Name: Graham Kingdon
Employer: BAM Construction
Project: Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth
Contract: GC/Works/1
This project benefited greatly from Graham Kingdon’s firm hand. With the Danish concept architect for the iconic structure struggling to come to grips with British regulations, Graham recovered the position while staying true to the concept, and became the main focus for driving the design process forward.
He established open lines of communication and ensured the team met at least once a week to keep on track and address issues. Assisted by the core construction team from a previous successful contract with the client, he helped foster good team spirit, backing it up with evenings out and fishing trips.
Throughout the contract, Graham consulted with specialists at every opportunity. He appointed the main subcontractors early to help develop the design where interfaces were critical.
Graham continuously developed the project risk register, using it to focus the team on the big issues and to ensure all parties bought into mitigation measures. It helped drive the strategy to deliver the complex envelope by procuring the copper roof and curtain walling packages through a two-stage tender that resolved all the design interfaces at an early stage.
His decision to undertake an enabling works package was vindicated when it turned up archaeological finds, old bomb craters and uncharted asbestos-lined air raid shelters that could have jeopardised the main works.
And when he lost 10 weeks on the concrete frame construction, Graham clawed it back by changing the roof build-up to gain initial weather resistance on time, and replacing scaffold with cradles to minimise the internal areas restricted by propping.
He kept the project financially viable by value-engineering the core and circulation space. Lowering the building height by rationalising roof plant space and using a post-tensioned concrete frame that saved another £2m.
He also successfully managed client expectations by building full-size mock-ups of the exposed concrete and services to fully agree the specification. It established quality benchmarks and was extended to the construction of sample rooms.
Graham delivered the budget, the schedule and the quality to a well-satisfied client.