Name: Shaun Hodgkin
Employer: Kier Marriott
Project: Stowe School Girls Boarding House, Buckinghamshire
Contract: JCT 2005
Arriving midway through the first phase of this scheme after the client had dismissed the main contractor, Shaun Hodgkin was faced with a deteriorating project and fractured relationships. The workmanship had been poor, the subcontractors hadn’t been fully paid up, and the programme had slipped so badly that it had thrown into doubt the official opening of the first of the two linked buildings by the Queen. But one thing on this project was for sure: the client was very unhappy.
Shaun’s arrival was electrifying. Before starting onsite, he organised regular meetings with the key specialists retained from the previous contractor to ensure continuity in finish and detail, working hard to revitalise them. His open and honest approach, combined with his establishment of a no-blame culture, turned attitudes around.
In short, he re-energised the team and lifted the project’s negative atmosphere. Confident, enthusiastic and determined, he drew up a target programme and then generated an air of positivity onsite that remotivated a thoroughly disillusioned team.
Shaun’s successful completion of the first phase in time gave the client the confidence to award him the second phase, which overlapped with the first. Through his own hard work and commitment, and his ability to get the same out of the rest of the team, Shaun brought a significant improvement on phase one. Despite prolonged bad weather, he completed on schedule, neither requesting nor needing extensions of time. Design detailing improved dramatically, with workmanship of the highest standards, and the buildability issues were efficiently addressed.
Systematic and well organised, Shaun had infused the project with a sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment as well as a can-do spirit, and quickly instilled in a disillusioned client the belief that the project would be delivered to the quality it wanted and to the programme it needed. As the client ultimately conceded: “Shaun has demonstrated that the construction industry does contain successful, client-focused, results-driven individuals rather than underperformers.”
Value: £3.5m