Finalist |
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Category: Projects £7-10m Name: Kevin Morrallee Company: ROK Building Project: Oakgrove School phase 1B, Milton Keynes Contract: JCT 1998 |
Trust was the crux of this project for Kevin Morrallee following the failure of previous school projects in the area to complete on time.
Recognising that open, honest and respectful relationships were essential to client confidence, Kevin did his utmost to build them. To promote open two-way communications, he held a fortnightly meeting with all stakeholders which included a guided tour of the site.
Kevin was completely open in his assessment of risks to the project, including his own problems. His open reporting highlighted a delay early in the programme as a result of the nominated steel contractor's slow progress. Kevin was proactive in reviewing the construction programme, resequencing the following trades to pull back the delay.
He drew the wider team together, optimising supplier collaboration through team-building exercises, and ensuring that relationships did not clash and undermine morale and productivity. Kevin selected tried and trusted subcontractors, involving them in the early planning stages to enhance accuracy, protect delivery dates and budgets, and drive innovation and value engineering.
Winning the support of the 30 subcontractors ultimately proved crucial to Kevin's success. For example, when the client issued a late instruction to lay the foundations for the next project phase, the team managed to deliver the work within the original project time frame.
And while the extra foundation work obviously raised the tender value, Kevin did sterling work in incorporating value engineering in planning and material selection to keep control of the budget while pushing quality.
For example, he reduced initial decoration and ongoing maintenance costs by procuring prefinished Latvian birch-faced plywood strong enough to withstand a teenager's best efforts. He brought down energy overheads by installing solar-reflective panels and altering the plant room to improve efficiency. And he minimised future disruption by installing additional telecoms and IT cabling in preparation for later project phases.
By handing over a high-quality project within the budget and, more importantly, bang on time, Kevin delighted the client, which made up for poor media coverage on other projects with a highly successful press launch and open day.
