Name: Edward Larkin MCIOB
Employer: Bovis Lend Lease
Project: British Forces Post Office, RAF Northolt, Ruislip
Contract: Defence Estates Prime
d Larkin carried off with aplomb this one-off opportunity to design and build a 3,000 square metre HQ building and a 7,000 square metre mail sorting hall.
Recognising the need for a good working partnership with the end user, Ed took the time to listen to and understand the needs of the station, nurturing and managing relationships with great success. He also patiently explained the construction details to BFPO representatives, and managed their expectations.
The resulting close working relationships were crucial to Ed’s ability to understand how best to deliver the contract, which turned on striking the right balance between manual sorting and an exceptionally high level of automation.
Ed set a pattern of liaison and partnership that was greatly prized by the client, particularly in the light of a long line of other proposed projects at the airbase. He also successfully changed attitudes and working practices among those suppliers with no experience of prime contracting to build an integrated team that worked openly and collaboratively.
As well as triumphing in the soft issues that were key for this project, Ed led the charge to close out construction and design risk as early as possible. He initiated and managed value and option studies for both the building and the mail equipment solutions, improving affordability and certainty. Buildability solutions included rationalisation of excavation cut and fill by adjusting the building level, and revising the site layout to improve traffic flow.
Short-notice changes caused by military airfield operations exacerbated the logistic and health and safety difficulties presented by an airside site in close proximity to a live runway. Despite this, and the introduction of significant post-contract variations during construction, Ed kept on top of the programme.
His careful and innovative planning minimised the inevitable delays. And by instigating extended pre-move equipment trials and partial handovers, he ensured BFPO completed the bulk of its transfer from its outgrown London sites in time for the run-up to Christmas, BFPO’s busiest period of the year.