Silver Medal Winner |
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Category: Projects £25-50m Name: Mark Howard MCIOB Company: Taylor Woodrow Project: East London Line enabling works Contract: NEC part C |
Mark Howard's project was a first in more ways than one. It marked Mark's debut as a project manager and was also the client's first railway construction scheme. While small compared with the major follow-on East London Line construction contract, Mark's enabling works were crucial for proving the systems and taking the risk out of the follow-on contract. And risk there was in plenty.
The 150-year-old 2km-long Kingsland viaduct was in various states of disrepair. Nine of the original bridges had been removed, three of the remaining 14 had to be demolished and the rest required major refurbishment. The viaduct's track waterproofing system and drainage had to be replaced, and a formation created for track installation. There were also 170 internal viaduct arches to be refurbished (100 of them occupied by businesses which continued to operate during the project).
The Victorian structures threw up challenge after challenge that had to be assessed, analysed and resolved before construction could begin. To nobody's surprise, this led to large increases in construction scope, and Mark's great achievement was delivering a project which doubled in value with just a six-week extension of time.
Always confident and calm, Mark won and kept the confidence of the client. He never let the pressure show or allowed the difficulties to become insurmountable. He remained committed to a collaborative approach even when it would have been easy to become confrontational. Open and frank, he shared problems to help devise satisfactory solutions for all parties.
Success came from Mark's strong management of the critical path. He drove the design development, fabrication and erection of the bridges to provide continuity of access along the viaduct as soon as possible. And he showed a cool head in making risk-based decisions on whether to progress works in line with or ahead of design approval.
Mark developed excellent relationships with the client, the design team and the supply chain. He instigated a rigorous safety culture, with no reportable accidents during the 650,000 man-hours worked. And he spearheaded a credible value-engineering and value management strategy.
Mark's success on this project has been total. That success has given the client the political confidence required to press on with this enormous project.
