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Category: Projects £7-10m Name: Paul Brown Company: Amec Design & Project Services Project: Stanway School, Colchester Contract: JCT 1998, private with quantities |
As far as Paul Brown is concerned, construction is as much about putting together the team to erect a structure as assembling and installing the materials that remain when the team has gone.
On this project, which involved the demolition of a large part of the school before rebuilding it, Paul built the closest possible working relationships with the head. He kept him constantly informed of construction activity, and explained the issues through a great many site tours for the senior teaching staff. He even got Amec to sponsor the school's basketball and football teams.
Paul then built on the resulting understanding and respect by demonstrating innovative thinking and problem solving. He worked closely with the design team to prevent any potential overspend and add value for the school. For example, he replaced the intended piling solution with concrete poured in situ on metal floor decking, conferring cost and functionality advantages.
Even before the construction programme started, Paul showed his worth to the project. He took control of the temporary classroom construction package (required to give the designers time to produce working drawings for the main building) to speed up the timescale and prevent delay to the main contract works.
By programming for the summer holiday the removal of the very large quantities of asbestos in the buildings to be demolished, Paul convinced the client that he had a better understanding of the preconstruction works than the initial contractor. He used the same holiday to construct the temporary school facilities, and completed the demolition stage during the next half-term holiday. It gave him an enviable reputation for taking the operations and users of the school out of the risk equation.
A construction manager well versed in the traditional skills of interpreting drawings and advising designers to drive the job forward, Paul is also completely at home with modern techniques and materials. He delivered on time and to budget a school with a gull-wing roof, rainscreen cladding and curtain walling, along with brise soleil, natural passive ventilation and underfloor heating. It all shrieks quality and modernity, and has won Paul and Amec the contract for the next phase of this project.
