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Category: Projects £10-15m Name: Steve Hallett MCIOB Company: Sir Robert McAlpine Project: British Library Centre for Conservation, London Contract: GC Works 1 |
Complex construction projects rarely go without problems; it is how the problems are managed that makes all the difference, as Steve Hallett brilliantly showed on this high-profile project.
This was a building with many onerous requirements. For example, the large conservation studio required a temperature constant to within 1 degree Centigrade, and its humidity level could vary by no more than 5%. Even more challenging, the building's recording studios had demanding acoustic requirements, such as a noise intrusion level no higher than 25dBA.
Imagine the consternation then, when Steve's testing regime discovered that Tube trains on a London Underground line that ran nearby were causing a louder than 25dBA rumbling in one of the already constructed sound studios.
Each studio was built as a box within a box, supported by a series of rubber pads that isolated the rooms from ground-borne noise and vibration. It emerged that the pads had been crushed in places by the rooms, and were no longer isolating sound but amplifying it.
Realising the issue could derail the entire project, Steve took the central role in finding the solution. He immersed himself in understanding the specific acoustic problems to interpret for the structural engineers and devise practical remedial measures. In this case, the solution lay in sawing the concrete and jacking up the entire studio to replace the crushed pads with thicker versions with a greater working range.
It worked, although Steve had to reconsider the programme given that a third of the building could not be progressed until the solution was complete and the rooms successfully retested.
After saving the project on acoustics, Steve then came good on another contractual requirement – an air tightness result that was twice as strict as the Building Regs.
Steve personally agreed the specialist consultant's proposal to offer design and inspection services as well as testing. He recovered the entire fee when the consultant, in his first meeting with the architect, suggested using the building's blast-resistant cladding to double up as the vapour control layer. It removed a process, simplified complex details and saved time and money.
Time, quality and budget – Steve achieved them all with the help of a masterly demonstration of technical problem-solving.
