Finalist |
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Category: Projects under £4m |
A nine-month fast-track programme to build a three-storey office block is nothing exceptional, but when partway through construction the client also asks for tenant fit-out for one of the floors six weeks in advance of completion, it needs someone special to deliver.
Aware that the timescale could no longer be achieved with brick and block cavity walls, the inspirational Nick Ford proposed using rainscreen cladding off a Metsec steel frame. It took bricklaying off the critical path and made the building watertight far faster so that the internal works could begin six weeks earlier than planned to meet the tenant fit-out requirement.
Naturally, the structural substitution required substantial detailing changes, which Nick had to keep on top of and on track, and still left him with the stiff challenge of co-ordinating multiple trades in a short programme. He did it by leading by example and adopting a hands-on approach wherever possible. He promoted collaboration within his project team and never stinted on praise wherever it was due.
Nick took just as much care to keep the client onside. When the ground floor tenant asked for its fit-out subcontractor to start before completion of the main build, Nick granted access. He worked closely with the subcontractor on deliveries, and, given that construction was still ongoing, collaborated on storage and offered the use of the site's welfare facilities.
He also kept the neighbours sweet by showing himself sympathetic to their concerns. When he needed to lay an electricity cable across an adjacent property, Nick contacted the landowner early on armed with dates and method statements, and personally oversaw the works to make them as inconvenient as possible.
His flexible and proactive stance, allied to a comprehensive attention to detail, met all the client's aspirations. It was Nick's unflappability, enterprise and willingness to accommodate significant variations to the original programme that paved the way for an excellent commercial relationship with the client.
