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Construction Manager of the Year Awards 2020: Rising stars

After more than four decades recognising professionals at the peak of their careers, the Construction Manager of the Year Awards is now rewarding those starting out in the industry with the new Rising Star category. In its augural year, there were two gold winners and one silver

Gold winner: Kelly Attwood
Morgan Sindall

Kelly Attwood is a graduate site manager at Morgan Sindall. After her graduation in summer 2018, she has progressed rapidly at the business and been given increased responsibility and accountability, recently leading a £10m design-and-build, three-storey modular building.

On the Vandyke School project in Bedfordshire, Attwood had to think on her feet and adapt quickly, redesigning an attenuation tank which clashed with existing below-ground services, a process involving dialogue with civil engineers and the local water board. She has managed all the groundworks, including piling, a 960 sq m concrete pour, plus the installation of the 87 modules which form the teaching block – successfully overcoming the new challenges posed by covid-19.

On another project nearby, at Goldington Academy, Attwood had to carefully sequence works around the school’s need to remain operational. Working with the client, she was able to foresee issues that were not spotted at tender stage and identify and mitigate the most significant risk factors.

Attwood has been praised for her “exemplary attitude” and “inquisitive nature” by colleagues, as well as a “true passion” for construction. She is a construction ambassador through CITB GoConstruct, attending schools to give careers talks, and also speaks at Women in Construction events to help change female perceptions of the industry.

Gold winner: Vasiliki Bowler
Faithful+Gould

Vasiliki Bowler has worked in the built environment for six years and been with Faithful+Gould for the past four. She administers private and public sector projects from RIBA Stage 1 through to 7 and has managed projects including for the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and the London Metropolitan University (LMU). Clients expressed appreciation for Bowler’s ability to meet expectations “precisely and consistently”.

On the SOAS project, she produced a comprehensive assessment report to explain the impact that a last-minute change instruction would have on time, cost and quality, and developed an online audit trail to facilitate collaboration and help identify conflicting priorities and overcome pain points.

Photo: Dreamstime

At LMU, her strategy helped the client achieve its project objectives while ensuring students’ lessons would continue uninterrupted throughout the construction process. She facilitated a value engineering workshop, which focused the project team on finding alternative products, rather than just cost cutting, and saving the client £300,000.

She also won praise from client Royal Bank of Scotland for her management of an intricate programme of works worth £20m, consisting of 12 projects across four different buildings.

Colleagues say Bowler “stands out in the business by dint of hard work and her commitment to upholding industry standards”. She supports professional development and advancement of best practice within F+G, represents the business at industry events and promotes diversity and recruitment of more females into construction through her talks at graduate careers events.

Silver winner: Annabel Clark
Faithful+Gould

Annabel Clark is a senior consultant in Faithful+Gould’s strategic asset management team. She has gained recognition in the business across the full spectrum of consultancy skills, from technical to commercial, with expertise in sustainability, life cycle costing and asset management.

She has shown a particular flair for environment issues, working as BREEAM assessor and advisory professional on a Met Office project in Devon, where both buildings achieved an Excellent rating. She is “proud” to be working in an industry that is striving to cut carbon emissions.