Name: Gemma Sapiano MCIOB
Employer: Willmott Dixon Construction
Project: Winterflood Theatre, London EC4
Contract: JCT 1998
Like most school projects, this one had the traditional uninfringible-on-pain-of-death deadline but with an added twist: Gemma Sapiano was four months pregnant when works began, and her baby was due just three weeks after the scheduled handover.
As unmissable dates go, it’s a hard one to beat. Equally hard to beat is Gemma’s relentless concentration on every detail to bring this complex project in on time, on budget and to quality.
She rightly identified access as one of the keys and channelled a great deal of time and effort into scheduling and out-of-hours deliveries. Set right in the heart of the congested City, in the shadow of St Paul’s, the multi-level school has a road running through it. And while the first half of the project occupied the summer holidays, the second half had to be undertaken with 900 pupils and 100 staff on hand.
Gemma placed material orders very early in the programme. The steelwork, in particular, had to be ordered and fabricated from day one. With the theatre a windowless room in the middle of a live school, there was no space for storage, so deliveries had to be precisely co-ordinated for the consecutive trades on a just-in-time basis. And as the manufacturer needed several weeks lead-in, she ordered the lifts before work had even begun on the lift shaft, double and triple-checking every detail to ensure accuracy.
Her strict use of weekly snagging sheets kept the programme on track for its allotted 16-week span. And by championing offsite manufacture, she increased control over material quality as well as made more space for the trades to work in.
While the budget was small, the client made clear that it was non-negotiable. It was Gemma’s leadership on value engineering that held the line on costs. When it became clear that the timber panelling specified by the architect could not be made within the project budget, she took the decision to standardise it, arranging for sample panels to be delivered to win client and designer agreement before fitting them.
Her determination, enthusiasm and unfailing efficiency pushed this project through to completion. The client’s pride in its refurbished theatre is clear, as is Gemma’s consummate professionalism.
Value: £1.08m