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Category: Projects £7-10m Name: Robert John Company: Kier Construction Project: Broadside, Chatham Contract: JCT 1998 with quantities and contractor's design |
With a different site manager, this landmark project could easily have ended up with the contractor and the client at each other's throat. But thanks to Robert John, the final account has been agreed within six months of practical completion (an amazing feat given that it came 30 weeks later than originally planned) and with the client and design team loudly singing Robert's praises.
With extensive experience of building complex envelopes, Robert was just the man for this job, which steered away from a tried-and-tested frame and curtain walling office solution in favour of four distinct elevations and an internal glazed atrium. Indeed, the client was so taken by Robert it insisted Kier retain him until it had sorted out legal issues in acquiring the site (which delayed site start by eight months).
Although not responsible for progressing the design, Robert used this time to great effect. Realising the tower crane's planned location did not give easy access to part of the structure, he redesigned the crane base to fit a gap on the site footprint where it was only 300mm away from one facade's glazing but facilitated access to all elevations.
He also co-ordinated the value engineering of the car park, changing the ground levels – an especially complex exercise given the site's position above the Medway Tunnel – to retain material onsite.
As the project progressed it became clear that the design required significant development. By insisting on having construction details available at the right time to build in the right order, Robert guaranteed safety, quality and the financial issues, and was repeatedly awarded extensions of time.
Those extensions were sorely needed given the delays caused by the Environment Agency (which required the top metre of the concrete driven piles to be encased in bentonite so they could not act as ground contaminant conduits to the aquifer below).
Robert's dogged persistence and thorough understanding won him the respect of stakeholders and staff alike. And in the process, he built a truly innovative and immensely challenging structure – the most energy-efficient office in the UK .
