Winner Gold Award: Ross Taylor MCIOB, Willmott Dixon
Project: Grove View Integrated Health Hub & Residential
Scope: Health and care hub with residential development for over-55s
Client: Central Bedfordshire Council
Form of contract: JCT 2016 D&B with amendments
Value: £44m
Ross Taylor’s plan for this combined healthcare hub and residential development in Dunstable for Central Bedfordshire Council was to set the bar high from the beginning by creating a site where everybody could do their best work.
Newcomers were inducted in a Learning Centre which doubled as a training centre for those on site and visiting students, and the canteen boasted pool and table tennis tables.
This was a project of two halves: a 6,375sq m care hub and a 98-home development for people over 55. Taylor managed the development accordingly, assigning two different teams of staff and specialist contractors to the healthcare and residential elements. This meant that there was always a backup if one contractor got into difficulty.
Highly commended
Danny Branson Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure, Marina Centre, Great Yarmouth
Other finalists
Simon Godfree Kier Construction, Southern, Hythe and Dibden Memorial Hospital
Alex Heath MCIOB Willmott Dixon, All England Lawn Tennis Club – Indoor Tennis Centre
Martin Symonds MCIOB Kier Construction, Devizes Health Centre
Taylor’s ethos is for a project to be 100% designed before it starts on site, allowing his site management teams to focus on delivering an optimum product, rather than dealing with clashes or interface details.
The healthcare hub was delivered using Willmott Dixon’s predesigned Cura system, which meant that suppliers could be brought on board early.
Taylor’s preparation, together with a focus on team building and appreciating each other’s individualities, paid off in the delivery of the project. Bedfordshire’s satisfaction is underlined by the award of another contract to Willmott Dixon.
Winner Silver Award: Nick Proverbs MCIOB, Willmott Dixon
Project: Harvest View
Scope: 80-bed halfway house for patients between leaving hospital and returning home
Client: Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
Form of contract: JCT 2016 with quantities
Value: £12.7m
This project to provide 80 beds for patients ready to leave hospital, but not quite ready to go home, threw up a raft of complications. Since this was a traditionally procured contract, Nick Proverbs could have left these for the client and its designer to solve, but he didn’t.
Issues he tackled included proposing a new type of screed to maintain the designed floor levels, finding a bespoke lift supplier, finding an innovative solution to address concerns over loading on a boundary wall and commissioning Corian covers for sink traps.
His approach to problem solving – plus his uncompromising focus on site cleanliness, operations and quality – resulted in a client representative who went from sceptical to impressed over the course of the works.
