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Category: Projects £7-10m Name: Steve Salmon Company: Cowlin Construction Project: Charlton Farm Children's Hospice, Bristol Contract: JCT 1998 with quantities |
Steve Salmon's impressive blend of communication skills, attention to detail and passion brought in this exceptional project on time and within tight financial restraints.
He also delivered the project with a spotless health and safety record. This was no mean feat given he had to work in a restricted environment, share a single-file access track with a school and nursery, and organise and supervise a huge number of site visitors and events to help the client's fundraising initiatives.
Steve gave safety talks to the children of the local boarding school, delivered extra toolbox talks to incorporate demolition and other works, and led weekly safety discussions on how to improve site safety. The result was no accidents or incidents.
Although this was not a design and build contract, Steve contributed enormously to project sustainability. Energy-efficient lighting and underfloor heating, low-energy boilers, high U-value insulation and glazing and a green roof were all products of his initiative.
Acutely conscious of the client's financial position, Steve kept the project on budgetary track by systematic value engineering. For example, rather than trucking away 1,800 cubic metres of topsoil stripped from the field, he relocated it onsite, contouring and reseeding the field.
Steve salvaged the roof timbers in the farm building he demolished, reusing them in five other buildings in the complex, which were stripped and refurbished. Other stripped-out materials were also extensively reused in the rebuilds.
With this derelict former model farm containing listed buildings, situated on greenbelt in English Heritage-owned historic parkland, and containing a colony of nesting bats, Steve needed to form strong relationships with a large number of outside agencies. His personality and drive gained him the confidence of the stakeholders to carry out the works sympathetically and without affecting their interests.
Steve's excellent communications skills, team leadership and co-ordination ensured this project came in on time (and he handed over the new build four months early), on budget and to the client's obvious delight.
