Name: Johnpaul Allen
Employer: Interserve Construction
Project: Rowley Learning Campus, Rowley Regis
With this project bringing three different schools together on a new site, JP Allen had a trickier stakeholder task than usual in keeping everybody happy, balancing needs and managing expectations.
Knowledgable, insightful and comfortable with communication, JP quickly built excellent relationships. He got close to the management teams of the two special schools and one secondary school that were relocating to understand their vision, find common ground and meet aspirations. He ensured the client and stakeholders were kept informed, involved in decision-making and confident about projected outcomes.
He encouraged his team to take personal responsibility and show leadership. And he locked the supply chain into the project targets with weekly programme workshops that plotted production successes and failures. It demonstrated to the entire team how hitting (or not hitting) production targets could affect the team, and engendered closer co-ordination and personal ownership.
JP’s technical expertise was another part of the inspiring mix. His sound reasoning drove the foundation solutions, the ground remediation methodology and the choice of structural frame. He negotiated with the authorities to agree SUDS solutions and storm water retention methods, and he brought the supply chain into buildability reviews.
He introduced precast lift shafts to give the frame lateral stability and reduce shear wall quantities. He maximised offsite cutting and minimised site waste production by reviewing the construction sequence in partnership with the M&E, screeding and partition subcontractors and an acoustician. And by using software to analyse the Trespa rainscreen package, he was able to halve the cutting wastage.
Value: £39.6m