Name: Stuart Leslie
Employer: Kier Northern
Project: Defra, King's Pool Refresh, York
Contract: NEC 3
Unlike the usual refurb, where the construction manager gets unfettered control of at least an entire floor, the users on Stuart Leslie’s scheme remained at work on each floor as it was being remodelled. The client was also in a state of transition, with continual changes in department size and function throwing spanner after spanner in the project’s 22 phases. Areas of work identified for a succeeding phase were often changed at very short notice, with obvious effects on staffing and materials, not to mention the technical implications.
Stuart rose to the fluidity of the challenge with a juggling act of huge sophistication. He revised the master programme 19 times in total, including twice for major client-requested accelerations. His methods of working within a high-occupancy building were so effective that even in periods of acceleration users would ask whether any construction activities were actually happening. And he still managed to hand over every single one of the 22 phases defect-free and on time.
He recognised the complexity of the works would require close co-ordination between the construction disciplines, and accordingly adopted an all-for-one approach. He made the site offices an open plan and integrated business, and championed a total teamwork approach founded on understanding and respect. He also ensured a co-operative proactive tone was maintained by banning unhelpful comments.
Stuart derived best value by extending the main contract’s pain/gain mechanism to all subcontractor packages. It generated continuous value engineering with such success that the project finished £2.5m under target cost.
Value: £15.2m