Name: Peter Roberts MCIOB
Employer: Wates Construction
Project: HM Prison Winchester “C” Wing Redevelopment
Contract: PPC 2000
Peter Roberts didn’t so much exceed as comprehensively outstrip expectations on this project. He completed an eye-popping five weeks early and £800k under budget, while still delivering quality and a perfect safety record.
With Peter implementing lean planning techniques for the first time at the client’s request, the concomitant weekly rescheduling and critical path analysis proved instrumental in achieving the target programme. Three weeks behind at the start of the superstructure, due to unforeseen ground conditions and structural issues, the project still finished five weeks ahead of the contract completion date.
Because he took the time to consider how the prison operated, he was able to challenge the suggested access route. His alternative involved less work, saved six weeks and £165k, improved vehicle access and holding arrangements, and involved less disruption for the prison.
Unimpressed with the precast concrete panels at his inspection of the supplier’s factory, he repeated his visits to ensure consistency, and rigorously applied finish checks to ensure quality. He knew his efforts had paid off when a fellow project manager mistakenly thought the walls had been plastered. He handed over the completed prison wing defect-free and virtually snag-free.
When it sank in that he really did want operatives to work safely and get home uninjured, the workforce responded positively to his safety culture. To overcome the frustrations of no onsite parking, he laid on a shuttle bus from a park-and-ride point; it was so successful that he to order a bigger bus and lay on an extra canteen for the numbers arriving early on it.
Peter also proved a very effective communicator. His weekly liaison meetings with key prison stakeholders co-ordinated the prison’s operational requirements so smoothly with the project’s need for escorts that the prison “hardly knew they were there” as far as the governor was concerned. In the context of demolishing and replacing one entire wing of a building in operation 24/7 − the first time that such a project had been attempted in the UK − that’s praise of the highest order.
Value: £12m