Silver Medal Winner |
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Category: Projects over £50m Name: Peter Millett ACIOB Company: Bovis Lend Lease Project: Manchester Arndale Contract: JCT 1998 D&B |
A child growing up in Manchester when the Arndale Centre first rose like a leviathan in the heart of the city, Peter Millett grabbed with both hands this once-in-a-lifetime chance to rebuild the titanic shopping centre. His involvement turned a refurb project into a major new construction scheme.
Peter's leadership of the project was breathtaking in its vision, its technical understanding and its insight. He led the early buildability studies to improve scheduling, materials, detailing, ease of construction and value. He reduced the overall construction costs by £6m and lopped six months off the programme by reusing a considerable amount of the existing structure, including the piles, and leaving in place much of the services.
Many of the savings that came from value engineering the structure were rerouted to enhance the front-of-house finishes and detailing. So effective was his insistence on standards – he inspected the works daily, engaging tradesmen as well as designers in the issues – that there was not a single dispute with the client or the design team over quality .
Peter delivered this fantastic project over 15 high-risk acres in a major city centre. Traffic was rerouted, the bus station relocated, 35 separate utilities diverted, the northern half of the Arndale completely demolished and the new 500,000 square foot four-storey centre built over a high-voltage substation that served the whole city centre.
And he programmed it all so well that few people realised just what was going on behind the hoardings which divided the new-build from over 500,000 square feet of retail space that remained open for business, as did the 1,000-space car park. His easy control was so all-encompassing that he managed £10m worth of change introduced by the client in the latter part of the project within the original contract duration.
Whatever the challenge, Peter proved equal to it. When a picket line appeared one afternoon at one of the Arndale's gates, Peter had the demonstrators and senior management talking to each other within hours and the dispute resolved by the end of the week.
A superbly effective manager, Peter had the desire, willingness and ability to take this mammoth project forward to a brilliant conclusion.
