Name: Simon Sutcliffe
Employer: BAM Construction
Project: The Rose Bowl, Leeds Metropolitan University
Contract: GC Works
Any construction manager who can leave a client smitten by their brilliance is clearly special. But Simon Sutcliffe’s achievement is even more notable given that he has managed the feat in a sector
where clients are notoriously demanding.
As so often, relationships are at the heart of the success. Simon gave his team the confidence to admit mistakes and highlight concerns, knowing that he would be looking for a solution rather than someone to blame.
His excellent leadership was demonstrated in a non-confrontational style. He involved and motivated the stakeholders without resorting to threats or heated exchanges. Yet he held his own robustly, even with the client, deploying sound reasoning and an involved team to reach the right result.
The trust and co-operation he built among the wider team were instrumental in achieving the value engineering that found the £2m savings needed to make the project viable. Best value came from such initiatives as reducing the detailing of the brise soleil and entrance, and rationalising the lightweight stone cladding.
Simon’s successful nurturing of a can-do ethos and collaboration kept the whole team focused on the construction schedule, absorbing the many variations and additions instructed by the client. And when the ground anchors failed on the piles, imposing a four-week delay, Simon reassessed the programme and recovered the loss by rescheduling key areas of work.
He exuded quality and professionalism. In delivering a brilliant project, Simon carried off the best possible symbol of the client’s esteem: the award of its next project (the Carnegie Pavilion), letting him proceed seamlessly from one flagship scheme to another.
Value: £36.2m