Name: John Connell
Employer: Bovis Lend Lease
Project: Wells & More Project, Mortimer Street, London
Contract: JCT design and build
For tightness of site and imperilled logistics, John Connell’s scheme took the biscuit. Situated on a busy junction in the centre of London, cheek by jowl with occupied buildings as well as a working law court that required the construction of an acoustic wall, the project was also constrained by a section 60 noise control agreement.
The complexity and scope of the build, along with the adjacent structures, required major temporary works. Excavation went down eight metres below ground level and involved underpinning and facade retention before a start could be made on the substructure.
The demolition and substructure works alone occupied a year on a heavily congested site. John held safety leadership workshops every week, put site safety workshops in place, and personally helped inculcate a safety culture through one-to-ones with the workforce. The project came out of the ground with no injuries at all.
John minimised the risks by designing them out and adopting construction techniques that brought them within acceptable levels. He created and maintained a live risk register throughout the project, updating it monthly and involving the design and site team with it.
His risk model and procedures have since been adopted throughout Bovis and form the basis of a compulsory two-day workshop for the contractor’s higher site management.
With the client emphasising the need for quality, John made sure he understood the design vision from the outset by visiting previous projects and setting control samples as benchmarks. He based contract scopes on a no-defect strategy with dedicated snagging teams priced in at tender, and enforced it with quality checks and hold points. It resulted in all areas being handed over with minimal snagging.
He also made the project financially viable by value engineering £4m off the cost plan. While quality could not be sacrificed, he interrogated the design scope in fine detail. His successes included rationalising the structural reinforcement, reducing the spec in back-of-house areas, adapting the riser strategy, adopting a modular cladding solution and favouring offsite fabrication.
Value: £32.3m