Name: Saverio Cataldo MCIOB
Employer: Marriott Construction (part of Kier Regional Ltd)
Project: Liberty Living Student Accommodation, Polhill Campus, University of Bedfordshire
Contract: JCT 98
On Sev Cataldo’s exemplary delivery of this project, the delays and quality issues experienced by the client on past student accommodation schemes were banished.
Determined that the design and construction process should be totally transparent, Sev openly discussed all challenges that arose with all key team members. His face-to-face approach to resolving problems and conflicts eliminated the protracted correspondence that so often fuels adversarial relationships.
Sev used his good relationships with subcontractors to harness and combine their knowledge and put it to good use. It engendered an atmosphere of trust, co-operation and a free flow of ideas, and guaranteed a stream of invaluable design and cost advice before site start.
His early involvement of key subcontractors was essential to achieving what had initially looked impossible in the time period available. Likewise, his insistence on putting in that extra design effort early on to complete the major elements well in advance of construction brought the ultimate dividend of completion a week early. And that was with a programme already shortened by five weeks due to the client’s determination, following its past experiences of delays on similar projects, to build in a buffer period.
Sev’s fine leadership was buttressed by excellent technical insight and cool management of programme risk. He eliminated all the timber support work originally proposed for the blocks’ rainscreen cladding in favour of a simplified Metsec system. It proved more cost-effective and faster to build, bringing rapid weather tightness and taking the cladding off the critical path.
He dispensed with large amounts of scaffolding by erecting the Metsec off scissor lifts. By pushing for a slight modification in the metal framing, he also eliminated the need for scaffold edge protection, which produced a substantial saving in labour, time and costs.
Sev delivered this project to budget, five weeks ahead of the originally programmed completion date and – astonishingly, given the tight time scale and the 700 rooms constructed – defect-free. The delighted client is understandably keen to work with Marriott again and has approached the company about future projects.