New Build / Refurbishment Projects Over £7M to £10M

In his first role as project manager, Ben Moylan has given a convincing demonstration of informed decision-making, commitment, drive and effective management.

Having worked as package manager on a previous phase of this project, Ben profited from his client team knowledge and took a hands-on approach to interrogating the design and offering value-engineering solutions.

He re-engineered the drainage design to cut its heavy expense. He substituted cladding for bricks, and altered the levels to allow ramp access to replace the scissor lifts. He simplified the roof build-up system and the steelwork, cut down on the ductwork, external lighting and landscaping, and reduced the amount of piling required by accurately locating the position of an existing cutting.

The resulting savings were essential for the client to expand the scheme from a planned seven units to 10. And once the extra units were given the planning go-ahead, Ben delivered the client’s budget needs by using cladding rather than render, fair-faced concrete in place of faced brickwork, and as simplified a steel frame as practicable.

His knowledge of the ground conditions and site treatments stood him in good stead in assessing some of the design as overcomplicated. The resulting simplifications helped him achieve a testing programme.

He ambitiously lopped six weeks off the timetable for the original seven-unit scheme, and then accommodated the main tenant’s desire for earlier fit-out access, even though it meant constructing the rest of the units as the store was preparing for opening. And even when the final scheme expanded to 10 units, he stuck to the original programme.

He also reduced muck-away movements through extensive soil remediation. By using a thicker capping layer on top of an existing cutting filled with contaminated waste, he eliminated the need to remove it. Likewise, foundations from the demolition were crushed and reused onsite for trench backfill and cut and fill.

Value: £7m