RESTORATION & CONSERVATION

GOLD

A ship rather than a building, technically complex works, a budget set in stone, a site that had to remain open to the public during works, and an ever-present gaggle of conservators and archaeologists slap-bang in the middle of the site it’s no wonder that many contractors saw this project as a huge risk and steered clear. But Jason Hunt saw past the problems to the opportunities it could open for Bluestone.

Hunt brought to the project an exceptional level of personal commitment and dedication, making himself available, like the Bristol attraction itself, every day bar Christmas Day.

Professional, open and co-operative, Hunt seamlessly brought the client and design team together, ensuring that problems were dealt with in a timely way and that no one took a defensive position over them.

The ship, the first large steam vessel ever built, had been rusting away in a dry dock for 35 years. To arrest the corrosion, Hunt had to install 1,000m2 of watertight glass plate horizontally between the irregular edges of the dry dock and the ship’s hull, sealing it perfectly, and shoehorn a very large dehumidification plant into a very tight space below the glass plate, to bring the relative humidity to below 20%. The idea was that 5cm of dock water would flow over the top of the vast glass plate to give the impression that the ship was floating.

Hunt’s knowledge guided the design team in solving many of the technical problems. He remained acutely aware that once the budget was spent no more money would be available, and he attended every design development discussion to keep the client aware of the
financial implications, constantly value-engineering to get as near as possible to the design aspirations while remaining within the cost plan and forestalling potentially catastrophic difficulties.

Hunt’s special contributions included overcoming the technical complexity of air handling in a very special ship, and paying constant attention to safety. The ship had to be kept open to visitors (so the client could continue generating income) during the entire contract period, and Hunt’s hard-hat site tours were extremely popular without ever jeopardising safety (there was not a single reportable accident on the project).

Completion on time and within the available budget merely masks the tremendous challenges Hunt overcame to deliver the project,
winning the client’s total admiration in the process.

SILVER

The most critical of all Bernard Talbot’s achievements on this project was his mastery of the technical issues. Faced with the predicted collapse of this 200-year-old structure, the earliest remaining textile mill designed to run on steam power, Talbot proposed and delivered a viable solution for strengthening the foundations. His alterations to the concrete pour sequencing and plant (the machines were fitted with catalytic converters to reduce emissions) achieved significant savings in time and budget and, even more crucially, greatly reduced the health and safety risks.

His technical expertise also brought benefits when it became clear that the original plan to fix and glaze the windows on a floor-by-floor basis would take far longer than planned because scaffold ties would have to be used at every window opening. Talbot solved this by threading the ties through the window frames, so the team didn’t have to go back and glaze the windows after the scaffold had been stripped.

Talbot engendered a genuine feeling that the project was a real team effort and that the team included the client. Despite the traditional contract, he quickly established a partnering mentality, with an open book approach and good rapport throughout the design team. His confidence and enthusiasm were contagious and inspiring, and client representatives found site workers astonishingly well informed about the project and admirably proud of it.

A supportive leader, Talbot brought a feelgood factor and regularly went beyond the call of duty. Rather than keep the public away from the active site, he (and site volunteers) opened it on a Saturday, allowing 300 visitors to see what was taking place.

Talbot also contributed to the education of local young people through the local support organisation and the client. He personally conducted site tours for local schoolchildren, explaining the project in a way they could identify with, and offered a series of skills taster days at the site to local teenagers.

All this, plus quality and adherence to budget and programme, makes Talbot an exceptional construction manager.

HIGHLY COMMENDED

Matthew Hamilton (Harry Neal) for the restoration of the Garrick Club, Covent Garden, London; Peter Marsh (Bewley Homes) for Avalon, Douai Abbey, Woolhampton; Ray Willis (Galliford Try) for the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies; Geoffrey Wright MCIOB (HBG Construction) for Sheffield City Hall.