£4m-£7m

With the client making clear it wanted its scheme on time, on budget and with an enhanced spec, Simon Ramage had little room for manoeuvre.

The project required the demolition of half a semi-detached house, renovating the party wall as a new external wall. The college and the high street businesses all remained in operation during this time.

The project had taken three years to get through planning, and Ramage worked hard to draw the sting from opposition, ensuring that cars, windows and shopfronts were washed after the demolition works, that a resident’s garage was repaired and trees pruned for a local church as goodwill gestures.

The programme was extremely tight. The demolition phase took 12 weeks, leaving just 45 for construction.

When it became apparent that the start of the crucial steel frame erection would be delayed by eight days because of the lack of construction design information, Ramage junked the planned sequencing to haul back the lost time. He put up the steel frame in four foundation-to-roof sections, laying the precast floor planks as he went and setting the follow-on trades to work four weeks earlier than anticipated. And by allowing early access to the top three floors for the fit-out contractors, he ensured they could complete in time for the college to open for the new academic term.

The increased value of the final contract and purposeful value engineering allowed Ramage to turn an expected loss on the project into a small profit.

Silver

Andrew Smith I Senior building manager, Willmott Dixon Construction I Green End School, Manchester: construction of school and nursery, completed in 69 weeks, £4.5m, NEC option C ‘There are no problems, only solutions,’ Andrew Smith told his team for this challenging project. Clearly, his philosophy worked, as the team delivered an exemplary building as one of the first schemes under Willmott Dixon’s framework agreement with Manchester City Council.

Smith had to build a 2,000m2 building on a tight 2,400m2 site in an area of very dense terraced housing. He had to take another £70,000 out of a building whose cost plan had already been brought down from £5.2m to an agreed maximum price of £4.6m. And he needed to establish the best of relationships with the head of the new school.

Determined and driven, Smith still showed great calmness under pressure. When the client wanted the lift shaft redesigned and relocated and the classrooms rewired midway through construction, he took personal pride and professional delight in delivering the changes.

He brilliantly closed out financial and design risk. Concerned that a suspended ceiling in the 9m-high atrium would be costly, look wrong and impede maintenance access, Smith proposed a floating ceiling instead.

Through his diligent value engineering, along with superior design risk management, a teamwork ethos and an excellent client relationship, Smith brought this project in £100,000 under budget.

Through imagination, flexibility, a sense of humour and his determination to come up with answers rather than obstacles, Smith achieved triumph in the teeth of adversity.

Highly Commended

• Fara Abbaspour (HBG Construction) for Tatchbury Nursing Home, Hampshire
• Stephen Crook (Geoffrey Osborne) for The Hub, University of Westminster
• Ian Davidson (Trak Build) for Macdonald Berystede Hotel, Ascot
• Graham Gibbs MCIOB (Willmott Dixon Construction) for Windsor Building, Royal Holloway University, London
• Chris Holloway (Morgan Ashurst) for Brendoncare Knightwood Nursing Home, Hampshire
• Ian Jones (Willmott Dixon Construction) for St Woolos Orthopaedic Unit, Newport
• Robert McGregor MCIOB (Laing O’Rourke) for Westcotes Health Centre, Leicester
• Alistair Wilson (Morgan Ashurst) for Cliff Park School, Norfolk
• Kevin Morrallee (Rok Building) for Oakgrove School, Milton Keynes