Sport wins in the End

It was less about building and more like "a piece of social engineering" says Robert Ebdon, head of project management at CM Parker Browne. The assertion is less far fetched than it sounds. He is talking about the Mile End Park Leisure Complex, which his firm project managed and handed over in February.

The sports centre is in the heart of a large Muslim community and it's also in what's known as the UK's poorest borough, Tower Hamlets in London. These two factors presented a series of challenges for CMPB throughout the project.

Tower Hamlets saw the Mile End scheme as a catalyst for improving the lifestyle and health of local people, particularly the Bangladeshi Muslim population. The council believed a major factor putting local Muslims off sport was a lack of both private changing areas and male/female-only exercise facilities.

"The brief they gave us and the design team was very much focused on encouraging people to play sport and to do it in private," explains Ebdon.

Even before CMPB looked at the design problems this presented, the unusual brief threatened the project's source of funding. Tower Hamlets was covering around a third of the £15m needed to build the scheme and another third was coming from the Millennium Commission, Ocean New Deal for Communities and Football Foundation. But the project needed to secure an extra £5.5m from Sport England and the body was dragging its feet.

The plan for the sports centre went against Sport England's philosophy: "They usually promote openness in sport: glass windows in pools and squash courts so everyone can see sport happening," says Ebdon. Sport England also had to adjust to the fact that the building's footprint was much larger than an average structure housing similar sports facilities. This was because its changing areas comprise dozens of individual cubicles and the building features a number of intricate door and wall mechanisms allowing exercise rooms, pools and entrance routes to be separated off at times.

"We had to say to Sport England that we would be spending more and doing things differently on this project," says Ebdon.

We had to say to Sport England that we would be spending more and doing things differently

Robert Ebdon, head of project management, CM Parker Browne

CMPB also had to work at an accelerated pace. This was because the project had been talked about for such a long time that certain funders had threatened to pull out if Tower Hamlets failed to get the scheme moving. As a result CMPB was appointed in August 2002 and told to have a planning application ready by December.

"To get a project of that size and nature to planning that quick is not an easy job," Ebdon says. Nonetheless, two months later a QS (Nigel Rose & Partners) and design team had been appointed through an accelerated OJEU procedure.

As part of the selection process CMPB visited a string of sports centres around the UK designed by different architects. Ebdon settled on Limbrick. "The other architects were making real design statements, but Limbrick understood we needed to stretch every penny, they recognised instantly that this project was about added value," he says.

"By the 13th of December we had the scheme," says Ebdon. After implementing some changes to the scheme, involving the sports hall and stipulated by Sport England, the project got planning permission and progressed to the detailed design stage in the latter half of 2003.

CMPB wanted to use a two-stage design and build procurement route. The plan was to invite six contractors to tender based on prelims and a schedule of tender rates, then to shortlist three of them. Again, CMPB had a fight on its hands with Sport England, whose standard procurement documentation says that a lump sum should be negotiated with the contractor. "They wanted to base things on maximum price," says Ebdon, "but in my view that invites contractors to price in risk and shove a lump sum on top of their price."

He says: "We had a good design and the beauty of the two stage tender process is you involve contractors and then at the second stage you sit down closely with them and get to know them, while they get to know the job and the risks, and you end up with an appropriate price."

The brief they gave us was very much focused on encouraging people to play sport and to do it in private

Robert Ebdon, head of project management, CM Parker Browne

Ebdon eventually won over Sport England by writing a paper on procurement. "We really held out on Sport England on that. But we were getting on so well with the contractor (Jackson Construction) and they'd been helping our design team."

Accordingly, Jackson Construction joined the project team towards the end of 2003 and work started on site at the end of May 2004.

The project faced another problem when bad weather in Spring 2004 delayed construction. As a result work was completed in December when it was supposed to finish in autumn.

But the leisure centre still opened on schedule in February 2006. Ebdon says this was achieved by concentrating the time operator Greenwich Leisure was given to move into the premises. Ebdon says the project is also on budget. "We are still going through the final account but we are not envisaging any shocks. Negotiations are going to plan with Jacksons and they are in the process of agreeing final accounts with about a hundred subcontractors."

Sport England has even asked Tower Hamlets to write a paper on the project, which it plans to hold up as a beacon of good practice.

Ebdon puts the scheme's success down to a tight project team, which socialised together and swiftly resolved disputes. "We were the contract administrators and our policy was to deal with issues as they arose. There were arguments, but they were always straightforward to resolve because we were able to talk to one another."