Name: Thady Gallagher
Employer: Carillion Building
Project: HM Prison Edinburgh Phase 3
Contract: GC/Works 1
Few projects can offer a clearer demonstration that the construction manager has won the complete trust of the client. Entering the fourth and final phase in this five-year project, Thady Gallagher was given the ultimate accolade by his prison service client when it allowed him to take the keys whenever he liked and access the live prison without a security escort.
It was the first time the client had ever shown such faith in an outside contractor. And it felt so encouraged by Thady’s exemplary use of the privilege that six months later it security-trained and issued keys to three other members of his team.
The excellence of Thady’s client relationship was based on his utterly professional outlook on this job. He led the bid team that successfully tendered for the first phase, and then won each successive phase against stiff competition through sterling performance each time.
Thady had the insight and the confidence to challenge construction orthodoxies. Blessed with communication skills of the highest calibre he was able to overturn an entrenched mindset and convince the client that security could be achieved by innovative means. He questioned the traditional design assumptions of concrete or blockwork and plaster walls, and together with the client developed a drywall solution.
He also radically altered the overall external design. He successfully argued that the working environment of prison staff did not have to differ so greatly from those of other office workers, and that only certain aspects of user operations required high security as their dominant feature.
The result of his bold initiatives is a prison that sits within a smaller footprint than its predecessor, is more visually acceptable to the surrounding community, is cheaper to operate, and has better facilities for all users, both staff and prisoners. His undoubted success − not to mention that all-important trust factor − has helped Carillion secure the contract for the client’s next major project, the first phase of the Shotts Prison redevelopment.
Value: £51.2m