Schal – 25 years on

Last night, whilst my beloved ‘Hammers’ were being unceremoniously dumped out of the UEFA Cup by the very talented Italian side Palermo, I was enjoying an extremely convivial evening with my ex-employers, the quintessential British project managers, Schal. It was their 25th birthday party and, as befits such a grand firm, it was held in the prestigious Royal Opera House. The room the actual gathering was held in was certainly funky, if not a tad difficult to find within the cavernous building that Schal were construction managers on during its multi-million pound refurbishment. Certainly had to climb a flight of stairs or two.

Well worth the trip up those stairs though and definitely worth the haul into London’s West End on a night of torrential rain. The people attending and the atmosphere generated were far from lofty and damp. Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I will always have great respect for Schal and its founders, Harold Schiff and Richard Halpern. For although Schal is now hallmarked by a style and approach that is as British in look and feel as the Henley Regatta, Schal’s origins are more ‘Superbowl’, as the firm originates from Chicago, USA. Alongside fellow American firm Lehrer McGovern, whose founders Peter Lehrer and Gene McGovern they had worked with at Construction Management (CM) originators, Morse Diesel, Schiff and Halpern were the pioneers of CM in the United Kingdom.

Reknown for their collaborative approach and resulting innovations, Schal’s pure operational management approach on behalf of the client was a major shift away from the traditional building contractor and the associated adversarial way of working. The now everyday term of package management and the ensuing all embracing procurement of men, plant and material for a construction project through a trade contractor, is all due to Mr. Schiff and Mr. Halpern getting involved in such major developments as Broadgate and Embankment Place.

Schal were also undertaking program management (as it is mis-spelt in ‘Americana’, along with center, not centre and of course Bush, not Liar!) back in the 1980s at Chicago O’Hare Airport. Way before it became a fashionable fad, as it would appear to be becoming, here in the UK.

They may have mis-spelt the approach, but Schal certainly knew a thing or two about programme management. When Bovis bought the original part of Schiff and Halpern’s firm, Schal Associates, in 1990, they did not waste anytime in setting up Bovis Program Management to undertake the strategic management of multiple, or serial, projects. Their legacy remains to this very day with Lend Lease Projects.

So, my thanks to Steve Child, current Director for Schal, and his team for so kindly inviting me and other ‘old boys’, plus a string of guests from the great and good of UK construction, to the wonderful Royal Opera House to celebrate Schal’s 25th birthday! Long may you thrive and continue to grace the British construction and property sector. It is definitely good to still have the ‘sons’ of arch innovators Schiff and Halpern on the scene.

And finally…

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Sir Winston Churchill