NEW BUILD/ REFURB 5M - 10M

GOLD

Richard Ellis was pivotal in delivering to budget and within an extremely tight timescale this awkward conversion of a non-healthcare building to a fully fledged hospital site. His proactive approach to risk management and excellent control of the construction programme allowed him to reschedule the sequencing to address problems as they arose and maintain the critical path.

And the problems were acute. It became clear that the building structure would not support the extensive service loads required or the proposed internal construction elements. The team even discussed demolishing the building (a speculative warehouse development that had stood empty since its construction 18 months previously) and starting from scratch. Ellis, though, proposed supporting the first floor with a prefabricated goalpost-style steel mezzanine masked by a suspended ceiling below – a significantly cheaper and easier-to-install option than prefabricated insulated wall panels or a hefty steel frame.

Even before starting on site, Ellis had incorporated £1m worth of client-led design changes within 12 weeks, leading the team that provided feasibility assessments and 90% cost certainty. Then, in week 32, he had to remove a defunct curtain walling system that had not been identified by the original client survey, replacing it with windows, structural walls and new cladding.

Ellis needed plenty of subcontractors on site simultaneously (200 people at the peak) to install the services in time for the delivery deadline, so he split the M&E-laden service routes throughout the building into nine work zones. This allowed the structural walling systems to be prefabricated with all the service penetrations, speeding up installation time and minimising on site trade clashes.

With his ability to provide sound technical knowledge and address issues quickly and professionally, Ellis completed the demanding programme two weeks in advance of opening.

His calm authority, professionalism and tenacity was singularly responsible for creating the teamwork and attitude that achieved delivery, certainty and quality. So successful has Ellis been that Midas has since been appointed preferred contractor for 11 similar projects the client is bidding for.

SILVER

TAG’s bold decision to bring this project in-house at the second stage of the original design and build tender was fully justified by the impressive performance of its construction manager, Simon Horsley, who built this terminal with considerable skill, talent and ingenuity, and in a controlled and focused manner.

Horsley was the client’s project manager until he took over as construction manager, after the original contractor’s aggressive value engineering was seen as producing little value and a big loss in quality for the iconic design intent, along with an unacceptable allocation of risk to TAG. Identifying sufficient in-house and consultant expertise to deliver the project, Horsley rekindled the team’s enthusiasm and confidence, and reduced project overheads by maintaining a very lean management team.

He ripped up the original brief for cost surety, which was eating away at value, and managed risk directly to achieve best value, assessing and tightly controlling costs as construction proceeded. Accurate cashflow forecasting identified savings early, which were reinvested in achieving maximising quality, particularly on the internal fitting out.

Horsley’s fully inclusive and honest management style fostered good relations within the project team, persuading TAG to grant him full responsibility for delivery. With this authority, he opened up procurement and design, adopting a flexible and proactive approach to delivering the project. Instrumental decisions included changing the external cladding from flat aluminium panels to diamond shingle, discarding specialist secondary framing from the cladding package, and reducing glazing and framing by realigning the end curtain walling from inclined to vertical.

Influenced by the culture set by Horsley, the project team was able to deliver the client’s extremely high design aspirations. Works packages were assessed equally on value and deliverability, and Horsley instigated and endorsed project enhancements wherever achievable. The result has been a landmark building delivered on time, to budget and above specification.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Trevor Aylen (Kier Southern) for Frimley Park Hospital Treatment Centre, Camberley, Surrey; Wayne Burfield (Henry Jones Kier Southern) for Shoreline Hotel, Butlins, Bognor Regis; Adrian Cooper (Amec) for St Andrews Car Park, Norwich; Neville Dale (Willmott Dixon Construction) for David Lloyd Leisure Club, West Malling, Kent; Tony Grindrod (HBG Construction) for Lancaster University Management School; Richard Jones (Willmott Dixon Construction) for Deri View Primary School, Abergavenny; Warren Smith (Rok) for Exeter College Centre for Creative Industries.