Name: Nick Abbey MCIOB
Employer: Mace Plus Ltd
Project: Marks & Spencer, The Pantheon, Oxford Street , London
Contract: M&S design & build
It could have all gone horribly wrong on this cut, carve and refurb of a flagship store. That it resulted in an unmitigated success owes a great deal to Nick Abbey.
But as construction began, it all looked very different. The original Construction Manager contractor had been replaced, the site was a live retail environment, the programme was sacrosanct to meet trading demands, and successive redevelopments of the building had left few records of service locations.
And during the course of the project, major problems outside Nick’s control further complicated matters. An arsonist burnt down the building next door, while a burst in a hot-water pipe adjacent to the high-voltage substation cut all the site power and flooded a large part of one floor.
Parachuted in just before construction started onsite, Nick not only had to integrate himself into the existing design and construction teams, but also register a success for a relatively new company embarking on its first major project with M&S.
He immediately imposed his leadership. His client-first approach was vital in an environment where customers interacted with the project on a daily basis. It also won him the support of the client, which allowed him to bring the novated design team properly under the control of the project team.
Highly visible and widely respected by the site team, Nick championed open communication, clearly defined roles and the desire to deliver. To redress the numerous design freeze milestones missed by the highly fluid project, he held Monday morning workshops so the designers could inspect progress and resolve the key information issues.
He ensured key members of the day and night shifts overlapped so nothing would be lost in the handover. He managed the notoriously difficult issue of quality in a live environment by insisting on the use of quality assurance handover sheets. At the end of each night shift there were also client sign-offs that works had been correctly completed prior to customer use.
Nick’s focus and clear direction, proactive problem solving, can-do attitude, technical knowledge and excellent communications delivered this difficult project on time (a time extension was granted for a large client variation to the basement), within cost and to the quality criteria. An outstanding individual who got the best from the team, Nick has put Mace Plus on the M&S framework across the country on the back of his success on this project.