Las Vegas comes to Birmingham

Nobody needs a subcontractor going bust on them. But when you are fitting out the UK's biggest ever casino in an already tight programme and the variations are flowing freely, you really don't need it. But at least they can still laugh about it.

The work started on 12 February with some hefty structural engineering and will end by 27 October with some high class, glossy finishes. That is the date that client Stanley Leisure must have the building so that it can prepare for its grand opening on 18 November.

A few weeks before our visit in early September, spirits on site were low due to the frequent changes, says Styles & Wood divisional director Andy West. So West took the team to one side and told them not to waste energy worrying about the next change but to concentrate on what was agreed, and look ahead to the opening night. "I want that building to be one of the nicest projects I have ever finished," says West. "There's a lot of pride in delivering a very difficult, very tight fast-track project."

Ongoing change in retail and leisure is "endemic", says West, and managing it is a balancing act: "It's the desire to give them everything they wanted and a little bit more, together with the realisation that if you do have that desire they can sometimes go a little bit far." But Star City is a special case: the first of a new breed of casino.

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell published the first part of a draft Gambling Bill in July, the result of a 2001 report which recommended wide-ranging changes to the existing 1960s legislation. The new laws should open casinos up to a whole range of new customers, from girl-only groups to old couples.

The Star City casino will be 60,000 sq ft. This dwarfs Stanley's biggest casino at the moment, the new 24,000 sq ft Circus in Manchester, also fitted out by Styles & Wood. Stanley has plans for eight more, according to business development director John Denton. "Because we are such a profitable organisation, we have cash available all the time," he says.

Whether you are a gambler or not, you can't help being infected by the enthusiasm of Denton and his customer services manager Kerry Ansell who is already signing up members. "It's the Vegas experience," declares Denton. "Vegas comes to Birmingham!"

The £10m project has been a long time in gestation. Stanley submitted the application in September 2000, and it was awarded in July 2002. But existing Birmingham casinos were objecting. How did Stanley overcome this? "We bought them," says Denton.

The casino was going to take over a failed 28,000 sq ft night club. But Stanley's ambitions grew into two adjacent units and then two additional mezzanine levels.

The ground floor will house 300 slot machines and a mini-theatre for the Vegas-style shows. The mezzanine will have electronic gaming machines such as automatic roulette. On the second floor there will be 40 gaming tables, as well as a VIP area and on the mezzanine above that a 150-seat restaurant.

For Styles & Wood this translates to civils work and serious structural alterations before you even start creating the "sexy, sassy" interior with its "cutting-edge lighting" (Denton, again). The second job – after strip-out - was installing 78 bored piles and ground beams, to take the weight of the mezzanine floors and other structural elements. Next the contractor had to cut holes for escalators and lifts and create the necessary support.

It’s a bespoke building. Nothing is standard

Kevin Faulkner, EIC

The speed of the job is evident from the amount of men around the building. Everywhere you turn there is a different kind of tradesman beavering away. Styles & Wood has already been awarded an extension – the original finish date was 12 September – mostly due to tenancy wrangles. But West is not intending to ask for any more time.

However the variations continue. "It's a bespoke building. Nothing is standard," explains Kevin Faulkner, project manager (electricals) for contractor EIC which has the £3m M&E package. For someone who is on the receiving end of so many of the changes, Faulkner is remarkably cheery.

The changes come because Stanley is importing experienced staff, from croupiers to chefs to work here, and every time another team leader comes to look at their area, they have some new suggestions. There have also been issues related to the uncertainty of what the new gambling laws will bring.

EIC has to liaise with Stanley's staff to get things like power sockets and lighting where they want it. And then there's coordinating the designers and installers of fire alarms, security, building management systems into the picture.

The M&E equipment in itself is not unusual on this job, says Faulkner, although it's top-of-the range stuff. But the function of the building, with such a variety of areas from the gaming floors to kitchens to staff smoking areas is unique. And because this is a largely night time venue with little natural light, there's a lot to cram in: "It's the amount of services going into a small area and the speed it's going in as well."

Juggling act
There's constant negotiation and juggling between EIC and the building subcontractor: EIC needs to have the ceiling tiles in place to put in fittings to test the wiring. But if the wiring is subject to change, the building contractor can't put up the ceiling tiles, or has to do it twice. This is an issue on any job, but a big challenge here.

Mindful of this situation, West is now holding weekly countdown meetings involving the client. Earlier in the programme, the costs attached to changes could perhaps be value engineered out of other areas, but now that is not possible. "My commitment is to deliver an absolute quality project," says West. "Quality is a function of time. We have to get across to the design team there are implications of time."

On site, spirits are surprisingly good. The tradesmen, working their 12-hour shifts on top of each other, are ready with a smile and a quip.

In the entrance area, metal fixer Mark Jones and two colleagues took a week to construct 10m of a curving bulkhead, part of the luxurious interior. "I've worked on some swervy bulkheads in my time, but this is the swerviest I've done."

Perhaps West's pep-talk did the trick. Tonge, on his first project for Styles & Wood, says this is the most exciting job he has ever worked on.

As 27 October approaches, everyone will be working even harder. West says that bringing in more men is a distinct possibility. Faulkner will consider rationalising his labour to do 24 hour shifts if necessary. "They say they are going to hit a date and they do it," he says of Styles & Wood. "We are of a similar ilk. We will move heaven and earth to get this finished."