Name: Nicholas Heath MCIOB
Employer: Willmott Dixon Construction
Project: Loughborough Courthouse
Contract: JCT 2005
Positive and enthusiastic, proactive and conscientious, calm and collected even in the frenetic closing stages, Nick Heath delivered an excellent project to an exceptionally high standard.
Quality was an inexorable demand on one of the country’s most impressive new civic buildings. Through diligent hard work, attention to detail and firm focus, Nick successfully translated the user’s ultra-specific and exacting specifications into a buildable format.
The project achieved the tight tolerances (+3% on the planned dimensions) for the courtrooms and holding areas only because of the detailed attention Nick paid to getting the spec right in the build. Indeed, he was so successful in achieving the rigorous acoustic specification that the court areas required extra privacy background noise.
Despite the multiple interfaces between materials of different characteristics – the facade included high-quality stone masonry, decorative curtain walling and copper cladding – Nick overcame the extra potential for failing the air and acoustic tests, and achieved the excellent BREEAM rating required.
He backed up the quality controls with robust detailing, and brought about the close involvement of the 80 subcontractors early on. He constructed a sample room three months before practical completion to set the quality standards required.
Through firm control and dedicated planning, Nick successfully incorporated many late design changes into the scheme. Variations included external lighting to satisfy a planning requirement for public art, installing a large external crest signage that needed the support of the structural frame, and alteration to the access control and CCTV system following a review of the building’s operations management.
Nick’s client liaison was excellent, and he had a good understanding of what the stakeholders wanted from the project. His thorough understanding of the risks, such as the exacting build tolerances that could have derailed the scheme and the time overruns threatened by major variations, avoided costly delays and brought in this landmark building to a very happy client and users.