Name: Neil Shanley MCIOB
Employer: Mace Ltd
Project: 49 Park Lane, London
Contract: Construction management
Original thinking that decisively addressed knotty problems was Neil Shanley’s hallmark.
The innovations came thick and fast. Neil proposed precast rear party walls and perimeter inner walls to remove hand-laid stone cladding from the critical path. Even more crucial was his suggestion of building the cores with bi-steel (prefabricated steel plates filled with concrete). Eight storeys were erected in just three days rather than the expected eight weeks.
Neil then put the bi-steel core to use as the ‘tower’ for the tower crane, eliminating holes through floors and water ingress. He put greybacks rather than blockwork behind the stone cladding to accelerate weatherproofing and increase the net lettable area.
He incorporated cellform primary beams for services to run through, reducing the ceiling void, eliminating internal columns and maximising the floor/ceiling height. He also had the wheeze of using the building’s existing vaults as onsite storage.
His planning was exceptional. After basement construction had begun, it became apparent that existing party walls encroached into the building line. Neil simply built the piers so that the steel frame above could start on programme and returned to the basement walls after the ground floor slab was complete. It prevented a four-week delay and saved £300K.
Neil used full-scale mockups to tease out the design, construction and quality issues. And when, partway through level five, the client deemed unacceptable the small areas of polished stone left by the stonemasons rubbing down the joints of the previously honed limestone, he acted fast. He found and brought in an experienced Italian firm to remove the polished effect, and mitigated the delay by adapting the scaffolding so work could continue at low levels.
Value: £25.8m