unpleasant odours and the community calmed down. Avoiding the groundwater meant there were buildability advantages too.
Other finalists
Martin Bennett MCIOB Willmott Dixon, Ashton Rise, Bristol
Jon Kelly MCIOB Storey Homes, Haymarket Rise, Bedfordshire
Robert Lanson MCIOB Eric Wright Construction, Atelier, Salford
John O’Neill MCIOB Drew Smith, August Fields, Newhaven
Stephen Sidebotham MCIOB Willmott Dixon, Blackfriars, Salford
Jason Sims MCIOB Caddick Construction, Hudson Quarter, York
Stephen had to make other changes to keep the project on track. Part of the retained facade for one block had become unsafe, so he elected to take it apart piece by piece and rebuild it with a blockwork inner skin. When the combustibility of iroko timber fins for the facade made installing them a concern, he switched to iroko-coloured aluminium fins.
Stephen drove value by replacing precast concrete coping stones and cladding panels with glass fibre-reinforced units. Substantially lighter, they delivered cost savings and were easier to install. Likewise, his introduction of no-joint CLP piping in the 120 apartments made for easier, faster, safer installation.
Silver: Kevin Larkin MCIOB – JJ Rhatigan
Project: Lu2on phase 1, Luton
Scope: Construction of 11-storey block with 401 apartments, completed in 127 weeks
Client: Strawberry Star
Contract: JCT 2016
Value: £63m
On his first project with JJ Rhatigan, Kevin Larkin delivered a lucrative large-scale development to a high standard in a short space of time.
His use of BIM was effective and extensive, from design to quality assurance. He took site managers and subcontractors through the use of a BIM dashboard.
Changing the precast concrete lintels to lie flush with the scheme’s 1,200 windows, rather than protrude above and below, achieved buildability savings of £1.2m. He also decided decision to make 489 bathroom pods off site. This eased the critical path, saved time and cost and raised the quality bar.
The success of the project has seen the client award phase 2 – a £100m scheme with 565 apartments – to Larkin.
