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Category: Projects £4-7m Name: Andrew Smith Company: Willmott Dixon Construction Project: Green End School, Manchester Contract: NEC option C |
"There are no problems, only solutions,” Andrew Smith informed his team for this exceptionally challenging project. Clearly, he convinced them, delivering an exemplary building as one of the first schemes under Willmott Dixon's framework agreement with Manchester Council.
The difficulties were very real. Andrew had to build a 2,000 sq m building on a tight 2,400 sq m site in an area of very dense terraced housing. The campus site contained other live facilities. He had to take another £70,000 out of a building whose cost plan had already been brought down from £5.2m to an agreed maximum price of £4.6m. And he needed to establish the best of relationships with the new head of the new school (which replaced a pair of failing schools whose heads had just retired).
Determined and driven, Andrew still showed great calmness under pressure. When the client required the redesign and relocation of the lift shaft and the rewiring of the classrooms midway through construction, Andrew took personal pride and professional delight in delivering the changes without risk to budget or programme. He brought the architect and wiring subcontractor back to site to start their work again within a now tighter timescale.
He brilliantly closed out financial and design risk. Concerned that fitting a suspended ceiling to the 9m-high atrium would be costly, look wrong and have serious implications for maintenance access, Andrew proposed a floating ceiling instead. The low-maintenance alternative gave a further benefit to the project: by fitting an acoustic quilt to its upper side, Andrew was able to save £20,000 by dispensing with the original soundproofing design.
Through his diligent value engineering, along with superior design risk management, a teamwork ethos and an excellent client relationship, Andrew brought this project in £100,000 under budget, with the savings shared between client and contractor. Yet the large cost saving belies the stupendous quality of the building, which incorporates rainwater harvesting, natural ventilation, sunpipes and solar panels, and has already collected a slew of architectural awards.
Through imagination, flexibility, a willingness to accept responsibility, a sense of humour and that all-important determination to come up with answers rather than obstacles, Andrew has achieved a triumph in the teeth of adversity.
