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Category: Projects £15-25m Name: Colin Williams MCIOB Company: HBG Construction Project: Cardiac wing, Southampton Hospital Contract: GC Works 1 1998 with quantities |
Told in no uncertain terms at the outset that the client would not tolerate the unacceptable experiences it had suffered at the hands of other contractors, Colin Williams had the hospital trust eating out of his hand by the end of this job.
After three years of Colin's calm management, all-round construction excellence and cultivation of excellent communications, the client had moved from initial suspicion to taking the unprecedented step of making HBG its ProCure21 contractor. Both during the contract period and after practical completion, the trust awarded HBG, which is now its contractor of choice, additional works worth over £75m.
Colin's extraordinary success came on the back of extraordinary achievement. He undertook demolition, internal piling, refurbishment of existing hospital facilities and temporary relocation of existing medical services – all high-impact activities in an intensive-use environment – as an “invisible” contractor. Before employing key subcontractors, he sought proof they fully understood the site constraints and rules.
He drafted in a management team that could keep a firm grip on finance and construction, administration and planning. Colin took the pivotal role of contact man between all parties – the client, the client's project manager, the design team and the construction team – and made sure that working relationships were strong.
He personally introduced and chaired the weekly liaison, information flow and review meetings to co-ordinate the whole construction process smoothly and ensure no skeletons emerged from the cupboard at the end of the job.
Warned of the notorious appetite of hospital clients for change and last-minute variations, Colin got agreement on an adequate method of recording changes and subsequent costs. Even better, the mutual trust developed in the early stages allowed him to undertake most additional works (and there were plenty) without contractual documentation being in place. And when major client-driven changes and delays did occur, Colin proved more than equal to reorganising the programme and rescheduling to prevent delay.
An immensely persuasive leader, Colin sold the client the benefits of splitting all service-related activities from first-fix to final commissioning. As with the rest of the project, the hospital's initial misgivings and reluctance gave way to such a complete acceptance of the benefits that it now insists on direct procurement for all its works.
