Over £50m

John Crawley I Project director, Skanska I Palestra, London: construction of 300,000 sq ft, 11-storey office block, completed in 128 weeks I £71m I JCT 1998 D&B

Innovative management was the hallmark of John Crawley’s leadership of this landmark office. A thoroughly modern manager, Crawley brought his considerable influence to bear on this project on many different levels.

Not least was to convince the client not to shelve the project in the face of London’s uncompromising commercial office market. He persuaded the client to extend the programme and make the most of the predicted market upturn by completing in mid-2006 rather than early 2005.

It turned out to be a spot-on call, with the client ultimately reaping sizeable rewards from its anti-cyclical development.

As well as a great relationship with the client, Crawley built an open and honest construction team that ‘forgot’ their individual employers in favour of a non-adversarial approach to problem solving.

Baseline and labour costs were improved by off-site prefabricated systems, such as toilet pods, storey-height service risers, and pipe ranges built to fit the onsite hoist size.

And Crawley personally took charge of relations with residents of a neighbouring housing estate. He contacted the residents association before starting on site and throughout the project he held monthly presentations of upcoming activities.

Unfazed by technically complex elements that had never been built before, Crawley dealt deftly with every project risk. His single-minded focus ensured the building was finished on time, on budget and to a stunning level of quality.

Silver

Peter Millett ACIOB

Formerly of Bovis Lend Lease

Manchester Arndale: demolition and reconstruction of northern half of shopping centre, completed in 156 weeks I £121m I JCT 1998 D&B

A child growing up in Manchester when the Arndale Centre first rose like a leviathan in the heart of the city, Peter Millett grabbed with both hands this once-in-a-lifetime chance to rebuild the titanic shopping centre.

Millett’s leadership of the project was breathtaking in its vision, its technical understanding and its insight. He led the early buildability studies to improve scheduling, materials, detailing, ease of construction and value. He reduced the overall construction costs by £6m and lopped six months off the programme by reusing a considerable amount of the existing structure, including the piles, and leaving in place much of the services.

Many of the savings that came from value engineering the structure were rerouted to enhance the front-of-house finishes and detailing. So effective was his insistence on standards – he inspected the works daily, engaging tradesmen as well as designers in the issues – that there was not a single dispute with the client or the design team over quality.

Not only this, Millett delivered the project over 15 high-risk acres in a major city centre. Traffic was rerouted, the bus station relocated, 35 separate utilities diverted, the northern half of the Arndale completely demolished and the new 500,000 square foot four-storey centre built over a high-voltage substation that served the whole city centre.

He programmed it all so well that few people realised what was going on behind the hoardings which divided the new-build from over 500,000 square feet of retail space that remained open for business.

Whatever the challenge, Millett proved equal to it. When a picket line appeared one afternoon at one of the Arndale’s gates, he had the demonstrators and senior management talking to each other within hours and the dispute resolved by the end of the week.

A superbly effective manager, Millett demonstrated the desire, willingness and ability to take this huge project forward to a brilliant conclusion.

Highly Commended

Roy Allport MCIOB (Bovis Lend Lease) for BBC Scotland HQ, Glasgow

Roy Mundy (Laing O’Rourke) for Ascot Grandstand