Finalist |
||
 |
 |
Category: Restoration |
No-one sits at their desk for lunch in Tom Hobson's team. Tom knows the value of interaction, and regularly got his team eating together around the breakout table as well as sitting down twice a day to catch up with each other.
The result was a smooth-running operation where everyone contributed to value management and programme control. Once a fortnight, the team walked the site, noting down anything they saw that could be improved – working practices, health and safety, design-related issues – and fed their ideas into a task list for the week.
Tom's strategy pooled experience and saved time and money. The strength of the working relationships engendered within the project team also offered scope to look at design and risk management.
For example, Tom proposed using a Pynford beam to support five floors of the facade after three bays were removed to create a two-storey-high entrance portal into the warehouse. The huge amount of complicated temporary works required by the original plan for heavy steel beams would have compromised an already tight site, and would have cost considerably more and taken longer to install.
He also found a viable alternative to the specified heavy asphalt roof covering. He himself sourced the cheaper, lighter, longer-life and quicker-to-apply GRP-based product.
A further value management foray saw the team halve the large number of partitions to be installed in each apartment. It meant less waste and was less complicated, reducing the room for error in installation.
Tom also demonstrated the expert construction manager's agility of response. Midway through the project he was suddenly told he had three months to create a show apartment and fully fitted and functioning sales area from scratch. He restructured his programme to cope admirably and saw more than 2,000 people attend the successful launch day.
The smart progress he made in building the apartments allowed him to bring forward the completion of 66 units, helping the whole company achieve its profit bonus for the year.
Tom's expert management of this project, the site of what was once the biggest textile factory complex in the world, has resurrected a semi-derelict ruin into a stunning landmark scheme.
