Name: Andrew Pilling ICIOB
Employer: Lend Lease
Project: Marsden Heights Community College, Nelson, Lancs
The headteacher of this school describes the experience of seeing Andrew Pilling in action as an education in calm yet demanding leadership. You can see his point. Andrew was the model of the consummate professional.
He dealt firmly but courteously with concerns raised by members of the public. Local residents had formed an action group to stop the schemes, and many were seemingly implacably hostile to the project. By taking their concerns seriously and dealing with problems head on, Andrew won their respect and gradual acceptance of the project.
Because he gave the users full controlled access to the project as it took shape, the need to implement changes came to light earlier in the programme rather than later. It gave users peace of mind that their requests were being carefully fed into the construction process.
Andrew took pains to learn the lessons of previous PFI school projects in the area, regularly visiting previous sites. He adopted a pragmatic and successful approach to completing works out of sequence to meet funding requirements. And he drove his team to complete four weeks ahead of programme.
Value: £26.8m