Name: Terry Hughes
Employer: Laing O'Rourke
Project: The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield
Contract: JCT 2005
‘Innovative’ does little justice either to this project or to Terry Hughes’ leadership of it.
The technical challenge of this once-in-a-lifetime iconic scheme, designed by a signature architect, was immense. The building was a conglomeration of different-size concrete blocks, with rooflines tumbling in two planes, perfectly aligned internal finishings, and huge metal overclad doors set in walls with no frames. And that wasn’t all. Part of the building lay in the river and the facade employed a self-compacting pigmented concrete never before used in the UK.
Terry incorporated a strong engineering presence on his team and interrogated the design proposals with rigour. His approach generated nearly 2,000 technical proposals to address the construction and detailing issues. It promoted buildability, prevented abortive works and mitigated delay.
With the building downstream of a 4m-high weir, he instigated a river survey that showed a much higher than anticipated flood risk. Terry significantly reduced it by increasing the height of the cofferdam despite the additional cost.
He then made significant cost savings by switching from a precast facade to an in situ solution. It took courage and conviction to take on the well-documented difficulties of achieving an excellent finish direct from the form for such a large expanse of concrete. But Terry delivered a stupendous finish through a rigorous test regime of materials, workmanship and design.
He also successfully revised the methodology for constructing a bridge across the river. By assembling the bridge and lifting it in one piece onsite, he saved the client £250K.
Value: £23m