Name: Pieter Snyman
Employer: Ibex Interiors
Project: 11 Hill Street, Grade II Refurbishment, London
Contract: JCT 2005
Pieter Snyman ticked a big box on his five-year career plan with the completion of this scheme: promotion to project manager. It has also consolidated his reputation for successfully delivering complicated refurb projects that demand close attention to detail.
With Ibex setting up a new division to take on more specialised refurbs, Pieter identified his first management challenge as building team spirit among the professionals who met for the first time for the renovation of this four-storey Mayfair property and its superb Louis XV-style ballroom. He promoted open communication, gave high priority to team meetings, and made everyone aware of the status of the project. He also encouraged open forum discussions to respond to feedback from client, consultants and senior managers.
Pieter likewise motivated the carefully selected subcontractors by keeping them briefed on all programme and design issues. It helped mesh them into the project and share its goals.
Pieter’s positive demeanour and can-do determination set the template for sound working relationships. He took a proactive approach to overcoming the surprises and never hesitated to make a firm decision.
He drew specialist subcontractors into pre-contract value-engineering workshops to achieve better and more cost-effective buildability. It kept the contract within the budget and restricted the scale of change during the construction phase.
For example, he built an extension to the roof carcass and cladded it with sound-absorbent boarding rather than build a bespoke acoustic screen to shield the air-handling plant. And he used the crawler space within the new mansard roof as a route for services to eliminate unsightly pipework on the floors.
Always up to speed about the programme and sequencing of works, Pieter was in full control all the way through this project. The success of his leadership is clear from that coveted promotion and his appointment to run the project next door, which started immediately this one finished.