星空传媒

Gold

Deceptively simple

John Fraser joined the client鈥檚 established and experienced team for the latest construction phase of this retail village in Bicester, Oxfordshire. With a contract value well below the McAlpine norms, John Fraser was expected to manage this contract with one other full time manager and minimal head office support. That he has succeeded so well is a tribute to his technical and interpersonal skills. In simple terms, Fraser was responsible for almost everything on site. The client considers that his 鈥渃ontribution was fundamental to ensuring that we achieved our own commercial objectives鈥�. He took care to understand the client鈥檚 requirements and aspirations and ensured that each of the 30 subcontractors understood this. Of equal importance to the success of this project was Fraser鈥檚 effective communications with existing retailers and with new tenants and their own fit-out sub-contractors. Although an apparently simple design, the devil was most certainly in the detail, with the client specifying a highly-detailed, high quality product. Construction took place immediately adjacent to occupied units. The working area was divided by a live pedestrian walkway and great care was required to separate site operations from the shopping public. Fraser achieved this by linking the two main work areas by a scaffold bridge. There was considerable potential for disruption to construction and public injury, but Fraser鈥檚 attention to detail allowed these matters to be managed out. Halfway through the contract, the client instructed Fraser to extend two existing units and, one month before completion two further new units were needed. These were 鈥渋nfills鈥� between existing units. Fraser鈥檚 initial construction programme for this additional work was rejected by the client, as the client insisted on all work being completed before Christmas. With an intensive period of additional design, procurement and co-ordination, all work was completed on time. In summary, this was a deceptively simple contract, which, in reality, could have gone wrong without Fraser鈥檚 impressive abilities as a project manager.

Silver

Chemical reaction

Access to this site was always going to be difficult. There was one single-track road, used by students, general campus traffic and emergency vehicles, leading to a confined triangular site, bounded by existing buildings and protected trees. The first 10 weeks were designated for enabling works in diverting services, and for the rebuilding of a new Genetic Experimentation Greenhouse. Roger Pearce was involved with the initial first stage interviews on this two-storey Chemistry block at the University of Bath. The shape of the site dictated an asymmetrical building footprint and generated complicated shapes and details; and the use of the building demanded a high services input, including 29 fume cupboards, extensive ventilation systems and a plant room split over three floors. Despite the effects of the very complicated services, a careful and systematic approach to the elimination of defects and the achievement of quality, allowed an almost defect-free handover. Pearce鈥檚 input into the Value Engineering phase of the project proved vital. He sought to understand the client鈥檚 requirements before tackling construction and cost issues, and refused to take drawings and specifications at face value without questioning them in principle and in detail. This reduced the original cost plan from an unaffordable 拢3.7m to an affordable 拢2.8m, but without affecting quality, buildability or suitability. Where contentious contractual issues arose, Pearce was careful and patient in his communications with the client and acted as broker to defuse and resolve potential disputes. This ability was greatly welcomed by the client and is one of the reasons for the swift settlement of the final account and for the ongoing negotiations for a further phase of work on site.

COMMENDED