New build £3-£15 million

Gold

Hospital in good health

Hospitals are buildings with complex problems of design and execution. When this particular hospital contract was negotiated, the contract sum had to be less than the NHS cost allowances, while fulfilling the performance specification and optimum facilities management specification. After outline design, funding had to be confirmed, with little time left for detail design before the necessary start on site date. Chris Gooch made a major contribution to the sustainable design by suggesting the retention of extensive soil from all landscaping. This scheme turned a potential liability into a visual asset, welcomed by the employer, planning authorities and local residents. Gooch made a further considerable contribution to the design by advising on the choice of a long life, low maintenance construction. This included load-bearing masonry and tile pitched roofs, used in an innovative manner to enhance the visual aspect of the hospital. This allowed the use of standardised pre-cast floor planks on strategic masonry walls, and economic use of trussed rafters. The contractor quickly erected a weatherproof shell to allow later activities to proceed in a controlled environment. The design team also carried out risk analysis at various stages of design. Gooch monitored these, and arranged feedback meetings on potential site hazards. Roof spaces were also made available for services and service access, with no encroachment of the services on usable floor areas. Gooch used design progress meetings to monitor cost estimates of the detail design work. Alternative solutions were also discussed and the team made all decisions on cost grounds. Gooch kept performance costs within the contracted sum at all times and impressed upon the employer from the outset that changes to the brief, and hence the design, would involve additional costs and time to the contract. Health facilities are prone to change and the client requested amendments to the brief. Gooch demonstrated the effects of these changes, in both time and cost, so only essential changes were made. He achieved handover by the contract completion date, and the transfer of staff and patients from other locations to the new facilities presented no problems.

Silver

A case of mind over matter

The three-storey psychology building at the University of Newcastle is steel framed with composite floor slabs and houses a large MRI scanner suite, with a reinforced concrete floor to the basement. The building envelope comprises terracotta rainscreen cladding, structural glazing, curtain walling cladding and louvers. The 400 seat, steel framed lecture theatre and the soffit provides a canopy to the main entrance. That John Roper was able to deliver this complex two-fold project is testament to his vigilance and excellent management skills. Roper worked with the estimating team to review the prelims, the construction programme and construction methods. He introduced savings through design solutions to temporary works. And his early involvement was instrumental in achieving this prestigious project for McAlpine. Some of Roper’s team were relatively new to McAlpine and new to each other. He placed emphasis on ensuring a strong team ethos, and this was maintained throughout the contract. He did this by identifying each person’s strengths and weaknesses and areas of further development. This management technique enabled him to secure an effective and successful project team. Roper prepared a detailed schedule of surveillance inspections, undertaken by all staff to monitor and record the required level of compliance. From the outset Roper was determined to control actual cost against income, and to forecast profitability of the contract. A project budget was established which reflected the commercial decisions taken at tender stage, £750,000 worth of work was added to the contract as funding became available to extend the scheme further into the existing building.

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