Over the next month we will be highlighting the contenders for the QS News Awards. This week we look at two categories – one for high achieving industry individuals, and a second that recognises outstanding achievement in the field of human resources.

QS Champion of the Year

David Bucknall (pictured) is the ever-buoyant chairman of the company his father founded. He led the team that floated the firm as a PLC, and oversaw its sale to Citex. He semi-retired for a while, but then came bouncing back to head up the team that bought the QS business after Citex restructured, and since then the firm has gone from strength to strength. He currently chairs the West Midlands Construction Best Practice Club and the Birmingham Foundation (a fund raising charity organisation).

Stephen Turner is the principal QS at the department of development and regeneration at Sunderland City Council. He set up a discussion forum on the RICS’ website bemoaning the name change of the faculty to construction at the start of the decade. The response from grass root members was unprecedented and massive public backing for the change has proved effective – last month the faculty board voted to change the name to include the word QS in its title.

Stuart Earl (pictured) is a partner with Gleeds. But his claim to fame is the charity fund raising work he organised over the last year for the victims of the Asian Tsunami disaster. Stuart dreamt up the novel idea of a Row-athon, where 20 people each agreed to row the equivalent of 50km, so between them they covered one million metres. He got 20 rowing machines donated, staged it at the RICS, drummed up sponsorship and persuaded rowing Gold Medallist James Cracknell to attend. The result was more than £15,000 raised.

Francis Ives (pictured) has chaired the Cyril Sweett Group for the past 12 years. He is a fellow of the RICS, is a past president of the British Council of Shopping Centres, vice chairman of the Joint Contracts Tribunal, a board member of the British Council for Offices, chairs the RICS contracts panel and is a member of the RICS construction policy panel. This year his firm’s turnover has grown and the company is looking at expanding into the Indian market.

Jeremy Hackett is a senior consultant with Schofield Lothian. His biggest claim to fame was the “Stop the Rot” campaign he launched to protest at the RICS’ big hike in subscription fees. This resulted in an Extraordinary General Meeting of the members, and a personal run in with the then President. Hackett’s campaign certainly struck a chord with the members, who have now voted him onto the Institution’s Governing Council for the next four years.

Best In-House QS Team

Shepherd Construction

The quartet of QSs at Shepherd, who work across seven regions for the contractor, pride themselves on their development of libraries, in-house software, ground modelling software and the innovative use of whole-life costing techniques.

Lend Lease Projects

The firm formed an in-house team as part of the Department for Work and Pensions, who wanted to implement a new way of procuring its £750m programme of upgrading UK job centres. The result? Cost savings, no contractual disputes and improved client satisfaction.

Helena Housing HA

Helena’s eight-strong team is implementing a wide-ranging change programme which includes new contracts and procurement techniques as well as already achieving cost savings and customer satisfaction for its current workload.

Defence Estates

The Scottish division of the MOD’s property arm is responsible for implementing the first regional prime contract in the UK, a seven-year £400m programme of maintenance and capital works. The in-house QS team already has an impressive set of achievements.

The scheme started in 2003.

VINCI has chosen to sponsor the QS Champion of the Year Award as an outward sign of the company’s commitment to best practice, innovation and health and safety excellence.

At VINCI we regularly review our business processes with a view to improving quality and productivity, the source of our financial results and growth. Our employees are encouraged to actively participate in this process through innovation and knowledge sharing in the pursuit of a continual drive for excellence, particularly in the areas of health, safety and environmental protection.

Sponsoring the Best In-House QS Team Award allows TH Associates to demonstrate its ongoing support of the commercial construction sector. Our success as a recruitment company is a direct result of our consultants’ ability to work together as a team within a multi-disciplined environment. The opportunity to support the Best In-House QS Team category enables us to applaud the importance of Team work adopted by effective organisations in construction.

TH Associates are specialists in recruitment services for the construction and engineering sectors. From two regional offices we deliver a professional bespoke service.

Employing industry experienced consultants we work closely with our customers to understand their needs and meet them. We are committed to building long-term relationships with our customers.

Source

QS News