Name: Mike Baynham ICIOB
Employer: Carillion Building
Project: SWALEC Cricket Stadium, Cardiff
Contract: JCT 98
Cost control is essential on all projects but notoriously difficult on sports grounds, where horror stories of schemes going way beyond budget have caused many a sleepless night for construction company chief executives. Mike Baynham was determined that his redevelopment of Glamorgan Cricket Ground would not feature in the long annals of stadium disasters.
He accordingly devoted a great deal of energy to value-engineering, trimming the budget by over £300,000. He also kept the quantity surveyor up to date on any programme, construction or procurement issue that affected cashflow and final cost reporting.
But it was Mike’s masterly planning and risk management that repeatedly saved the day, and the all-important bottom line.
For example, the client wanted early sectional completion of the stands to provide seating for its participation in the Twenty20 competition, a major revenue earner. Aware that delivering the stands could deflect the main thrust of the project, Mike held detailed negotiations with the client to control the number and location of seats, as well as access to them, so that the overall project goals were not compromised.
Mike also effectively closed out the major risk that the precast concrete terracing units for the stands would not arrive on schedule. He devoted a great deal of time and energy to meeting production staff and constantly chasing to ensure factory output kept up with project requirements.
And when those units started arriving complete with numerous chips, spalls and bumps, Mike instigated a series of check sheets so his engineers could log each delivery, its driver and the defects. By doing so he kept this key element in the critical path on course while enabling the project to recover costs for the subsequent making good.
Whatever the issue, Mike dealt with it. When it transpired that the client wanted to incorporate over £500,000 of fit-out within the construction period rather than after practical completion, he developed a fit-out tracker matrix that let him control the multitude of interconnecting specialists.
Calm, organised, enthusiastic and focused, Mike gave the client confidence early on that he would deliver a world-class cricket stadium on time and to budget, and that is exactly what he did.