Name: Christopher Ryder MCIOB
Employer: Kier Build
Project: Failsworth School, Manchester
Christopher Ryder’s first ever PFI scheme was the project from hell. When he arrived onsite, it had gone through three project managers in a year, the groundworks contractor was in receivership, the programme had slipped by eight weeks, and some areas were 12 weeks behind. With only nine months to go, a dejected project team had begun to doubt whether it could deliver and the client was starting to suspect the same.
Chris rapidly assessed and absorbed the situation. His can-do determination, cool leadership and composed engagement with stakeholders galvanised the team. He reshaped the programme and focused resources on the areas that required the most fitting out. Within weeks the project had been transformed from a scene of stagnation to furious and purposeful activity.
His introduction of a single-coat spray-on plaster clawed back four weeks for the programme and gave earlier access to the M&E contractor. He then shrank the steel frame installation for the roof from three weeks to one by using mobile cranes rather than a single static crane as originally envisaged.
When the concrete frame subcontractor went bust, Chris quickly reorganised the site teams to safeguard the key construction activities.
The bankruptcy of the subcontractor designing the clear plastic membrane for Europe’s largest single-span ETFE roof played out another nightmare scenario. Chris immediately brought another roof specialist on board, and took the opportunity to redesign the flawed steel roof frame. He then got the three key roof interface subcontractors together to agree a programme that required intricate co-ordination.
He did it all under severe site constraints. The new school’s footprint covered half the site area, and it was surrounded by the old but still fully functioning school whose split sites meant that all the pupils walked past the construction works three times a day. Yet safety was never compromised, and the project completed 500,000 man-hours worked without a single notifiable incident or accident.
Responsible, reasonable, cheerful, quick to grasp technical detail, calm and confident, Chris delivered what had seemed so improbable when he first arrived onsite. He never attempted to benefit at the client’s expense and resolved every point of conflict to produce a win-win solution. Not only did he achieve budget and programme, he also handed over a building whose quality exceeded the ambitions of client and stakeholders.