Name: Adrian Cooper
Employer: Kier Eastern
Project: The Thomas Paine Study Centre, University of East Anglia, Norwich
Contract: JCT 2005
As a new face to a valuable client who had been offering repeat business for seven years, Adrian Cooper knew that he had to impress. His confidence, his record and his evident ability did just that, and he won this contract for Kier.
Within weeks of submitting a price, he faced another big test. The client wanted £2m taken out of the budget or there would be no project at all. Adrian got to work on the value engineering, but the big win came from his proposing to drill the piles for phase II of the project (which had not yet got the go-ahead) while the piling rig was onsite for phase I. By drilling a further 35 piles, he was able to negotiate a lower rate per metre that helped reduce the budget to an acceptable level.
Then, at a relatively late stage in the design development, Adrian calmly absorbed the proposed integration into the build of a 2m-diameter and 30m-long Termoduct six metres underground. That the client ultimately decided not to proceed with it hardly mattered. What did matter was Adrian’s evident commitment to finding the most effective way to construct the duct. His hunger to excel was noted by an impressed client.
And when one of the project’s key suppliers went bust at the crucial construction stage, Adrian admirably and astutely managed the sourcing of structured insulated panels without collapsing the programme. He also absorbed a new internal fit-out brief as well as the contract for the phase II works at critical points during the project.
Value: £8.7m