Construction Manager January 2019

CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 | WWW.CONSTRUCTIONMANAGERMAGAZINE.COM

JANUARY 2019 For members of the CIOB

CARILLION’S COLLAPSE ONE YEAR ON

HAS THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY CHANGED? CARILLION ONE YEAR ON

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 CONTENTS

01/19

Switchboard +44 (0)20 7490 5595 Editor Will Mann 020 3865 1032 will.m@atompublishing.co.uk Associate editor Neil Gerrard 020 3865 1031 neil@atompublishing.co.uk Production editor Sarah Cutforth Art editor Heather Rugeley Community editor Nicky Roger Redesign art director Mark Bergin Advertising manager Dave Smith 0203 865 1029 Key account manager Tom Peardon 0203 865 1030 Credit control Eva Rugeley Managing director Stephen Quirke

In this issue

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Circulation Net average 30,699 Audit period: July 2016 to June 2017 Subscriptions To subscribe or for enquiries, please contact: Subscription team Tel: 020 7199 0069 Or go online at: https://constructionmanager.isubscribe.co.uk Or write to us at the address below: Construction Manager Published for the Chartered Institute of Building by Atom Publishing, 3 Waterhouse Square, 138 Holborn, London EC1N 2SW Tel: +44 (0)20 7490 5595 firstname@atompublishing.co.uk Editorial advisory board Mark Beard FCIOB, Ann Bentley, Ian Eggers, Peter Caplehorn, Harvey Francis, Professor Jacqui Glass FCIOB, Paul Morrell, James Pellatt, Nick Raynsford, Richard Saxon, Andy von Bradsky, Phil Wade Construction Manager is published monthly by Atom Publishing. The contents of this magazine are copyright. Reproduction in part or in full is forbidden without permission of the editor. The opinions expressed by writers of signed articles (even with pseudonyms) and letters appearing in the magazine are those of their respective authors, and neither the CIOB, Atom Publishing nor Construction Manager is responsible for these opinions or statements. The editor will give careful consideration to material submitted – articles, photographs, drawings and so on – but does not undertake responsibility for damage or their safe return. Printed by The Wyndeham Group. All rights in the magazine, including copyright, content and design, are owned

by CIOB and/or Atom Publishing. ISSN 1360 3566

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News 04 HSE cladding inspections 06 Carillion one year on 10 CIOB consults on quality code 12 A day in the life 14 Art of Building competition

Technical 28 Pebble Mill hospital

Legal 44 EU procurement rules 45 Letters of intent

Opinion 18 Aecom on recruiting women 20 Chris Blythe 21 Feedback: Readers’ views 22 Round table: Digital and tier 1

32 35 36

Groundworks & Infrastructure Property flood resilience BRE flood house Infrastructure innovations

BIM & Digital 38 Round table: Collaboration 42 Boosting safety with BIM

Community 46 Global Student Challenge 47 Dublin Novus relaunch 50 Winvic Coventry tour

Training & Recruitment 58 Willmott Dixon Foundation

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04-16

News

06 10 12 14

CARILLION ONE YEAR ON CIOB CONSULTS ON QUALITY CODE A DAY IN THE LIFE ART OF BUILDING COMPETITION

Analysis

HSE prepares wave of cladding replacement inspections SAFETY CONCERNS RAISED OVER ACM PANEL REMEDIATION WORK

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will undertake a wave of inspections of high-rise residential buildings over 18m in height where remediation of dangerous aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding is taking place.

Inspectors will look at the way work is being carried out, specifically as far as issues of fire safety and working at height are concerned, rather than its compliance with Building Regulations.

Cladding removal on a high-rise block in Merseyside following fire safety tests

However, in an unusual move, they will also be asking about whether the materials used to replace the ACM cladding are class A1 or A2 under the European Reaction to Fire classification system and reporting their findings back to the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Ray Cooke, head of the HSE’s construction sector safety team, stressed that an inspection by HSE did not necessarily mean the building was considered “high risk”, as some of those identified by MHCLG have less than 1% ACM cladding.

Meanwhile MHCLG figures at the end of 2018 showed that more than a quarter (41) of 160 public sector high-rise buildings with ACM cladding still hadn’t started remediation work. Of the 272 privately owned buildings clad with the material, 69 have no replacement plans.

Last month, the government handed powers to local authorities to strip ACM cladding from private housing blocks above 18m.

Combustible cladding ban comes into effect The amendment to the Building Regulations which prohibits the use of combustible cladding on buildings over 18m came into effect on 21 December 2018.

The ban means that the only materials allowed are those classed as A1 or A2 under the EN 13501 standard, which includes metal, stone and glass, or plasterboard. Plastics and wood products will not be permitted.

The government has agreed a transitional period, so building work that starts within two months of 21 December will follow the regulations in place prior to this amendment.

The ban follows a consultation launched in June by housing secretary James Brokenshire (pictured) and applies to high-rise buildings containing dwellings, plus hospitals, residential care premises and student accommodation.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 NEWS

For daily updates on the latest news, go to constructionmanagermagazine.com

‘Google revolution’ for construction?

Government plans to use standardised platforms for construction components could result in a “Google-style” revolution, says Mark Farmer, chief executive of consultancy Cast.

“A co m m o n p l a tfo r m wo u l d m e a n standardising the ‘chassis’ of a building – parts of the structure, pipes, panelling and internal spaces can be mass-designed – while cladding and brickwork would get wrapped over the top to satisfy planners,” he said.

Farmer, who is leading the Greater London Authority’s standardisation research, said a construction platform would allow manufacturers to follow a common design code, in the way that coders can create apps that work seamlessly on any phone running Google’s Android operating system.

Interview: Neil Lock, 40th CMYA winner NEIL LOCK MCIOB OF WATES WON THE 40TH CONSTRUCTION MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARD FOR THE V&A MUSEUM EXTENSION IN SOUTH KENSINGTON, LONDON. HE SPOKE TO NEIL GERRARD AFTERWARDS

News in numbers

305

Height in metres of Foster + Partners’ Tulip tower in London. If built, it would be the City’s tallest building.

103

Average payment time in days of contractor Brown and Mason, Build UK’s slowest payer of invoices.

24.1 An electric exoskeleton that enables the wearer to lift 90kg for extended periods has been built by American firm Sarcos and is due to be commercially available in 2020. The Guardian XO Max is a full-body exoskeleton that cost $175m (£136.5m) to develop. It has a strength “amplification” of 20 to 1, making 45.4kg feel like 2.3kg to the person wearing the suit.

Percentage fall in apprenticeship starts in 2017-18 on the year before, following the apprenticeship levy introduction in May 2017.

News in quotes What was most challenging about the project?

The logistics and the complete control I needed to make the project run like clockwork.

Everything came through one gate and went out one gate, on the busiest street in London. We had over 7,000 vehicle movements in this area alone with no incidents or clashes with members of public.

What motivated you on such a complicated job?

I love a challenge, something that tests your knowledge, your skill, and your communication with all parties. I have a relentless drive to overcome problems with solutions.

I was able to demonstrate this on this challenging project; delivery was exceptional.

Neil Lock (right) with CIOB president Chris Soffe at the 2018 awards

How were the judging visits?

The visits are great and generally carried out by ex-professionals. It’s a joy to show off our achievements and answer their questions such as how we got the steelwork in and whether the surrounding buildings move at all during construction.

What does winning mean to you and Wates?

The memory will last a lifetime for me, especially it being the 40th anniversary. I remember walking in and seeing the 40th winner board with a question mark, thinking: “I wonder if I have a chance?”

The award for Wates is a first in terms of the overall CMYA award, having achieved gold medals previously. They celebrated our achievements and put our names up in lights. For me, as a member of the CIOB, it’s the pinnacle of my career.

“A distraction” How Persimmon's chairman described a row over the £75m pay package of former chief executive Jeff Fairburn.

“Poor payment practices are rife.”

MPs in the BEIS Committee call for statutory payment of invoices in construction within 30 days.

“Constructive discussions between the government and Transport for London are ongoing” A Department for Transport spokesman after it emerged Crossrail needed a further £1bn and could be delayed by another year.

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Analysis

How has construction changed since Carillion’s collapse?

ILLUSTRATION: JACK RICHARDSON

ONE YEAR ON FROM THE SHOCK LIQUIDATION OF CARILLION, WHAT HAS THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY LEARNED? NEIL GERRARD SPOKE TO SENIOR FIGURES FROM ACROSS THE INDUSTRY

It was one of the UK’s biggest corporate failures. Carillion’s collapse on 15 January 2018, under a £1.5bn pile of debt, sent shockwaves through the industry.

In the wake of the firm’s liquidation, two Commons select committees – the Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee and the Work and Pensions Committee – joined forces to investigate what went wrong, hauling ministers, former Carillion directors, and accountants up for public interrogation.

But what has construction – and government – learned since the momentous events of January 2018?

Paul Morrell, former chief government co n s t r u c t i o n a d v i s e r, to l d C M : “ Fo r government, I would say the main lesson to be learned is how to manage relationships with major suppliers.

“Carillion will be a rich source of case studies for years to come, on matters from the mis-pricing of capital, through to some of the more primitive aspects of the insolvency

process (with the bones picked clean by “advisers”). There are signs that some of the more fundamental issues such as auditing are being addressed, but too often such inquiries are reduced to looking for someone to blame, rather than addressing the structural reasons for bad outcomes.”

Carillion’s notorious payment terms have been under close scrutiny, and Morrell reveals he discussed this issue with former CEO Richard Howson shortly after his appointment (see box).

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 NEWS

Carillion collapse in numbers

£1.5bn Total Carillion debt

2,787

Number of job losses, costing the taxpayer £65m in redundancy costs

£148m

Total cost to the public purse, according to the National Audit Office

FORMER CHIEF CONSTRUCTION ADVISER PAUL MORRELL ON CARILLION’S SHORTCOMINGS

Phil Wade, First Base

The Midland Met hospital site in Sandwell, derelict last summer after Carillion’s demise

Carillion contracts transferred to new providers, safeguarding 13,945 jobs

An ‘insane’ business model

“I’m not sure that attitudes are changing. We continue to see instances of other contractors being exposed for poor payment terms, so maybe Carillion has just raised awareness”

The Cabinet Office promised late last year to bar contractors who fail to demonstrate prompt payment to their suppliers from public work by autumn 2019. But will that change main contractors’ attitudes towards payment terms?

Ann Bentley, global director of Rider Levett Bucknall who sits on the Construction Leadership Council board, says: “Build UK has recently published a payment terms table for its (mainly contractor) members.

There are certainly a number of contractors who pay very quickly. But there is substantial feedback from the tier 2 and 3 contractors that they are still effectively funding the construction sector.”

Phil Wade, director at developer First Base, adds: “I am not sure attitudes are changing. We continue to see instances of other contractors being exposed for poor payment terms (for example, Kier), so maybe Carillion has just raised awareness. Those who have always behaved well don’t get so recognised, which is a shame.”

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In his capacity as a client, however, Wade won’t tolerate poor payment practices.

“I wouldn’t employ anyone with poor payment terms to the trades. Why would we?

We pay on time and we expected everyone else to do the same to make sure we have motivated and well-rewarded teams,” he says.

Clients like Wade may be the exception rather than the rule though, believes Mark Beard, chairman of Beard and vice president of the CIOB. “Customers are taking more interest in the relationship c o n t ra c to r s h av e w i t h t h e i r s u p p l y chain, but very few customers have a full understanding of the dynamics of contracting and subcontracting and their comments tend to be superficial,” he says.

Business model reappraisals Beard points to some of the shrewder contractors reappraising their business models in the wake of Carillion’s demise.

“I believe the more informed contractors realised a little while ago that doing less and increasingly offloading the risk was going to make them less relevant and limit the margin they could make for their role in the project,” he says.

“I believe this realisation has led to a small number of contractors taking on more risk in return for slightly higher margins. However, most contractors are still trying to pass as much risk down the supply chain as possible and this is one of the reasons they are struggling to command margins of much greater than 1%.”

When I spoke to Richard Howson, then newly appointed as Carillion’s CEO, to ask whether he intended to address its reputation as a bad payer, he professed not to recognise the firm I was talking about.

Whether it was ignorance or guile is for others for others to determine, but the reality is Carillion is not alone in having constructed its business model around the insane idea that the smaller players in the industry capitalise the larger ones.

At some stage, those who are not getting paid on time have to find the courage to start discriminating against those who do not pay and price differentially. Otherwise there is no reward for the good payers.

When it comes to clients, the last time I looked, central government was a very good payer but local government was not. In addition to talking sanctions against contractors, how about requiring timely payment by all public authorities involved in projects which have an element of central government funding?

I don’t see any immediate signs of main contractors changing their business models – or of any serious consideration of a business model which focuses on value to the customer – but it could be one long-term consequence of BIM, where the benefits of a more productive environment are unlikely to be captured by tier one contractors but rather trade contractors (who already enjoy better margins).

The direct delivery model is not, however, suited to major players in an industry where demand is both diverse and volatile – forces that demand flexibility in skills and resources.

I suspect that if we see a customer-focused model at all, it will come from new entrants.

However, the collapse of a major firm, even one as big as Carillion, doesn’t mean the business model for a whole sector is over.

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BIM Level 2 and contractors: will it change their business models?, p22

Meanwhile, Peter Caplehorn, deputy chief executive, Construction Products Association, sees the need for more stability in the construction market if business models are ever really going to change significantly.

“The main contractor business model is primarily based upon merely winning projects and managing them,” he argues.

“It uses subcontracting of activity, fixed costs and risk to deal with volatility in demand in the industry. If demand were more stable in the long-term then it would be able to justify investing in the ability to do the projects themselves but until then it is highly unlikely.”

Richard Saxon, consultant and former chairman of BDP, has noticed a shift since Carillion’s demise. “I do see more clients and contractors interested in construction management for complex projects, and in longer-term supplier relationships since Carillion’s collapse,” he comments.

One procurement development since Carillion’s demise has been the abandonment of PFI and its successor PF2, which Chancellor Philip Hammond ruled out using for future government contracts in his autumn budget.

However, another form of private financing may yet re-emerge.

“PFI was considered ‘not value for money’ by government and replaced by PF2, which contractors had little interest in anyway due to a lack of a sustained rate of return,” says Caplehorn. “Carillion’s major issues on the two PFI hospitals [the Midland Metropolitan and the Royal Liverpool] didn’t help PFI but the reality is that it had become toxic, infamous for lack of value and quality.”

But he adds: “Government austerity means that private finance for construction will be used in the future under a different name again.”

Bentley is of a similar view. “There is no doubt that there will have to be public sector funding in most major infrastructure and

Views on Carillion lessons from the CM reader panel Brian Impey, director, Acorn Multi Academy Trust “The lessons being taken are more from failed strategy and process than from the cultural flaws. Money has always been used as an influencing tool and nothing has changed in construction, particularly in large organisations where people in middle management are results focused and seldom give any consideration to the impact of starving the supply chain of cash.”

John Adams, director, BIM Strategy “Carillion collapsing has left a deep wound on the industry and we’re in a period of healing and reflection before any real action kicks in. But now we’ve had such a high-profile failure, there is a wider acknowledgement that we need to make an active start on changing.”

Peter Egan, principal engineer, UK Engineer Taskforce “Clients are still focused on results and many are still looking at savings over their contractors’ payment ethics. The greatest area of change has been in the SME market, where companies are becoming more selective on their contracts.”

Locked gates and no activity at Carillion’s development site at Milburngate, Durham, a year ago

social infrastructure projects going forward so I don’t think PFI has gone away, it will be reborn as something else,” she asserts. “What may have gone away are 25-year soft FM and service delivery contracts. The government now appears to be much happier with taking these in house again.”

If one thing is for certain, it is that the day on 15 January 2018 when Carillion called in the liquidators will continue to provide the industry with lessons well into the future. ●

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MJ RICHARDSON

Using VR with groundworks, p37

The CIOB’s Construction Quality Commission was set up in 2017 partly in response to defects which emerged at Edinburgh schools including Oxgangs Primary School (above)

Quality code consultation launches THE CODE WILL PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR A NEW QUALITY CERTIFICATION

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) will launch a 10-week consultation on its planned code of quality practice this month.

The launch of the code, which was announced at an event held at the Palace of Westminster last month, is one of the recommendations of the CIOB’s Construction Quality Commission, which was established to investigate the issue of quality in construction and how it could be improved.

The commission’s work has been informed by a wide-ranging industry consultation, including a call for evidence, which identified that threequarters of respondents believe the current system of quality management is flawed.

“We now have two broad strategies,” said Paul Nash, chair of the commission and CIOB past president. “One is a code of quality practice to provide guidance on best practice and set the standards that we need to achieve as an industry. ” “The other is education. We want to raise awareness of quality management and give people the knowledge and practical tools to deliver it.”

The code, to be published later this year, will also provide the basis for a quality certification that will be developed alongside it.

“We plan to launch a pilot of the certification scheme at the same time as the code is published. The pilot will run for six months before going live next year,” said Nash.

The certification will build on the CIOB Academy’s quality course, which was launched last year and has been oversubscribed.

The commission also intends to hold dialogue with the insurance sector. “We think insurers would consider reducing premiums on projects managed by professionals holding the quality certification,” explained Nash.

“Our sector has approached risk by insuring it rather than managing it,” he added. “But that doesn’t deal with the risk; it’s a sticking plaster approach. We should aim to build things right in the first place.” ●

Projects sign up for Quality Tracker The first pilot projects have registered for the Quality Tracker, launched last October, which aims to provide a straightforward system for documenting and tracking risks to quality through the life of a construction project.

Created by the Building In Quality working group, jointly set up by the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), Royal Institute of British Architects

(RIBA) and Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the freeto-use digital tool creates a chain of custody for tracking quality.

The tracker is currently being piloted on real-life projects to allow structured feedback on the system.

Utility firm Engie is one of the firms which has signed up to use the tool. Chris Langdon, development and investment director, said: “The

tracker will help set the project objectives and define, communicate and deliver quality. The tracker can map to and sit alongside existing risk management processes and will be used to test the impact of quality risks and decisions on value and programme outcomes.”

Paul Nash, chair of the CIOB quality commission, said: “The RIBA Plan of Work is an industry standard.

The tracker is very clever as it spells out, at each RIBA stage, what project teams need to think about in terms of quality.

“The tool resonates strongly with what Dame Judith Hackitt described in her Independent Review of Building of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: the ‘golden thread’ of information from concept to finished building and beyond.”

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 NEWS

People

CIOB chief exec to retire in May CHRIS BLYTHE HAS ANNOUNCED HIS RETIREMENT AFTER SERVING AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE CIOB FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS

“It has been a privilege to lead the CIOB these many years. It has given me the opportunity to work with fabulous people from across the industry and across the world” Chris Blythe, CIOB

One of the longest serving chief executives at a professional body has announced his retirement. For almost 20 years Chris Blythe has led the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). He will retire in May 2019.

For more than 25 years, Blythe has been involved in vocational education and training, together with business development, He has been CIOB chief executive since January 2000.

In the Queen’s 2017 New Year’s Honours list he received an OBE for services to the construction industry and government, while in 2018 the University of Wolverhampton awarded him an honorary degree.

CIOB president Chris Soffe said: “Chris has transformed the CIOB into a modern international institute – able to adapt to the changing needs of its members and in an industry undergoing a digital revolution.”

He added: “With his influence he has helped establish the discipline of construction management as a chartered profession and under his stewardship the awarding of an MCIOB can now be compared to a master’s degree. He has held the industry and government to account on politically sensitive agendas like modern slavery and corruption in construction. He has also championed the industry and the vital role it plays in social mobility, job creation and the quality of life.”

Blythe said: “It has been a privilege to lead the CIOB these many years. It has given me the opportunity to work with fabulous people from across the industry and across the world.

“Belonging to a chartered body is more than just membership and qualifications it is also about a duty to society. That is reflected in the many members I have met and worked with.”

He added: “I would like to thank the countless number of people from across the industry, and colleagues at the CIOB, who have been key in all that we have achieved together and the many successes yet to come.

“I am looking forward to the next phase of my life with great anticipation, great memories and many great friends.” ●

CM readers at top of supply chain 5

2

14

35

19

25

Organisations CM readers work for (%) n Main contractor n Client n Consultant

n Specialist contractor n Architect n Other

Professionals working in clients, consultants and main contractors dominate Construction Manager’s readership, a survey has revealed.

The detailed study of 258 readers in November showed that the majority occupy positions of high influence at the top of the supply chain.

Main contractors make up 35%, clients account for a quarter – 15% public, 10% private – while consultants are a further 19%.

Some 42% of CM readers work for organisations with over 500 employees, while SMEs with 50 staff or less account for a third. Project managers and site managers make up 32% of readers with those at director level and above another 15%.

The sectors CM readers most commonly work in are offices (45%), education (42%), private housing (41%), retail and leisure (37%), other public building (37%), healthcare (32%) and social housing (31%). (Respondents could choose more than one category.)

Readers are increasingly digital-focused.

More than half say they typically read CM content on the website or digital magazine.

CM has the highest magazine circulation in construction, some 31,500 by last year’s ABC audit, with over 58,000 email subscribers.

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What’s involved in a typical day for an employer’s agent?

There are progress meetings on my clients’ sites – inspecting the works and understanding the projects’ risks. Then back to the office to delve into the plethora of deliverables across other sites: reviewing valuations for stage payments to the contractor, studying drawings, specifications and proposals, analysing new schemes, undertaking due diligence, and much more.

A day in the life of... an employer’s agent

How early in a project do you get involved?

It varies greatly and depends on the client.

If the project is procured via a framework the contractors will have been pre-qualified.

If not, we will handle competitive tendering on behalf of our client from the outset looking at the contractor risk profile, undertaking due diligence on the site and reviewing the financial appraisal.

THE LATEST IN OUR SERIES ON QM ROLES LOOKS AT THE EMPLOYER’S AGENT. ALEC THOMSON FROM PELLINGS TELLS NEIL GERRARD ABOUT THE DAY-TO-DAY CHALLENGES IN HIS JOB AND EXPLAINS THAT, POST-GRENFELL, EMPLOYER’S AGENTS ARE MORE MINDFUL OF FIRE PROTECTION THAN EVER BEFORE

Interview

What risk is involved when considering items submitted by the contractor?

The agreements I administer are mainly design and build contracts. As a result, except for elements beyond the contractor’s control, such as weather and utilities, the risk to our clients has been minimised as far as is practical. I use regular progress meetings with the contractors to probe them on construction risks and what they are doing to mitigate these.

Have you had to change how you monitor inspections post-Grenfell?

Typically, detailed inspections are undertaken by either the client’s clerk of works or our own. Post-Grenfell, however, we are more mindful of fire protection and fire stopping.

There is more discussion pre contract; our clients are wary of inheriting buildings that don’t meet the highest standards and are interrogating the design in great detail before they commit. In most cases, they bring in specialist fire consultants to review the

“Post-Grenfell, we are more mindful of fire protection and fire stopping” Alec Thomson, Pellings

level of protection before they sign – futureproofing the buildings for the inevitable hike in building regulations.

How do you balance the client’s needs with the contractor’s capabilities?

Good communication, patience and fortitude is key to a successful outcome. I often see myself as the interpreter converting the client’s expectations into the contractor’s understanding. Overall, our client base is fair and reasonable when contractors’ expectations are clearly outlined to them.

When you identify defects, what do you consider when communicating these to the contractor?

Outside of clarity about the issue and why the item doesn’t comply, you sometimes need to consider the impact on the site manager being told about the defect. Some take it very personally that you’ve found something wrong (a pride issue), or that they are being scrutinised from above, that it reflects poorly on them. If you’re about to hand over a building to the client and you find a bunch of small items during de-snagging, I like to give the site manager the opportunity of clearing them first before entering them in a defects sheet that their boss will inevitably see. Working with the site team, and not against them, is best.

What is the most challenging aspect of the job?

Juggling multiple clients and a multitude of sites at differing stages of development.

One minute, you’ve got a client on the telephone deeply unhappy with the quality of the brickwork on a small scheme, while the next minute you could be dealing with a £200m project.

And the most rewarding?

When a disabled tenant arrives to see their brand-new wheelchair-adapted unit for the first time and cries because of the difference. ●

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‘Hope Hole’ Qom, Iran, by Rasol Bayati

‘Working Overtime’

Manitoba, Canada,

by Beverly Jay

IN PICTURES | ART OF BUILDING 2018 FINALISTS THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT’S MOST AMAZING STORIES ARE REVEALED IN THE SHORTLIST FOR THE 2018 ART OF BUILDING PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION, RUN BY THE CIOB. IT IS NOW ENTERING ITS FINAL STAGE AS THE PUBLIC VOTE FOR THEIR FAVOURITE. THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE A CASH PRIZE OF £3,500. TO VOTE, GO TO: WWW.ARTOFBUILDING.ORG

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 NEWS

‘Avala’

Avala, Serbia,

by David Meredith

‘Spiral’

Edinburgh, Scotland, by Shahbaz Majeed

‘Urban mountain’

Baku, Azerbaijan,

by Hamed Younesi

‘Swans’

Naples, Italy,

by Roberto Conte

‘Roof Resident’

‘Casa Confetti’ Utrecht, Netherlands, by Hans Wichmann

Nuremberg, Germany, by Ana Tchankvetadze

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‘Christmas in Fish Skeleton’ New York, USA,

by Yi Cherne Juang

‘Sunset Above the Skyscraper’

Saint Petersburg, Russia, by Mikhail Proskalov

‘21 Inches’

Bijar, Iran, by Jamshid Farajvand

‘White Women’ Medina, Saudi Arabia, by Hossein Farahani

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The Future of the Construction Manager The lives of construction managers across the UK are rapidly changing as technology transforms how buildings and infrastructure are designed and built. We call this the Era of Connection. Find out how the trends will affect you in a new video made in conjunction with CIOB, and discover how you can stay ahead of the curve.

Watch the video at www.autodesk.co.uk/campaigns/eoc-video-study

www.autodesk.co.uk @AutodeskAEC @Autodesk_UK #eraofconnection Call us at: +44 (0)203 893 2902 Autodesk is a registered trademark of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or a liates in the USA and/ or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifi cations and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document. © 2017 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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OPINION JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

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Opinion Roma Agrawal Aecom

Why women are flocking to Aecom SOME 43% OF AECOM’S UK AND IRELAND GRADUATE INTAKE IS FEMALE – COMPARED TO THE INDUSTRY AVERAGE OF 26%. ROMA AGRAWAL EXPLAINS THE FIRM’S RECRUITMENT STRATEGY

When I joined the built environment sector 14 years ago, I would often be the only woman working at a construction site. I was frequently required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) that was too big for me and basic tasks, like finding a woman’s toilet on site, were never simple.

Thankfully, the sector has improved hugely since then, but the number of women entering the sector remains low – even though the business benefits of greater diversity are clear. A diverse team – in terms of gender,

age or background – can help us understand and empathise with the needs of the people who will benefit from the projects we deliver.

But encouraging more women to join our industry takes work. A few years ago, my employer Aecom recognised that it needed to think more creatively about how to attract and retain the best female talent.

Its graduate diversity programme has changed the way it promotes vacancies to help attract more female applicants. This includes rebranding graduate marketing materials

by changing language, tone, colour and content based on research around how female applicants behave and what they look for.

The achievements of its female engineers are highlighted through online and print editorial in the graduate recruitment space and targeted social media campaigns. Recruitment campaigns always showcase an equal gender split of past graduates and the company strives to have female representatives at all graduate recruitment events. Drawing on new faces and voices helps engage audiences our sector often struggles to reach.

The company has reported incremental improvements in its graduate gender split every year since implementing its programme, but its efforts are now really starting to pay off. In 2018, 43% of Aecom’s UK and Ireland graduate intake is female. This percentage is significantly higher than the industry average of 26% and a huge improvement on its gender split from five years ago, which was 25%.

Crucially, the figures show a 12% increase in female graduates joining its transportation business, which has always been a more challenging sector in which to recruit women.

These figures are really exciting and I can’t wait to see the fresh thinking and creativity this mix of graduates will bring.

An ongoing programme, the company won’t stop until it is fully satisfied its workforce represents the communities it serves. The wider strategy includes initiatives to attract more female apprentices and work with schools to help encourage young people, and girls in particular, into technical professions. One of the biggest challenges to recruiting more women into our sector is outdated stereotypes about jobs in construction, so dispelling these myths and exciting girls about fun and rewarding career opportunities from an early age is key.

Working towards a more diverse and inclusive workforce will speed up progress and lead to better outcomes for everyone in construction. ● Roma Agrawal is associate director – buildings and places at Aecom.

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OPINION JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Chris Blythe

Chief executive CIOB

Comment

The road to redemption AFTER A DIFFICULT PERIOD, THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY FACES A BATTLE TO RESTORE ITS REPUTATION, WHICH IS WHY FORMAL REGULATION IS NEEDED, SAYS CHRIS BLYTHE

Will a New Homes Ombudsman redress balance between buyer and developer?

There is no doubt that the last 18 months have been like a journey to hell. All aspects of the industry have been called into question.

Professionals, trades, inspectors, PLC directors, developers and clients – their competence, professionalism, ethics and honesty are all on the rack.

Dame Judith Hackitt in her report was excoriating about the failure of the professionals and how the gaming of the system led a drive to the bottom driven by greed, ignorance and indifference.

The highly respected Neil Stansbury of the Global Infrastructure Anti-Corruption Centre pointed to Carillion as a “great example” of corruption and said that “blind eyes have been turned at the very least”. The CIOB’s most recent survey had 48% of respondents saying that corruption was common practice in the industry, yet very few prosecutions have been forthcoming.

As far as housing is concerned, we have had the scandal of leasehold practices by the housebuilders revealed and although the government have said they are going to do something about it they have done nothing yet. On the other hand, there is the promise to introduce a New Homes Ombudsman to redress the balance between new house buyer and developer. No doubt those advising the developers are already looking at ways to game the system and neutralise the proposed Ombudsman.

This week we hear that there are 88,000 homeless children in London – enough to fill Wembley. Yet developers moan that they are being held back from building more property for sale to wealthy foreigners – places to stash their cash which generally remain unoccupied. You wonder how people sleep at night.

This week we hear that a settlement has been reached in the Edinburgh schools debacle, where the Edinburgh Schools Partnership are going to meet all the costs relating to issues. I cannot imagine

there would be any doubt that it could be otherwise – and again it is a scandal that it has taken so long to get to this point.

Perhaps we are seeing the first steps along the road to redemption. Some of the big contractors are finding it difficult to borrow money from their client, their subcontractors or the banks, so are having to turn to their shareholders for the money. Meanwhile, some specialist contractor trade bodies are urging their members to deal directly with the client to improve cash flow.

Another step is the belated recognition that a fundamental requirement for anyone working in the industry is to have the relevant competency. The work spinning out of the Hackitt review will have a significant impact on the industry and force professionals to be able to demonstrate competency not just assume it because of the number of postnominals. For the first time, construction is likely to be regulated. Initially around fire safety and then across other safety-related aspects of buildings.

Time for statutory regulation All the issues around competence and ethics mentioned above have forced the government to take the initiative in their attempt to right the wrongs – because the industry has not done so itself. Admittedly in some cases the government has not acted where it should have done, for example, after the Lakanal House fire, but there was nothing to stop the industry from acting for itself.

Construction has been a self-regulated industry – but now it is time for statutory regulation. This has happened in other sectors, namely law, accountancy and medicine.

To be really seen to be on the road to redemption, and to regain public trust, the professionals within the industry need to speak up when they see or hear things which are not in the public’s interest. To do nothing is being complicit in the crime. ●

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 OPINION

Boosting safety with BIM, p42

Feedback The Hadrian X bricklaying machine built its first house in under three days

A selection of readers’ comments about news and issues in the industry from www.constructionmanagermagazine.com CM 27/11 Govt to standardise?

David McCormick

About time, too. In the late 1990s I tried to persuade Mowlem (Manchester) to use Ytong (now part of Xella) to use large module aerated blocks in large warehouse construction for diaphragm walls. Their use is widespread throughout the world but I’ve not seen them in the UK. Perhaps someone might pick this up and run with it?

Andrew Hall

Lots of factory workers instead of skilled and proud tradespeople. Lots more estates of near-identical boxes, instead of inspiring and beautiful architecture.

We already have modular building methods in the form of timber kit. No need to think outside the box, we just need well-trained, well-paid people to do the work. Spend the money on training like the old TOPS courses and nationalise all public building projects.

Darren

This kind of deskilling ideology has been going on for at least 20 years and the result is an industry that cannot build a simple one-bedroomed dwelling without multiple snags and breaches of regs.

CM 29/11 House in a day Benjamin Sewell

Though this concept is a great idea why should it only be used for student accommodation and emergency shelter. It seems to me that the creators of module homes deem their products only worthy of those in desperate need.

In China they build modular homes and ship them to us for a fraction of the cost instead of us building a better quality home. Is that where the industry is going?

Sheila

Steel framing for domestic housing is completely unnecessary. Tmber would cut the cost and do the same job structurally.

John Broomfield

“A design life of at least 60 years”. Is this when DIYers discover they cannot do anything to improve their homes or before? A bit like us amateur mechanics discovered with our computerised cars.

Perhaps the plan is to disassemble the homes at 60 years and replace them with a new model.

CM 15/11 Robot bricklayer Andrew

For a traditional wall cavity, how would it deal with wall ties and insulation?

Mindaugas

Network Rail is trialling similar technology with the University of Birmingham.

John

Andrew, there are two choices with what you say.

Firstly, you have a human doing the complex work with accessories (no one said the technology does away with people). Or you redesign so wall ties are no longer needed and the insulation is elsewhere.

Anyway, the technology will have limits, like restricted access for the vehicle, and limits on complexity it can cope with (lintels, anyone?). It wouldn’t do away with bricklaying as a skill, just compensate for the shortage of skilled tradesmen.

CM 29/11 Blythe to retire Adrian Cox

Chris, you came in like a breath of fresh air, both modernising and rescuing the CIOB from the ignominious fate that many other professional bodies of that era suffered. Your tenure has been good for the organisation, increasing both awareness and quality of the CIOB designation. I wish you well in your retirement.

John Eynon

Well done Chris. We haven't always agreed, we don't need to, but we both want the same thing – a changed, transformed and world-class industry.

Raja Pillai

Chris Blythe has done an excellent job. Who will be the next for the challenging position?

CM 26/11 Tideway cost Ian Heptinstall

Project contingency is there to be spent. The idea is that when planning all you know is some things won’t go to plan, but you don’t know exactly which things.

So you allow contingency.

It acts to aggregate allowances of money and time to protect against risk and uncertainties and is vital on projects. If contingency is largely unspent, or if projects claim they don’t have any, something is wrong.

If most of the work is now well under way, this means that most of the potential risks have emerged, so having spent 80% of the contingency is not a problem. The problem arises when contingency is used very early, and none remains to protect the later stages of the project.

The key piece of information is how much contingency remains unallocated to protect the remaining four to five years.

Provide your own feedback on latest industry issues by posting comments online at www.constructionmanagermagazine.com or emailing the editor at construction-manager@atompublishing.co.uk

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11/12/2018 14:16

OPINION JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

HOW BIM LEVEL 2 IS CHANGING TIER 1 CONSTRUCTORS FOR THE SECOND IN OUR SERIES OF DIGITAL DEBATES, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CENTRE FOR DIGITAL BUILT BRITAIN, WE LOOK AT HOW TIER 1 CONSTRUCTORS ARE RISING TO THE CHALLENGE OF BIM LEVEL 2 AND HOW IT MAY CHANGE THEIR ROLE. WILL MANN SAT IN ON THE DISCUSSION Clockwise from top left: David Philp (CDBB); Senthil Arjunan (Interserve); Garry Fannon (Willmott Dixon); Alex Jones (Murphy) with Senthil Arjunan (Interserve); Andy Boutle (Kier); Terry Stocks (CDBB)

BIM Level 2 could transform the role of the tier 1 constructor. Potential benefits include not only capital delivery improvements, but also better asset data for clients and whole-life operational efficiencies. Modern methods of construction (MMC) are likely to become more widespread.

But how will this impact tier 1 constructors? What can they do to make BIM Level 2 “business as

usual” and what do they need to help deliver this?

Those were the issues discussed by the main contractors who gathered for the second in our series of digital debates, organised by CM, the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). CDBB will use the sessions, which will also involve consultants, facilities management

(FM) providers, SMEs and suppliers in future round table sessions, to help understand how BIM is being adopted and inform the future policy agenda.

The debate was chaired by Terry Stocks, leader of the CDBB BIM Level 2 workstream, who began by asking the panel: “Why and when does a tier 1 deliver BIM projects? Because you want to or because the client asks?”

Aecom’s global director for project technologies, John Kizior, said: “To improve our margins and provide better outcomes for our clients. We do it to gain efficiencies and increase our bottom line. Digital transformation is the journey we must go on to start making business decisions based upon facts and data, and less on intuition and gut instinct. You want to mitigate risk. Why? Because you don’t want to lose money. So it all comes down to profitability.”

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 OPINION

Does BIM Level 2 change the role of the tier 1 constructor?

Andy Boutle, head of BIM at Kier Building, said clients still need to drive BIM. “Initially, we established a mechanism to assess incoming tenders and make an informed decision on whether to use BIM,” he explained. “But quite frankly, unless there is a client requirement, then the wheels come off.”

Willmott Dixon has a different mindset, according to Garry Fannon, head of digital. “We’ve decided we are going to do BIM regardless and use that data ourselves,” he said. “What we have realised is after Grenfell, we need better understanding of what we have built.

So this data is actually quite useful. Our directors are now mandating it across the business. They see the bigger picture and they see the value of that data.”

“Does that mean you have developed your own internal information requirements?” asked Fiona Moore, BIM Level 2 programme manager at CDBB. “Yes, we have a standard employer information requirement [EIR],” replied Fannon. “This is the data we provide to the customer, and we also keep it ourselves. So now we are building up data about maintainable assets and we are starting to formulate a data strategy.”

Interserve’s head of BIM and digital construction, Senthil Arjunan, noted clients’ BIM capabilities vary considerably. “They often haven’t got the right infrastructure and resources to manage the data that we hand over,” he said. “So depending on the project, we have got a tiered approach for BIM deployment from ‘BIM light’, through BIM Level 2, then a ‘BIM Level 2 stretch’.”

“Do other contractors have this ‘ baseline’ approach to BIM, irrespective of whether a client asks for it?” David Philp, communications manager for the CDBB BIM Level 2 workstream, asked the wider panel.

“Our directors are now mandating BIM… they see the bigger picture and the value of that data” Garry Fannon, Willmott Dixon

Stephen Kennedy Stantec Yes – it becomes more of an integrator. The key is being collaborative and bringing together all the skills deployed across the supply chain – making sure the jigsaw fits together.

But we have to overcome doubters who still want the benefits proved. In my organisation, only 30% of people are “converts”.

Garry Fannon Willmott Dixon Not today, but potentially in the future. BIM is a facilitator for change. The industry will go on a rocky journey which will lead to improved design, procurement, use of data, and ultimately a better product. How do we get there? Education, education, education.

Nick Leach Sir Robert McAlpine BIM Level 2 has been an excellent catalyst for moving construction forward. The challenge is to ensure it becomes business as normal which means tier 1s must collaborate with the supply chain and ensure BIM is not just delivered in pockets.

It should be part of a business’s overall strategy.

Steve Green Bouygues The big change will be the digitising of the quality system. It means visibility of those records anywhere in the business and in the world, which means we can clearly address the cause of any issues. In aerospace, they can

do that. But the events at Edinburgh schools and Grenfell have highlighted that built asset owners and deliverers could be better.

Andy Boutle Kier No, because the procurement system is still the same.

Digital is having a disrupting effect. BIM Level 2 may be a stepping stone towards tier 1s becoming management companies, working with standard platforms and MMC. But we need to move towards partnering and shared outcomes.

Javed Edahtally Metropolitan Police Yes. Tier 1s will either become manufacturers or disappear.

As MMC develops, there will also be less of a role for consultants and QSs. Projects will always be based on a client’s specification but these will become more standardised. This is already happening in education.

James Daniel Skanska At this point, it hasn’t. In reality, we are all skirting around BIM Level 2. We are deploying more digital tools, but that doesn’t fundamentally change the way the contractor is operating. The mindset hasn’t adjusted yet.

David Philp CDBB There will be a fundamental change in what tier 1s look like, not just due to Level 2 BIM but other digital technologies. Not every building will align itself with DfMA, but where there are

areas of repetition, it will be used to a degree. The tier 1 will become more of an integrator, and as we get better working with data, we will see more early contractor engagement.

John Kizior Aecom Yes. Tier 1s are becoming data aggregators whether they want to or not. And with all that knowledge, that also means influence. On a building project, that asset is generating data, and a tier 1 will be expected to use that data to maximise that facility’s performance.

Senthil Arjunan Interserve It is definitely changing. BIM Level 2 has opened up conversations in terms of roles and responsibilities and who does what. More certainty and standardised processes have changed the way we, as a tier 1, manage project design.

Alex Jones Murphy We’re evolving but we need to become more mature in how we use the data we have access to. Those companies that collate data well will become purveyors of knowledge and provide smarter, holistic solutions.

Peter Vale Tideway Yes, BIM Level 2 has started the journey for tier 1 constructors to understand the value of data. It will have an impact on what a Tier 1 will look like, but this needs to go hand-in-hand with changes in how we contract, procure and deliver projects.

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OPINION JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Sir Robert McAlpine applies a “sliding scale” of digital maturity on its work, said Nick Leach, strategic BIM manager.

“There is a minimum that has to be hit, regardless of the project,” he explained.

“We try to address the foundations,” Boutle said. “Naming things consistently and organising them in an environment that is structured and consistent and repeatable. It is a challenge – with our own operational teams on site, with subcontractors, consultants – but we are trying to achieve that baseline and build from that upwards.”

A similar perspective came from the infrastructure sector. James Daniel, head of digital engineering for Skanska Infrastructure Services, said: “We need to get the basics right, a common data environment, an understanding of how you structure or store your data correctly, be it an order or a drawing.”

“One of our common problems is naming of documents,” said Peter Vale, engineering information manager at Tideway. “The water industry has suppliers working for different organisations and they all want it differently. That’s causing problems.”

Stephen Kennedy, head of digital and innovation at water specialist Stantec, added: “The biggest challenge for us is in the absence of a client saying ‘this is what you need to do and this is the way

10 action points for constructors from the debate

1.

Better information management is essential post Grenfell – constructors need to know what they have built and to be able to hand over data to the employer to support their asset.

From left: Garry Fannon (Willmott Dixon); Nick Leach (Sir Robert McAlpine); Steve Green (Bouygues)

you need to do it’. At the moment, what we are doing with BIM and digital is predominantly for our own efficiency.”

“So does BIM cost money to deploy?” asked Stocks. “Is there a surcharge on BIM projects?”

“Ten years ago, if BIM was on the contract, another £100,000 was added on, and the money businesses were investing was then passed on to the client,” said Daniel. “That has gone

now. With the contracts we have, BIM ‘is business as usual’.”

Stocks asked if clients understood the benef its of BIM during the procurement of the tier 1 contractors.

“Generally, the message I’m hearing is ‘no’,” he said.

But Metropolitan Police head of BIM Javed Edahtally said clients have difficulty engaging their own teams on BIM. “I was meeting with consultants

2.

3.

5.

Exploitation of data can help constructors add value to their service delivery offering.

Where clients do not request BIM, a “baseline’ digital service should be provided.

4.

Current poor practices at handover can be addressed through better BIM and Soft Landings processes.

Greater and earlier engagement of FM and operational teams is necessary to help clients understand BIM’s potential for improving their asset management.

6.

Soft Landings is rarely used to its full extent and a champion in that role can help when testing a design for maintainability and handing over assets into the operational phase.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 OPINION

Will BIM turn contractors into manufacturers?

Greater digital adoption could change how construction projects are procured

recently and said it would be really useful if we gave you what information we wanted at what RIBA stage and to what level of granularity,” he explained. “They said, ‘Yes that would be great.’ So, I took a document out of my bag and said, ‘Here you go’, and they looked really worried.”

“Clients face the same challenges we do in terms of BIM engagement,” observed Boutle. “We have one client which is really intelligent in terms of BIM. But they still can’t get their FM team to say what the need is.”

Alex Jones, head of BIM and digital construction at Murphy, echoed this.

“The ingredient missing is FM,” he said.

“We are seeing a huge movement in BIM within contracting, but not in FM. I still see them walking around with clipboards.”

“But it isn’t actually that difficult,” said Edahtally, “because if you have an asset management policy and strategy, you should know what information you need.”

“That is the whole point of Soft Landings,” said Jones. “Use Soft Landings from the beginning so you understand the end-user requirements.”

“Soft Landings was one of the intentions of BIM Level 2 and for whatever reason it seems like it hasn’t happened,” said Boutle.

“One of the challenges with water companies is the transfer of data from the project information model into the

asset information model,” said Kennedy.

“It is very difficult finding out what the operators actually want. The owners have to understand how their assets are operated then define that back to us.”

“This goes back to the organisational information requirements [OIR],” said Stocks. “If the client has an OIR that sets their strategic direction for a business, the constructor can understand the asset information requirements [AIR] and then the EIRs just contractualise it through project delivery.”

“We have got a consulting business within Interserve which is now looking at helping clients with their OIRs and AIRs,” said Arjunan. “They do the hand-holding with the clients and we get better EIRs as a result.”

The discussion moved on to whether constructors can use the data they collect to help with asset management strategies. Kizior said Aecom has

7.

9.

Digital skills shortfalls can be partly addressed through recruiting outside the industry, for example, app developers.

8.

Training internally and of suppliers needs standardising, BIM accreditation should be considered to align outcomes across the industry.

“We are seeing a huge movement in BIM within contracting, but not within FM. I still see them walking around with clipboards” Alex Jones, Murphy

Use of 3D models, visualisations and virtual reality can help engage both suppliers and clients with digital’s potential.

10.

Better benchmarking of BIM benefits and clear case studies are needed to present a more convincing business case for the technology.

Construction has a notoriously adversarial procurement culture, which many on our constructor panel agreed can be a barrier to BIM adoption – but some saw change on the horizon.

“BIM requires extra effort and suits early contractor involvement and collaborative working yet the contracts we have are exactly the opposite to that – they’re about achieving the cheapest possible price,” said Jones.

“But clients do that because it is all they know – unless there is evidence to the contrary,” argued Vale.

“There is masses of evidence that collaboration works,” said Steve Green, head of knowledge-sharing at Bouygues. “All the partnerships we developed at Thomas Vale [which Bouygues acquired in 2012] demonstrated that, but then the recession came along and they were gone.

But there were best value reports that said actually, Mr Client, this will be a better experience and in the long run, cheaper for you.”

Stocks posed the question: “Do we think procurement will change as digital adoption increases?”

“Absolutely,” said Kizior. “We need to look at manufacturing and product lifecycle management.

We have seen the video of the 57-storey building in China that was built in 19 days. The company which built that was making air-conditioning units the year before. It took manufacturing principles and applied it to building and it only took them

12 months to get the necessary capabilities to deliver that project.”

“We know about the big productivity gap between construction and manufacturing – so is this where tier 1s have got to get to?” asked Stocks.

“It’s possible that once a project has been modelled in BIM, it can fly straight over the head of the tier 1 to a manufacturer,” said Green.

“It may not even need an architect to supervise.”

However, Vale warned that manufacturing principles were better suited to new-build. “There is lots of legacy out there – we need to get that house in order too,” he pointed out.

“Skanska is using ‘flying’ factories on its building projects, but that doesn’t really translate to highways management,” added Daniel.

But Jones said Murphy is “trying to think a bit more like a manufacturer”.

“We have factories and 2,500 direct operatives so we have to keep them busy,” he said. “We put utilities into new housing estates, but we’re thinking, instead of taking all that risk for 1% margin, why not actually own those assets?

If we are installing and owning those own assets, it is a much more stable business environment, and also, the value of data comes into its own.

“So we have been scanning all these assets and putting in sensors which link to data analytics.

We’re using all the 40 years of experience in Murphy to fine-tune how wastewater treatment works.”

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Upskilling constructors with digital know-how From left: David Philp (CDBB); John Kizior (Aecom); Senthil Arjunan (Interserve); Alex Jones (Murphy); Peter Vale (Tideway); Fiona Moore (CDBB)

set up a business to provide that service.

“We engage with the client, we take their asset data and marry it to their systems,” he explained. “We are showing them how to use that information to run their facilities and their assets better.

There is a wonderful opportunity here.

You just have to show clients the benefits.”

“So I am hearing that the basic BIM service is free – business as usual – but where constructors can make money is the additional services?” asked Stocks.

Edahtally agreed there was a gap in the market for this. “We can’t maintain our own information so we need a capable supply chain to do it on our behalf,” he said. “ We have engaged with NG Bailey who can update model data and other digital information in a manner that is consistent with how we operate as an organisation.”

Daniel said that Skanska is working with highways clients to organise their

Bringing BIM to new and existing industry professionals can effect positive change

data and plan their maintenance strategy their maintenance strategy. “On longer-term contracts, we are writing their requirements for free,” he said. “One client gave us a 13TB hard drive with the whole county mapped. So we started to drill down into it and we said, ‘Well actually, we can tell you how to manage your potholes and your water gulleys for the next five years’. And they said, ‘That sounds really interesting!’”

“It would be interesting to read the case study on that,” said Vale. “We need BIM case studies that can be shared, or we can’t improve. Hold on to the specifics that you need, but if we don’t share knowledge of what works, we can’t create that wider digital cultural change across the industry.”

“We do need to hear what businesses are doing to measure the outcomes of BIM and digital – the demonstrable benefits,” added Moore. ●

Key findings: Constructors and BIM Level 2 “Tier 1 constructors have taken up the challenge and are adapting to BIM Level 2.

However, they are using it within their traditional approaches – inward-facing, with direction to their supply chains rather than supporting clients.

“They have reached a level of proficiency where they can now offer BIM Level 2 ‘base’ outputs with no additional cost to the contract, providing the client includes the Level 2 outcomes required at tender stage.

“They view their immediate role within a digital environment as an integrator between suppliers, mapping the progress of works.

“However, as manufactured solutions and standard platform designs become more mainstream, the traditional role of the tier 1 constructor could change significantly.”

Terry Stocks, leader of the CDBB BIM Level 2 Workstream

Our constructor panel agreed that delivering digital training is still a challenge – though with exciting possibilities.

“There is not enough awareness of the new digital capabilities that are needed in construction,” Boutle felt.

Leach agreed. “We had a group of students from a technical college come into McAlpine and one created a VR app within a week and demonstrated it to us,” he recounted. “He had never thought about a construction career before.”

“The problem is it’s no good recruiting digitally literate school leavers or graduates if they don’t know how to build things,” said Green. “Pairing the new recruit with an old hand who knows construction would be the best of both worlds.”

Stocks asked how tier 1s were trying to bring their subcontractors on board digitally.

Kizior said: “We have our data requirements and if subcontractors are unable to deliver those requirements, we will do that for them and remove that from their fee.”

Stantec is using collaborative tools to help suppliers. “We use 4D Synchro software to plan, visualise and analyse, and we are finding our suppliers will speak up when they wouldn’t in the past, for example, identifying that a lift plan needs reworking,” Kennedy explained. “On some projects, we have seen a time reduction of 50% for the supply chain because of that engagement.”

“It is the same as using 3D visualisations for project stakeholders so they can

understand what you are going to build at the front end and comment,” noted Stocks.

Skanska’s experience is that it is important “to give the right skills to the right people”, Daniel said. “In the past, we have trained people in BIM, but has that helped us or is it just ticking a box?” he questioned.

“We have got transport planners down in Hampshire who are running the GPS systems, planning the routing for our gritting lorries. We give them training for that and it means we have valuable skills in our supply chain.”

“So does Skanska, as the client, charge for this fee or are you taking ownership to try and improve the situation?” asked Vale.

“It is a partnering approach, we do it together,” said Daniel. “We can’t have them go out on to the network unable to do their job properly.”

Kizior worried that inconsistencies in standards and expectations come in when different tier 1s train their suppliers to different standards.

“Companies migrate from project to project,” he pointed out. “The last thing I want is to get a company who says, ‘when I worked for another tier 1, we did it differently’. We need firm expectations for all suppliers.”

“You have just reached the same conclusion as the first round table – the need for a consistent approach is exactly what they said about training and CPD,” said Moore.

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TECHNICAL | JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

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Technical

Heather to change pic

CGI images of the Pebble Mill hospital as originally planned (top) and incorporating the later variation with the extra floors

PEBBLE MILL VARIATION TESTS SIMONS’ FLEXIBILITY CIRCLE HEALTH’S NEW BIRMINGHAM HOSPITAL WAS DESIGNED BY BRYDEN WOOD WITH FUTUREPROOFING IN MIND, AND THE CONCEPT WAS TESTED WHEN THE CLIENT DECIDED TO ADD A £17.5M EXTENSION – EIGHT MONTHS AFTER MAIN CONTRACTOR SIMONS STARTED ON SITE. WILL MANN REPORTS

PEBBLE MILL HOSPITAL INFRASTRUCTURE: PROPERTY FLOOD RESILIENCE INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATIONS BIM & DIGITAL: ROUND TABLE: COLLABORATION BOOSTING SAFETY WITH BIM

There are variations, and then there are variations. On Circle Health’s new hospital at Pebble Mill in Birmingham, the client landed contractor Simons and architect Bryden Wood with the news that it wanted to add another 120 bedrooms plus rehabilitation space to the project – eight months after construction work had begun.

This massive £17.5m variation, on top of the £21.5m cost of the project’s first phase, was an early test of the adaptability and futureproofing that the architect had built into the design (see box, p30).

“The intention was always to provide flexibility in the design so that extensions could be added on,” explains Bryden Wood director Paul O’Neill. “But the timing was challenging.”

The practice was engaged by Circle in 2014 to design the Pebble Mill hospital.

It comprises two adjacent wings, one clinical and one hospitality, joined by a double-height reception and lift core. Initially, Bryden Wood designed a 10,400 sq m building, set out mostly over two levels, including 20 bedrooms, three fitted-out theatres, shell and core, some “fallow space”, plus offices. Simons started on site in April 2017.

But by December, Circle needed more space. This meant adding two storeys above the clinical wing, plus horizontal expansion to the rear, and another storey on top of the hospitality wing, where the building cantilevers

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 TECHNICAL

7,600

sq m of extra floor space added

by Circle in the variation

Far left: The original single level of the hospitality wing Left: Work progresses after the extra level had been added

out by 7.5m at the front and by 1.5m to the rear. Some 7,600 sq m of extra floor space in total.

So how was this massive variation incorporated into contract?

The contract form was NEC 3 and was set up from the outset to be flexible, so that instructions on variations from the client could be integrated, says O’Neill. “The design for phase two – the extension – was done outside the NEC 3 contract,” he explains. “We designed up to RIBA Stage 4. Then the design change was instructed by the client through a deed of variation.”

Meanwhile on site, Simons was eight months into building the original design, now known as phase one. “It was a difficult situation,” says project manager Stuart Partlow. “We couldn’t have continued phase one without knowing the client’s plans. We needed to know what to stop, or what to slow

down. This was particularly the case with the M&E and steelwork.

“We instructed some steelwork for phase two before the deed of variation was signed. Simons funded it for two months – the steelwork – before we got the official paperwork on the variation.

We got an email saying, ‘please get on with it’. It was a written instruction in email. Not an official project manager’s instruction though.”

Simons signed a preconstruction services agreement in December 2017 for the second phase. “We then appointed Bryden Wood as designer through that preconstruction agreement,” says Partlow. In June 2018, the contractor formally received the variation instruction and started phase two.

It was at this point that the benefits of Bryden Wood’s futureproofed design were realised. Extra loading capacity had been designed into both the pad

foundations and steel superstructure, including the 12m-long transfer beam in the reception – the longest in the structure – which supports the trusses of the cantilevered hospitality wing above.

The steel frame of the first phase included connections at the end of the vertical members, rising approximately 300mm above the floor slab, to allow for easy connections to the extended structure. “Otherwise we’d have been digging into the concrete slab,” says Partlow. Erection of the frame for phase two was completed in September 2018, taking the total steelwork on the project to 650 tonnes.

The service runs have been sized to allow for extra pipes and cabling, and the roof design provides capacity for M&E plant. “The plant room in the clinical wing hasn’t needed to move, but we’ve switched two air-handling units on to the roof, to free up space,

Circle Birmingham, Pebble Mill Client: Circle Health Main contractor: Simons Construction Architect: Bryden Wood Project manager: Gleeds Contract: NEC 3 Value: £39m (includes £17.5m variation for second phase) Programme: April 2017: Phase one start June 2018: Phase two start July 2019: Contract completion

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Bryden Wood designs for future healthcare needs Buildings can accommodate changing requirements

and the chillers above the MRI have also moved on to the roof,” explains Partlow. “This extra load capacity was designed into the structure.”

The lift core is five storeys high, another futureproofing feature of the design, even though the building will only be four storeys with the extension.

“Structurally, there is flexibility for a fifth level,” says Partlow. “However, we have not included the futureproofing features, such as the extensions on vertical steel members, on the fourth floor. The client decided they just wanted to get the hospital built.

“So we don’t actually need the fifth level of the lift core. But by the time the client had decided on the final design, the steelwork had been designed and fabricated, and it would have cost more to have started over and redesigned the lift core for just four storeys.

So we are building it out according to the original design.”

All the Simons supply chain came across to phase two of the scheme. “We did test the market in some cases, to demonstrate value,” says Partlow.

“The client QS was scrutinising this, particularly Imtech. But it would have been madness to have had two separate M&E contractors for the two phases.”

It has been tricky to manage the two interfacing phases of work, particularly given the addition of the extra levels.

“We have tried to programme so we haven’t got someone working above someone else,” says Partlow.

“The mantra is safety. The client was obviously keen for fast progress, but under CDM regulations I have to build the project safely and I have to say that to the client. But they are actually happy with the speed of progress.”

The phase two works increased the original construction programme by six

“We have tried to programme so we haven’t got someone working above someone else.

The mantra is safety” Stuart Partlow, Simons

Drone view of the hospital in November, showing the main entrance with a protected oak tree in the foreground

months, but the opening of the hospital will only be delayed by three months as some fit-out works will continue while the hospital is operational.

The first sectional handover for Simons comes on 4 March, when Circle’s specialist fit-out contractors arrive. Subsequent handovers on 29 March and 23 April will see the building gradually handed over to the client for staff training. “There is a lot of logistical planning ahead to ensure site workers are kept separate from clinical staff, and Simons retains management of the whole site till the end of April so I will be keeping an eye on the method statements of the Circle contractors,” says Partlow.

The first patients are scheduled to arrive for operations on 4 June, with Simons completing remaining work on upper floors through to contract completion on 5 July. ●

The hospitality wing has planning for a fifth level Bryden Wood’s work with Circle Health, with hospitals in Reading and now Birmingham, involves “visualising the future of a healthcare asset at the very beginning of the design process”, as director Paul O’Neill puts it.

“Healthcare business models are renowned for rapid and disruptive evolution,” he says. “The brief often evolves quicker than design teams and contractors can keep up with and clients increasingly need to create expandable hospitals.

“At Pebble Mill, the challenging aspect of the brief was achieving a building which can not only expand but also accommodate healthcare services for different patient profiles, within the same envelope.”

Each wing was designed to expand either vertically or horizontally. The hospitality wing can reach up to five storeys, while the clinical wing is designed to expand horizontally to provide additional theatres and ancillary spaces, and vertically up to four storeys, for treatment and inpatient areas.

Planning was given for a 19,000 sq m facility, though construction of the first phase would be 10,400 sq m, with the second phase taking it to 18,000 sq m.

There is scope for another, 1,000 sq m floor on the hospitality wing.

The adaptive concept was tested when Circle signed a joint venture with a rehabilitation provider and decided to add the phase two extension.

“The limited number of remedial works required on site despite the late instruction of the new brief is a great achievement and proof of the adaptability of structural, services and architectural designs,” says O’Neill.

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Construction Enquirer - Advert (255x208).pdf

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Groundworks & Infrastructure

CHANGING CONSTRUCTION TO BOOST FLOOD RESILIENCE A SERIES OF WET WINTERS HAVE CHANGED ATTITUDES TO FLOOD RISK. THIS YEAR, THE FIRST OUTPUTS FROM THE GOVERNMENT-BACKED FLOOD RESILIENCE ACTION PLAN WILL INCLUDE A NEW CODE OF PRACTICE FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, WITH CHANGES TO BUILDING REGULATIONS ALSO IN THE PIPELINE. JON MASTERS EXPLAINS

A new sub sector of construction has emerged in recent years. With substantial drive from insurers, this mini-industry concerns floods, or rather buildings’ resilience to flooding.

After major floods in Cumbria, Somerset, Yorkshire and elsewhere in recent years, proponents of making properties more resilient are calling for changes to building regulations.

That is certainly on the cards. But the immediate aim is to get more properties at risk retrofitted with flood resilience measures.

The floods of 2015/16 caused about £1.3bn in property damages, according to the Association of British Insurers – and cost the wider economy a reported £5bn. Stories that emerged in the aftermath included tales of despairing businesses and homeowners flooded for the second or third time over the space of a decade.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) then convened a “round table of commercial interests” in flooding, headed by the former head of BRE, Dr Peter Bonfield, with the aim of finding ways to encourage more use of property flood resilience (PFR) measures.

Bonfield’s Flood Resilience Action Plan, published in September 2016, set out what five task groups would do, such as embedding more PFR in small businesses and launching an online source of public information on flood resilience. Two years on, Bonfield is no longer actively involved, but momentum has been maintained. The round table is now chaired by Aviva’s head of technical property claims, Graham Brogden.

From the round table, a code of practice and guidance on PFR is being written for use by local authorities and all sectors of building and property industries.

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“There is a market for contractors to help insurers take the lead, with advice on what works and how resilience can be improved”

Hamish Hall, WSP

With input from CIRIA, BRE, CIWEM, the Environment Agency and others, the new code is expected around March this year. It will be pitched at designers, contractors and homeowners, on various methods and processes of PFR, including vital aspects of surveying to assess risk and appropriate measures.

“This will be the biggest and probably most important output so far from the first two years of the round table,” Brogden says.

CM spoke to a number of organisations involved in retrofitting PFR. All agree that a code of practice is needed, partly because it’s a relatively new area of industry – one which has grown as Defra and other government departments have made grant funding available for flood recovery.

“We found a lot of people selling their services after the grants were first announced, but they were often poorly fitted or ineffective measures.

So the determination was that next time absolutely it [PFR] must be done properly,” says Brogden.

Maintenance is another important issue, likely to be covered in the new code, Brogden adds: “One of the main problems we found in Cumbria was that, while some properties were fitted with defences after the floods of 2005 and 2009, in the form of temporary door guards and barriers, when the

2015 flooding hit, they were ineffective because they hadn’t been maintained.

The new code of practice will include a section on maintenance.”

The government’s response since the last big flooding events of 2015 included a £2.5bn grant fund for flood defences up to 2021. The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government says £300m has been awarded to flooded businesses and communities.

Further grants are available from the Environment Agency.

Insurance schemes Meanwhile the Flood Re scheme offers insurance for buildings built before 2009. For newer properties, it’s assumed flood risk assessments, planning guidance and good design will ensure they are not at risk.

“There is a lot of focus on SUDS [sustainable urban drainage systems] and other ways of keeping water out when it comes to new-builds, but there’s still little certainty that properties are resilient, so we want to influence changes to building regulations in favour of PFR. Until that happens we will not have much traction on increasing the resilience of newer properties,” Brogden says.

The generally accepted approach to PFR (which will be reflected in the code of practice) adopts a stance of combining appropriate flood protection with measures designed to minimise damage and allow as quick a recovery as possible – installing concrete floors and lifting electrical sockets and white goods, for example.

There is an acknowledgement that some flooding is unavoidable when extreme weather hits and that water should be allowed to enter a property rather than build up against walls

Property flood resilience in York PFR measures are used in a case of repeated flooding Mary Dhonau’s Know Your Flood Risk campaign has helped homes and businesses install property flood resilience (PFR) features, including one home in York which has been overwhelmed by flooding in the past decade.

The owners of the house on the River Ouse have had their property “tanked” up to dado rail height – with wall exteriors sealed and water resistant tiles and paint on interior surfaces.

The ground floor of the house now has heavy wood-effect ceramic tiles, doors have quick-release hinges and virtually all of the ground floor furniture including the kitchen units can be either raised or moved upstairs.

All of this was done after the Boxing Day flood

of 2015, the 11th flood the owners had experienced since they bought the listed Georgian cottage in 2006. Some PFR had been fitted before then to cope with frequent shallow flooding, but the 2015 flood was far bigger, trapping its occupants on the upper floor for four days.

Since then the PFR measures have been beefed up, with sump pumps in the kitchen and living room.

The Georgian bow windows have been reinforced with concrete surrounds, with the approval of a local conservation officer and the owners now have bespoke steel barriers for fitting across the lower floor windows in readiness for extreme flooding.

The River Ouse in York has flooded frequently in recent years

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£1.3bn

Floods in 2015/2016 caused about £1.3bn in property damages, says the Association of Building Insurers

“It’s important to realise that the average flood is 0.3m high. Most can be kept out… but some are very big and will overtop the best defences” Mary Dhonau, Know Your Flood Risk

so high (to depths of 600mm or more) that it results in structural damage.

A major sticking point for PFR, acknowledged as a cause of a lot of difficulty for homeowners, is the number of organisations involved.

“Pulling all the different players and guidance together is a big challenge for PFR,” says senior architect for the Concrete Centre, and flood resilience task group member, Elaine Toogood.

“It’s also a quite tricky and subtle area of specialism, because there are so many variables: different types of flood and risk; different ways of mitigating.”

As the head of water development for consultant WSP, Hamish Hall has substantial experience of recent flood resilience projects. He says: “The move to a policy of all-out prevention to one of protection and resilience is an important one. PFR is the right approach in many cases, but it’s still often difficult to get homeowners to accept that flooding will occur.”

WSP has submitted to the code of practice steering group a list of 20 learning points from a recent PFR project in the Midlands carried out with a local authority and the owners of 16 homes. The list reflects the complexities of dealing with multiple different people and circumstances and the potential opportunities for contractors.

Flooding around East Lyng, on the Somerset Levels, in January 2014

“A specific scheme with a local authority may involve a portfolio of properties, but we’re treating each and their owners individually, with either a bronze, silver or gold level of PFR. The owners have some control over the level of funding and their independence is important, so they can make an informed decision on what level of protection and resilience to go for,” says Hall.

“Contractors in general are struggling with a plethora of products on the market, some of which require other things to have been done. But there is a lot of opportunity for contractors.

Insurers are emerging as the drivers of PFR. They will eventually fund a lot of it instead of government, so there is a market for contractors to help insurers to take the lead, with advice on what works and how resilience can be improved.”

WSP’s submission to the steering group acknowledges the role that Mary

Dhonau played in speaking to residents.

After experiencing flooding herself on more than one occasion, Dhonau made her own home resilient and has since forged a career as a PFR consultant, as well as chief executive of the Know Your Flood Risk campaign and website.

“Contractors are on a learning curve when it comes to PFR; we all are. What’s strongly needed is more research to get a body of knowledge behind the advice, on what works and which materials work together, such as waterproof insulation and cement-type plaster for tanking rooms up to certain heights,” she says.

“It’s important to realise that the average flood is 0.3m high. Most can be kept out or recovered from easily, but some are very big and will overtop the best defences. People at risk need to acknowledge, adapt and be ready so that they can get back to normal quicker and reduce the trauma of being flooded.” ●

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Lessons from BRE’s flood house THE BRE HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATING FLOOD RESILIENCE MEASURES AT ITS INNOVATION PARK Fire services test the flood house resilience The property flood resilience (PFR) approach of combining some protection to keep water out, with resilience for rapid recovery, has been demonstrated over the past two years at BRE’s Garston Innovation Park.

The Flood Resilient Repair Home at the park has enhanced seals to doors and windows and has membranes for diverting water

seepage through walls and floors towards drainage channels and a sump pump.

Inside there are water-resistant wall and under-floor insulation, plus a waterproof kitchen, wallboards instead of plasterboard and ceramic tiles with rugs in place of carpets. Sockets and wiring are raised and white goods are at worktop height. A large tank of

water on the roof is opened to flood the home to show how it all works.

“It’s a fairly low-tech solution, but having this flood resilient home on show is important for aiding people’s understanding, by demonstrating the theory of PFR,” says David Kelly, group director for BRE’s Centre for Resilience and Innovation Parks Network (and member of the PFR code steering group).

“PFR is a sensible approach. In most cases there is a balance to be had between flood resistance and properties’ resilience to flooding.”

BRE is planning an event for February 2019, for “refreshing” the PFR measures demonstrated at Garston. “We want industry to submit their ideas and will be issuing an invite for this in the New Year,” Kelly says.

Testing the resilience of the BRE flood house 3 1

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1. Waterproof membrane and resilient insulation behind boarding 2. Magnesium oxide waterproof wallboard 3. Flood-resisting window 4. Flood-resisting door 5. Spray-applied waterproof foam insulation 6. Natural cement waterproof render 7. Sockets placed above flood level 8. Waterproof magnesium oxide wall boards (bottom) and plasterboard (top), fixed horizontally 9. Perimeter sub floor drain 10. Ceramic tiles over insulated concrete screed 11. Floor drains direct to sump pump 12. Sump and twin pumps 13. Sub floor membrane, resilient insulation and concrete screed 14. Water-resisting kitchen cabinets and doors 15. Backflow protection in toilet drain

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GROUNDWORKS & INFRASTRUCTURE JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

IN PICTURES | FIVE NEW INFRASTRUCTURE INNOVATIONS CM TAKES A LOOK AT SOME OF THE LATEST DIGITAL INNOVATIONS AND TECHNICAL CHALLENGES ON GROUNDWORKS AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

Remote sensors on Royal College of Music groundworks Shoring specialist Groundforce is using a wireless monitoring system for real-time measurement of static loads and potential movements on Gilbert-Ash’s Royal College of Music project. The complex scheme involves constructing a 7m-deep basement and extension in the central courtyard.

Groundforce’s FlatMesh technology uses wireless nodes attached to the hydraulic struts supporting the basement excavation, which pass their signal to a 3G gateway module, providing alerts about any unwanted movement in surrounding structures.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 GROUNDWORKS & INFRASTRUCTURE

Piling specialist uses VR to monitor live projects Ground engineer Aarsleff has developed a virtual reality (VR) app with software house Luminous which allows the contractor and clients to check project progress remotely.

The app uses 3D simulation and data mapping to bring project drawings to life, which helps estimators with project proposals and allows technical staff to determine appropriate rig type and assess surrounding conditions without ever having to step foot on site.

Drones survey 230km of HS2 route One of the largest drone surveying jobs in the world has covered 230km of the HS2 route from London to Birmingham in just three weeks. Tech firm SenSat, licensed through the government’s drone pathfinder programme, carried out digital topographical surveys using drones fitted with high resolution cameras. These generate thousands of photos which are stitched together into point clouds (pictured). The data, accurate to within 15mm, will be used to plan enabling works.

A14 earthworks uses digital digging tech

Skanska cuts emissions 98% in ‘electric site’ pilot

The Costain-Skanska-Balfour Beatty team on the £1.5bn A14 improvement project is using machine control technology for the earthworks.

Specialist earthmover Walters is shifting 12 million cu m of material with help from Topcon’s Sitelink3D system, which is installed on its excavators and dozers. This provides operators with a site model on an in-cab display which connects with Walters’ office, allowing remote monitoring, design changes, data exchange, reporting and analytics.

Skanska and Volvo Construction Equipment have achieved a 98% reduction in CO2 emissions on an “electric site” trial. Running for 10 weeks at a quarry near Gothenburg in Sweden, the pilot used eight autonomous, battery-powered load carriers (pictured), a hybrid wheel loader and cable-connected hybrid excavator, plus machine control and logistics management systems. The results also showed a 70% drop in energy use and a 40% reduction in operator costs.

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USING DIGITAL TO COLLABORATE IPADS AREN’T COMPATIBLE WITH SITE GLOVES, CONTRACTS HAVEN’T KEPT UP WITH A DIGITAL AGE AND WE’D RATHER DIE THAN MODERNISE – SOME OF THE REASONS WHY PAPER IS STILL GOING STRONG ACCORDING TO PARTICIPANTS IN CM’S LATEST ROUND TABLE WITH BLUEBEAM. DENISE CHEVIN CHAIRED THE DEBATE

How will construction project teams collaborate in the future and what kind of techniques will they use to minimise risk? With increasingly complex projects to deliver and extensive supply chains to manage, information management and data sharing is crucial to all construction companies. Can the digital sharing of information help foster improved performance and what are the barriers to making it happen? And why do so few seem to have mastered it?

These were some of the talking points at a round table convened at Construction Manager’s offices in London, in association with Bluebeam, on the theme of better collaboration, now and in the future.

Denise Chevin: Given there is so much evidence and efficiency to be gained using digital systems why do people still feel wedded to paper?

Is it a lack of trust, lack of investment?

Are people scared of the unknown?

Vicki Holmes: It’s a mixture of all of the above. The tools we are investing in to deliver digital construction are of an unknown standard. We get hardware and software but end up with people on site using iPads which aren’t compatible with their site gloves, so you have to learn as you go as you’ve already invested in it.

Secondly, it’s humans who are using it and it’s asking humans to change their mindset to something awkward.

If you have any negative feedback from that experience you go back to what you know. Paper doesn’t clunk.

Neil Donaghy: Having rolled out tablet technology, it exposed how scared individuals were to press the go button as the data went out to the world and they couldn’t get it back. They couldn’t relate input to output. Reporting formats don’t brand themselves to look like a corporate document so people will go back to completing paper forms.

May Winfield: A lot of it is about mindset. Construction is not innovative. Contracts in law are very reactive – only when something has happened or someone has lost a lot of money do you see change. Contracts insist on BIM Level 2 but no one has lost a lot of money yet. Banks and lawyers have paper contracts. They don’t understand the changes and technology in the way we work so they go for the safest option. No lawyer will put in a clause that says you will only have electronic deliverables. They won’t say you don’t need paper copies any more.

You need a test case. It is changing but it’s a legal mindset of mitigation.

Thomas Lindner: There are three issues.

When you work in construction you have a limbic system that tells you are tough and you work hard. The second is

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIE KIM

BIM & Digital

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In association with

that you’re single-minded – that thickheadedness that there isn’t another way to do it. The last one is this belief that you must make no money. We have paperthin profit margins and the problem is that we are proud of that. Paper is the single-mindedness. We’ve been told to modernise or die but we’d rather die.

Mike Turpin: We need to see the value of it, but the industry doesn’t see a tangible benefit.

VH: People are still being paid per drawing which is against the ethos of digital construction.

Todd Wynne: Paper is static. If that’s printed it’s not changing, but it will need to change as it’s already obsolete.

Javed Edahtally: But there is a generation that is born to digital, so we are moving.

DC: What’s your level of going digital?

VH: As an organisation we are using digital managers as champions for bringing in new technology. It has forced a mind shift. Along with that we have had to figure out how we capture every person at every level. Everyone becomes the champion of their own little win.

We are moving in the right direction.

ND: We started using technology in 2008/9. Had some good wins in how people interfaced with devices. We still have a journey to go and we could do things like ban use of printers during certain times of day. We could ban Excel. We could go to databases directly.

TL: After the mindset the next issue is lack of leadership. If you have a facility to print, people will use it – it’s their comfort blanket. If you provide an alternative, they will use it.

MT: It’s finding the right balance in the right place. There are certain situations where paper is right but other times a tablet or laptop is right.

“People want to hand over paper to say ‘that’s what we signed up to’, but it’s a point in time – whereas a digital model is a live moving beast” Javed Edahtally, Met Police

THE PANEL

Vicki Holmes Learning partner, Multiplex

Neil Donaghy Head of BIM and digital engineering, Skanska

Thomas Lindner Director, Holden River Consulting

May Winfield Senior construction lawyer

Javed Edahtally Head of BIM and management, Metropolitan Police

Gibbs Burke Senior facade construction manager, Ballymore

Mike Turpin Director and digital BIM consultant, Innovating Futures

Todd Wynne VP of business development and partnerships, Bluebeam

James Chambers UK country manager, Bluebeam

JE: We are trying to drive it. We are not specifying paper outputs: we are asking for digital models and we’ve a had a bit of pushback with connection to 2D layouts.

All information from the supply chain should migrate over to digital without need for paper whatsoever. We can review all drawings digitally. That’s our approach – we do want to go paperless, we see no need for paper at all.

DC: Is there a legal issue?

JE: Yes, that’s come up especially with BIM Level 2 contracts. People want to hand over paper to say “that’s what we signed up to” – even a PDF. But it’s a point in time, whereas a digital model is a live moving beast. So, there is an issue too about intellectual property – specific design that people have created: they feel it belongs to them. We have had a lot of resistance but there aren’t many contractors working truly in BIM 2.

Gibbs Burke: Unfortunately, it’s an uphill battle with our supply chain. They like paper as it’s a physical thing they can hand to you. We have to set the bar – so we have to refuse to accept it. I insist on digital. You have to pull the plug on the printer, take away their drawings. I had a guy who walked up several storeys three to four times and back because he took the wrong drawings from his desk. I had them on the iPad right there.

DC: So, we need people to understand that digital leads to efficiencies?

MW: The fundamental starting point is contracts, but also clients’ requirements.

Lots say they’d like to do a bit of digital but they don’t know what, they just want to save some money. Lawyers don’t understand BIM either. So the client turns to the supply chain and asks for a vague thing rather than saying: I don’t want any paper. Once you force people 39

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Thomas Lindner: “If the person at the front isn’t competent to put the information in, that’s as bad as the person receiving the data and not knowing how to interpret it”

into a different way of working, they will see it is more efficient but until you make people do it a different way there is a fear.

VH: There’s a huge element of finding your “why” to it. At Multiplex we were pushing BIM for a while as everyone else was but we didn’t know why. But then we reassessed and said: let’s ignore the client and subcontractor and ask what does BIM do for us? What does digital construction give us in terms of benefits? When we listed those, we came up with a minimum standard for modelling and asset data.

If the client doesn’t want operational requirements, we can guarantee that in five years’ time if they’ve had five Multiplex projects the data sets will be the same. So when they realise they do want that data they can have it.

ND: There’s a big risk that consultants feed clients a pile of “not good information”. Some of the specs Skanska have gone through have caused problems. They are rubbish.

MT: A lot are so complicated – 100 pages long, duplicates, trying to make it look good.

MW: You see cut-and-paste jobs in tenders. Half is not relevant.

GB: Wouldn’t knowing where that cut and paste has come from make it safer?

Do they take the digital document and scan it back in so no-one takes liability? You should be able to see where people have marked it up.

MW: I think it’s more that some consultants try to be comprehensive so have a document asking for everything with different versions of it. Employers don’t know because they have different employers. So we ask: do you need that?

VH: I’ve been on both sides. I was a BIM consultant. There were times when you would speak to the construction team not the FM team, so we would ask operational requirements and were told “We don’t

“The reason we like paper is anonymity.

When you have a digital file you can see who authored what” Gibbs Burke, Ballymore

have one, can you give us everything?”

We’d start the job and six months later get introduced to the FM team. It’s a disconnect. If a banking company is building a site they will have an FM team somewhere but the people constructing that site aren’t connected to them.

James Chambers: So many people are reliant on all of this but it’s so fragmented. Is there a way forward?

JE: Consultants and contractors all point and blame at each other.

GB: The reason why we like paper so much is the anonymity. If everyone marks it up no one can tell but as soon as you have a digital file you can see who authored what. You can pinpoint who wrote it if it goes wrong.

DC: Are there tangible benefits?

TL: It’s about using tools to minimise risk. As trainee carpenter the only way

to reduce risk of hitting my thumb with a hammer was to have competence. The same applies. If you know what you’re doing the risk is not going away but it is reduced because you’re competent. If the person at the front isn’t competent to put the information in, that’s as bad as the person receiving the data and not knowing how to interpret it. If there’s no trust in the system people go back to what they know.

MW: It goes back to the contract. The reason people have disputes is when something goes wrong everyone points fingers then pulls out the contract to see where risk is allocated. Then people are happier to take it. The issue goes away a lot faster or it doesn’t become an issue in the first place. It’s more time and cost efficient for disputes if you use digital.

ND: Continual design changes cause inefficiencies as the client doesn’t know

Javed Edahtally (centre): “With digital classifications it’s helping to minimise risk around the consistency of information we are getting back”

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what they want and keeps changing while work is under way. We should have the same system as in Japan where you can’t start building until the design is signed off.

VH: We found projects that were unbuildable once you analysed in 3D. We had tenders for concrete come back all with different quantities and costs.

We did a take-off in an hour from the model and asked them to resubmit. Then you’re picking the subcontractor who is the strongest not the cheapest.

JE: With digital classifications it’s helping to minimise risk around the consistency of information we are getting back. The other thing is we have created an asset information requirement at each design stage and who that will be delivered to. It tells everyone what to deliver and reduces the risk for us as everyone is aware contractually what they need to do.

DC: Is digital promoting flexibility of working, is that helping?

JE: I’m from a design engineer background where you have engineers from all over the world working on one particular part who can link in real time and collaborate. That’s immensely useful for delivering design and moving forward for construction.

MT: People are afraid of people working from home as they don’t know what they’re producing unless they are sat there from 9-5. The attitude seems to be unless someone sends me one drawing a day how do I know what they’re doing?

DC: Software sharing – is there still reluctance to use it or is that bound up in that they want the comfort of paper?

JC: Technology isn’t going away, and the complexity of projects isn’t going away either – it will get to the point

that you can’t build something with traditional philosophies.

MT: Change seems slow but it’s actually fast when you look back over the past six years.

TW: I keep hearing that we need to change people but we can’t change people. We are the product of our environment, so what I would challenge is changing the environment around your people and they will change.

In my past I introduced a firm to iPads.

We didn’t change the people, we didn’t take away their printers and paper, we focused on surrounding them in their environment with easier systems. We printed isometrics on 30x40 paper and hung them in the trailer. In the meeting they would stand up and point to the model on paper. I told him he was doing BIM. Focus on the technology that allows that evolution. That’s what we need to do in the industry, change the environment not the people. Let them make the change themselves when they see it’s easier.

VH: But those decisions come from senior management. So we still have to change those people.

TW: Start with micro changes at the bottom. When I bought a drone it was a toy but we saved $450,000 on one project with that drone. Look for your champions and early adopters. It’s amazing how the virus spreads. Focus on equipping them with new tools then they will choose that change. We wrote in contracts that people use iPads and didn’t have much success but had more success when we hosted training on how to use them. I persuaded a drywaller in Texas to buy an iPad at personal cost. I saw him three years later and his entire company was using them.

It’s about technical literacy; for some it’s the first computer they’ve touched and spinning a BIM model is another level up, so make it simpler and democratise. ●

May Winfield: “It’s more time and cost efficient for disputes if you use digital”

“That’s what we need to do in the industry – change the environment not the people.

Let them make the change themselves” Todd Wynne, Bluebeam

If you could change one thing to drive digital ways of working what should it be?

More cloudbased document management systems that are less siloed.

Neil Donaghy Support people to progress and change the environment even if it’s not a traditional role in the company.

May Winfield Education is the key. Making tools available and educating people on how to use them.

James Chambers We need intelligent clients to drive robust digital change.

Javed Edahtally

Make it simple – and start with micro-changes at the bottom.

Todd Wynne Make it easy and accessible, support them not force them.

Mike Turpin Find “the why” – always know why you are doing it.

Vicki Holmes Three words: leadership, competency and mindset.

Thomas Lindner Give employees tools they need to progress it forward.

Gibbs Burke

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Steve Coppin Arcadis and HSE BIM4 Working Group

Among the many touted benefits of BIM, one that has received less attention to date is the likely safety gain through better planning of the design and construction.

That should change with publication of a new guidance note for clients writing employer’s information requirements (EIR) which implement BIM on a project. The document has been drawn up by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) BIM4 group, whose members include National Grid, the Environment Agency, Network Rail, TfL, Arcadis and Arup. It is chaired by HSE inspector Gordon Crick.

Consideration of health and safety information requirements is critical from the outset of a project. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 place responsibility for co-ordination of health and safety during the preconstruction phase with the principal designer, who is appointed by the client. This key role also involves liaising with the principal contractor to help in the planning, managing, monitoring and co-ordination of the construction phase. One aim of this guidance is to help principal designers comply with their legal duties on projects under CDM 2015.

There is a great opportunity to use BIM to support improved health and safety practices and achieve compliance. This can be achieved through: l 3D models in the design phase to provide visual pictures and animations;

Boosting safety with BIM THE HSE’S BIM4 WORKING GROUP HAS DRAWN UP NEW GUIDANCE FOR INCORPORATING SAFETY RISK INTO DIGITAL MODELS, WITH INPUT FROM MAJOR CLIENTS AND CONSULTANTS. STEVE COPPIN EXPLAINS

3D models in the design phase provide visualisations which can identify safety risks

l 4D animations which show construction over time; l An integrated common data environment.

But often this is left too late in the process, meaning opportunities are lost.

The new guidance provides clear details on how the EIR should be drafted and integrated with BIM. It outlines 10 key questions (see box below) that should help clients define their key issues based on PAS1192 section 6, which was published last year and deals with health and safety.

Key principles of the guidance include: l Focus on the end result and what you want to achieve – make the EIR clear and effective; l Incorporate the CDM health and safety file into the common data environment to ensure that pertinent health and safety information is retained effectively; l Establish the common data environment early and clarify within the EIR how health and safety information will be stored and shared throughout the project lifecycle; l Be clear on the data that should be recorded, shared and archived.

Remember that you could be breaking the law by not identifying safety risks on a project – using BIM methodology can help ensure you are compliant. ● Steve Coppin is associate technical director at Arcadis and a member of the HSE BIM4 Working Group.

10 essential questions clients should ask when preparing an EIR 1. What early project decisions will have health and safety implications for the operation and end use of the asset?

2. Can the common data

environment enable health and safety information to be captured, stored and retrieved as needed at every stage of

the project lifecycle and affect parties beyond the project?

3. Has relevant and good

quality health and safety preconstruction information been provided to the design team?

4. Have you specified

reviews at key stages to enable collaborative working

and feedback on risk management?

5. What are the design risk objectives?

6. Has a design plan been requested, inclusive of a collaborative design risk management plan?

7. Has it been requested

that models produced by the

different design disciplines are capable of effective federation and can that health and safety information be conserved for re-use?

8. What are the arrangements that will be put in place at the outset to ensure testing and commissioning is carried out effectively?

9. What arrangements will be put in place at the outset to ensure that information in a health and safety file is made available to the end user?

10. How will the client be

able to ensure that lessons are learnt from this project experience, in relation to health and safety?

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Legal Lucy Doran Trowers & Hamlins

Assad Maqbool Trowers & Hamlins

Faraday v West Berks: EU procurement rules OK A LEGAL ROW OVER A DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT BETWEEN ST MODWEN AND A LOCAL AUTHORITY PROVIDED A CLARIFICATION ABOUT PROCUREMENT RULES FOR PUBLIC WORKS CONTRACTS. LUCY DORAN AND ASSAD MAQBOOL EXPLAIN

Regeneration projects involving EU procurement rules are seen by some as costly, inflexible, and uncommercial.

Clients sometimes seek ways to ensure their contracts are not subject to such regulation.

On 15 November 2018, a court of appeal judgementforFaradayDevelopmentvWest BerkshireCounciloverturnedthehighcourt decision, clarified rules on public works contracts and concluded a proposed regeneration scheme in Newbury was subject to full EU procurement processes.

The council had entered an agreement with St Modwen Developments for the disposal of land on an industrial estate east of Newbury town centre. This involved the council and St Modwen agreeing development strategies for each plot and allowed the latter to exercise an option to transfer the ground lease. In this scenario, St Modwen would have to develop the land according to the local authority’s detailed requirements.

“The importance is highlighted by the court issuing the first ever declaration of ineffectiveness in England and Wales”

A rival developer, Faraday, challenged the council in the high court, arguing that the development agreement was a public works contract, obliging the developer to carry out works for a public authority, so should have been subject to a full EU procurement process.

The court of appeal held that, while the development agreement did not impose binding works obligations on St Modwen, once it exercised its option to lease the land, an enforceable public works contract would come into existence.

This made it a regulated contract which should have been publicly procured.

The principle that this case entrenches is not a surprising one in light of existing European cases. Essentially, if a public authority enters into an agreement with a private sector party, which is then obliged to carry out works, no matter how the deal is structured, the presumption should be that the agreement will be subject to EU procurement processes.

The other interesting aspect of the judgement is the treatment of voluntary ex-ante transparency (VEAT) notices.

Public authorities use these notices to transparently notify interested parties of intended arrangements which might fall outside strict compliance with public procurement rules. A properly issued VEAT notice will mitigate the risk of a contract being declared void for failing to comply with EU rules.

The court held that the wording in the VEAT notice issued by the council did not provide sufficient detail about the works obligations in the development agreement, and that the justification for being a non-regulated contract was incorrect. Therefore, the VEAT notice was not valid and did not act as a defence to Faraday’s claim. The importance of this is highlighted by the court issuing the first ever declaration of ineffectiveness in England and Wales, rendering the contract prospectively void and requiring it to be unwound.

The decision confirms that contracts committing the developer to undertake full work obligations will ordinarily fall within the procurement rules.

This should not be seen as an end to non-procurable land arrangements between the private and public sector – a number of models are still compliant and this will continue to be the case.

Helpfully, the court also confirmed the view that section 106 agreements are not public works contracts and so remain outside the EU procurement regime.

As a result, contracting authorities may continue to style development transactions as straightforward land deals and rely on the planning process to ensure that the land is used for the purposes that they require. ● Lucy Doran and Assad Maqbool are partners at Trowers & Hamlins.

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Christopher Reeves Mediation for Construction

“Letters of intent” are used as an interim measure, which can allow work to start on a project, until the final contract is agreed. They usually refer to a “cap”, the idea being to limit the amount of work done. The common way of doing this is to set a maximum amount the contractor is paid but the scope of work is often ill defined.

In this court of appeal case, the cap was on liability for design work Hyder (later bought by Arcadis) carried out for CV Buchan (an Amec subsidiary) on the 3,000-space Castlepoint car park in Bournemouth, which was built back in 2003. But it was found to be defective only two years later. Amec settled a claim with the main contractor Kier and then claimed £40m from Hyder to cover rectification costs.

Arcadis argued that any claim was limited to a cap on liability of £610,515.

The cap was mentioned in a “draft protocol agreement” and terms and conditions. The protocol was intended to cover work on another project, not just Castlepoint.

Proposed changes to liability cap On receiving its own letter of intent from Kier, Amec instructed Hyder to commence design and detailing work, its letter saying: “Your work is to be carried out in accordance to the protocol agreement and terms and conditions associated that we are currently working under with yourselves.”

A second letter the same day and subsequent communications proposed changes to the cap on liability, but no protocol was ever signed.

The case finally made it to the Technology and Construction Court in 2016, when Mr Justice Coulson decided that while there was an “interim contract”, the terms and conditions

Arcadis v Amec: Letters of intent THE COURT OF APPEAL’S DECISION TO REVERSE A HIGH COURT RULING ON A LIABILITY CAP DEMONSTRATES WHY LETTERS OF INTENT NEED CLARITY, SAYS CHRISTOPHER REEVES

mention specific parts in its acceptance to indicate it agreed with all the terms.

In this case, the appeal court decided there was no evidence of a rejection of any of the terms or a counter-offer. Once the judge in the lower court had found there was acceptance by conduct – the interim contract – it followed that Amec unequivocally accepted all the terms.

were not in play. But he decided the parties had not formally agreed that liability for Castlepoint was capped at £610,515, nor set any terms and conditions.

When Arcadis took the case to the court of appeal, the key question was what terms and conditions the parties were working under. The court decided that the earlier judgement had failed to distinguish between the interim contract under which the parties were currently working and the final contract, the terms of which would supersede the interim contract once agreed. It said: “The court has to consider what was communicated between the parties by words or conduct and decide whether that leads objectively to the conclusion that they had agreed upon all the terms.”

While the law requires a final and unqualified expression of assent, the appeal court felt Amec did not have to

No responsibility inferred Arcadis thought the lower court decision appeared “harsh”. The court of appeal agreed, saying: “If parties are in a stage of negotiation and one party [Amec] asks the other to begin work, ‘pending’ the parties entering into a formal contract, it cannot be inferred from the other party [Hyder] acting on that request that he is assuming any responsibility for his performance, except such responsibility as will be assumed under the terms of the contract that both parties are confident will be shortly finalised.”

The court of appeal said it would be an “extraordinary result” if, by acting on Amec’s request, Hyder assumed an unlimited liability for its contractual performance, when the parties had specifically agreed a limit of liability in relation to the interim contract. It reversed the original decision.

If letters of intent are to be used, then they must be clear on what terms and conditions apply in the interim period.

If a cap on payment or liability is to apply, then that needs to be spelt out and ensuing conduct or correspondence needs to be consistent with that. If the final contract terms are likely to depart from the “interim contract” then this should be indicated from the outset. ● Christopher Reeves is a construction lawyer and founder of Mediation for Construction.

The Castlepoint car park in Bournemouth has used temporary supports since the problems emerged

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Community WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR PROFESSIONAL BODY

Competition

Global Student Challenge opens for entries THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IS BACK: REGISTER YOUR TEAM NOW

48 49 51 51 54

The annual CIOB Global Student Ch al l e nge h as now o p e ne d fo r registration for the 2019 competition.

Since 2014, the competition has challenged built environment students to run their own virtual construction company – with the leaders after six weeks of competition given the opportunity to compete in finals that attract talent from around the world.

BRIGHT FUTURES CHALLENGE DUBLIN NOVUS LAUNCH DIARY DATES MEET A MEMBER ME AND MY PROJECT The CIOB is seeking teams of fulltime students studying a degree in the built environment. The winning team receives £2000 in prize money, along with access to a unique mentoring programme.

The challenge takes place in stages over a number of months.

The competition provides a realistic simulation where teams, made up of three or four people, act as a board of directors for their own company.

The 'Foundation Years' stage, kicks off in January asking participants to run a virtual construction company in a simulated environment, testing out different strategies and refining tactics. The 'Early Years' stage starts a few weeks later. Teams now play competitively with other teams around the world, making decisions that influence the success of their companies.

More than 60 teams entered the 2018 competition, with the six teams scoring the most in the early rounds being invited to the finals as part of the CIOB’s annual Member’s Forum. In 2019 both events will once again be run alongside each other, this time in Edinburgh.

The competition is only open to fulltime students, although there remains an allowance of one postgraduate member per team. ● Details can be found on the web site: https://gsc.ciob.org/

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Graduation

Community is edited by Nicky Roger nicky@atompublishing.co.uk

New MCIOB and FCIOB CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW FELLOWS AND MEMBERS WHO WERE CONFERRED AT CEREMONIES AT CLOTHWORKERS HALL IN LONDON ON 5 OCTOBER AND ON 3 NOVEMBER AT TITANIC BELFAST

Novus

Dublin NOVUS kicks off new era SUCCESSFUL RELAUNCH FOR IRISH GROUP Below: a great turnout for the Dublin Novus launch event

The Dublin CIOB NOVUS committee hosted a launch to re-introduce the Novus branch after a short leave of absence, to students and young construction professionals.

The newly appointed committee is taking a fresh approach, and its objective of the informal launch event was to break down any barriers to younger professionals progressing their career.

The event, which was spearheaded

by vice chair Adrian Lynch (see p51), was extremely successful and attracted 25 attendees from a variety of backgrounds, and at different levels of their careers. CIOB development manager Rachel Corbally talked people through the various routes to membership and committee chair, Aaron Molloy, outlined the upcoming plans for site visits, CPD sessions and other events to be organised. ●

Awards

In the construction industry, no other award carries quite the same kudos as CMYA which is now open for entires for CIOB Ireland.

There is one overall category – building - with five sub-categories based on project values: l Projects over €100m l Projects €50m to €100m l Projects €30m to €50m l Projects €10m to €30m l Projects up to €10m

CMYA Ireland opens for entry IT’S NOMINATION TIME FOR THE CONSTRUCTION MANAGER OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2019

LONDON New Fellows Robert Arzon Will Barrett Anthony Gushman New Members Roy Barrett Caroline Benjamin Martin Caldwell Andrew Cheeseman Matthew Cockram Paul Cockram Daniel Cordery Terence Cox Laura Crabb Brigita Davidonyte James Doubleday Gareth Drake Adam Ellis-Morgan Robert Fogg Niall Foley Zoe Francis Demetrio Geroli Nicholas Paul Gibbons Derek Gibbs Matthew Hall Tom Hall Jennifer Hardi Sean Headley Michael Hennigan Robin Hewitt Neil Jeffrey Mark Kennedy Derek Kirwan Tom Kitchen Peter Knight Trevor Laurent Nanmugan Mariasingam John McElhinney

Lee McGinley Louise McSmith David Michie Mohammed Hamza Momade Gary Moore Ian Parsons Manjeeta Pathak Lee Penny Gareth Phillips Anthony Reid Nick Richardson Rebecca Samworth John Sillars Judson Stone Gavin Thomas Darren Thompson Richard Williams Christopher Williams Alex Willis Thanancheyan Yoganathan Ross Young BELFAST New Fellows Desmond Scott FCIOB Robert Ewing FCIOB New Members Gemma Armstrong Rob Bazzant Ciaran Bothwell Stephen Brown Don Brownlee Thomas Buttle Peter Clarke Peter Cole Yvonne Conway Paul Corr Dermot Corrigan Sharon Dempster

The initial stages of the competition are paper based. Those who make it to the final are invited, by the adjudicators, to interview.

The very high level of management expertise in Ireland gives assessors and adjudicators an extremely difficult job, and year on year the standard of entry continues to rise.

The competition culminates with an awards dinner where the winners of each category are

Paul Devine Gary Dickson Theo Duffy Niall Finnegan Zelene Josephine Fitzsimmons Gavin Fry Catherine Gilmartin Joseph Graham Columb Gribbin Keith Heaney William Hetherington Martin Hoey Edward Jackson Aoife Kane Sean Killeen Wesley Lindsay Brian McCann Declan McCann Michael McCracken Shane McCullagh Paul McGread Darren McIvor Johnny McKaigue Padraig McKaigue Gerard McNamee Cathal McOscar Sean Moore Anthony Morgan James Murray Paul Murray James Nyland Colin Patterson Emmett Teggart Ronnie Toombs Iain Whittick Gareth Wilson New CBCs Forrme Construction Woodvale Construction

awarded gold and silver medals with one overall winner chosen from the gold medalists.

The winners will be announced at the CMYA Ireland 2019 Awards Dinner at Croke Park Stadium, Jones Road, Dublin 3 on the 20 June 2019.

For an application form visit: www.ciob.org/cmya-ireland-2019

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Below: Mildands members on site

“It was exciting to find out about the challenges of delivering a scheme on this scale”

Site visit

Members get sent to Coventry WINVIC HOSTS A TOUR OF STUDENT HIGH RISE BUILD

Competition

Who will be the brightest student in 2019?

BRIGHT FUTURES CHALLENGE OPEN FOR ENTRIES

Members in the Midlands recently gained an insight into the work being undertaken on the tallest new building to be added to Coventry’s skyline: a 23 storey student accommodation development on the corner of Fairfax Street and Cox Street.

Multidisciplinary main contractor Winvic Construction Ltd is building the 1,192 bed scheme for luxury accommodation providers CODE.

The 2019 Bright Futures Student Challenge is underway with heats set for London and Southern. This challenge is an annual event that gives students the opportunity to stand out.

Regional heats take place in London, Maidstone, and Southampton Hubs on 6 February. The winning team(s) from each heat will be invited to the final on 6 March in London.

Prizes up for grabs in the heats include vouchers to the winning team and top outstanding student, trophies for the winners, certificates and bragging rights. Teams of two to four can enter online.

The 2019 Final is sponsored

by VolkerFitzpatrick and will be taking place on one of its sites in central London.

During the visit members took a tour of the delivered phase of the project; 315 self-contained bedrooms, a gym, laundry and office facilities and those areas of the building which are still under construction; a further 877 beds, a gym, cinema, open plan communal spaces, landscaped rooftop terrace and three ground floor retail units which will be handed over by August 2019, ready for a full house in the next academic year.

While enjoying panoramic views across the city, members quizzed Winvic’s project manager Martin Overfield and Laura Davison from the delivery architects RPS, on everything from the design of the scheme to the challenges of working within a live operating environment.

Those who attended enjoyed the opportunity to see the scale of the project, Robert Villette, managing director of First Project Maintenance said: “It was a privilege and exciting to be shown around Coventry’s tallest new building and to find out about the challenges encountered when delivering a residential scheme of this scale, on a city-centre site with a tight footprint, whilst managing working within a l i ve o p e ra t i n g e nv i ro n m e n t .

Plus the views across the city were magnificent!” ●

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 COMMUNITY

Obituary

Achievement

Stanley Whalley FCIOB

CBC celebrates centenary MILESTONE ANNIVERSARY FOR ESSEX CONTRACTOR

STANELY PASSED AWAY ON 30 OCTOBER AGE 92.

East Anglia based construction firm T J Evers Ltd – a CIOB Chartered Building Company –celebrated its 100th anniversary as 2018 came to a close. Carpenter and joiner Thomas James Evers spent his time during WW1 building reconnaissance aircraft and then following the end of the war established the company.

The company has since grown into a full-service construction firm

with over 100 employees. A principal contractor completing major works projects with values up to £6m it has worked on Papworth Hospital, Mercury Theatre and Student Accommodation at Essex University amongst others.

Recent projects include 20 school projects throughout Hertfordshire, Cambridge and Essex as well as housing developments and office accommodation. ●

Member success

strong training ethos. “In 2007 we had group of five collectively graduated and when I joined five years ago I was given the responsibility to develop the learning and development element within the company. I approached the CIOB three years ago as a number of people in the company expressed an interest to complete undertake their final stages to get their MCIOB status.

“The CIOB was very supportive and we held a series of one-to-one support sessions with our staff and members of the CIOB. We were keen to support the staff through their different routes.

We started a homework club for those doing the CMP and PR groups. Nearly 80 per cent of our technical staff have a professional qualification – the majority of which are MCIOB.” ● Read more about Blaxall’s Training Partnership at ciob.org

SME contractor celebrates another cohort of MCIOBs BAXALL CONTINUES ITS TRAINING STREAK WITH MORE EMPLOYEES CONFERRED AS MEMBERS Employees from Baxall Construction, a regional SME, were out in force in December at the CIOB conferring ceremony. Ten members of staff from the firm have achieved MCIOB status, following in the footsteps of four colleagues who were conferred the year before and Steve Turner the contracts director achieving Fellowship.

The staff have all attained MCIOB via the training partnership route.

Steve explains the company has a

Above: T J Evers staff celebrate anniversary

“The CIOB was very supportive and we held a series of one-to-one support sessions giving advice”

Stanley was fully involved with the CIOB over several decades.

In 1990 Stanely was awarded honorary life membership of the CIOB for his outstanding services to the Building Education Board and his contribution regionally and nationally.

Stanley joined the CIOB in 1955 and was admitted to fellowship in 1966. His service to the Institute at national level showed a devotion to the education field.

He was a member of the Technical Education Panel from 1966 until 1971 and of the Board of Building Education from 1967 until 1988.

He was a member of the National Council twice – during the early 1970s and again in the early 1980s. He was dedicated too to regional affairs in Devon and Cornwall, having served on the Cornwall Centre Committee from 1965 and the Devon Cornwall Regional Council. He was the first centre Chair in 1966-68 and for two further periods in the 1970s and regional chair in 1982-84.

A 50th anniversary celebration was held in his honour at Cornwall College.

After retirement Stanley was involved with the Council For the Preservation of Rural England as chair of the Cornwall Branch.

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COMMUNITY JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Event

On track for charity SCOTTISH FUNDRAISER CONSTRUCTION KARTING COMPETITION

A new kart-racing challenge saw over 90 members of the Highland construction and property sector race to win bragging rights and raise funds for an Inverness youth mentoring charity recently.

The Highland Construction and Property Karting Challenge 2018 was held over two nights at Inverness Kart Raceway with 18 teams of racers competing against each other.

At stake were the Kingsmills Cup, which was presented to the fastest team over the two nights, and the Kingsmills Shield, which went to the racer who recorded the fastest individual lap. The winners were revealed at the Highland Construction and Property Dinner in November.

The event is a collaboration of CIOB, Scottish Building Federation and RICS. The evenings raised £5000 for youth mentoring charity Day 1 committee. ●

“It was terrific to see everyone come together socially. We are proud to support to this charity” Raymond More, committee member

Member success

Irish firm boasts record number of members LARGEST EVER GROUP FROM ONE GRADUATES TO MCIOB

Above: Members of the committee of the Highland Construction and Property Dinner with dinner host Nicky Marr, Day 1 mentor Eilidh Edgar and the operations manager of Inverness Kart Raceway with the Kingsmills Cup and Shield; Left: racers in action

An Omagh based construction firm boasts the most candidates conferred as CIOB members in November when 14 employees from Woodvale Construction Company were awarded their MCIOB at a ceremony in November at the Titanic Belfast (see p47).

Rachel Corbally, CIOB development manager Ireland praised the members on their achievement. “A huge congratulations to all the graduates

from Woodvale. They put in such hard work attaind their MCIOB and they, along with Woodvale, should be very proud to know they are the largest group ever to graduate from on individual company. We are very proud to have them as members.”

In the same ceremony Desmond Scott FCIOB chair and Robert Ewing FCIOB managing director, were conferred as Fellows.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 COMMUNITY

Adrian Lynch MCIOB

Meet a member

Adrian Lynch MCIOB, senior project manager, Mitchell McDermott Events

Diary dates

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CIOB CALENDAR FOR THE COMING MONTH. FOR MORE EVENTS VISIT CIOB.ORG Hub in a Pub 11 January 6pm, Dublin Join the CIOB Dublin Hub committee and Novus group to find out what the CIOB Dublin Hub is doing, chat about industry matters, and network.

Contact: mcoleman@ciob.org.uk CIOB/CITB NI Annual Lecture and Presentation Awards 23 January, 10am Antrim, Co. Antrim The lecture will be delivered by Heron Bros. The feature proejcts will be the new award-wining £35m Foyle College.

Contact: RCorbally@ciob.org.uk Brexit - Strategic Advice and Practical Immigration Tips for Employers 24 January, 8am, Leeds The practical steps you can take to minimise the impact of Brexit on your workforce. It will include immigration, citizenship and registration issues for existing EU nationals; sponsor licenses and hiring non-EU workers.

Contact: hyorke@ciob.org.uk Schedule Integrity and How to Demonstrate it 24 January, 6.30pm, Prestwich Presentation by Shane Forth, PMO Director Costain on the legacy problems surrounding project

management described thorough case studies, before describing how the situation can be improved.

Contact: kpercival@ciob.org.uk Improving Mental Health in the Construction Industry 29 January, 6:30pm Guildford Head of programme Stephen Haynes from Mates in Mind will cover mental health issues in the workplace.

He will explore how companies are addressing them; starting the conversation about mental health and overcoming the stigma; spotting the signs and how managers can support their team; mental health first aid; the Mates in Mind programme a n d t h e s u p p o r t a n d gu i d a n c e available.

Contact: bmilton@ciob.org.uk Managing Mental Health and Physical Wellbeing in Construction 30 January, 6pm, Oxford Bill Hill, chief executive of The Lighthouse and Darren Putt, owner and founder of Motus Training tackle lifestyle, exercise and nutrition. They will deliver strategies and support and how to improve your physical wellbeing, personal and mental health within the workplace.

Contact: ecatalano@ciob.org.uk

You were an extremely high-achieving student - first class degree in construction management; awards for excellence; and merit for your post-grad in project management. Was construction industry a calling?

I started working in construction from an early age in the family company that my grandfather, Michael Lynch started over 60 years ago. As soon as I was old enough, I was working on building sites.

I was lucky enough to work on a vast variety of sites at an early age. This experience was valuable when I went to college in Limerick IT as I understood how construction worked.

Experience in construction cannot be taught out of text books and I am a true believer that real life experience is helpful for anyone considering a career in construction.

You give a lot of your time to the CIOB. You were a team leader in the Student Challenge in and now involved in Novus. Why? I first took part the CIOB Student Challenge in my second year in college and I really enjoyed it. I loved the real life project aspect of the challenge. We had

to to figure out the issues on the project and prepare mitigation plans for the risks. I enjoyed being put under pressure and working as a team with my class mates. I liked it so much I took part in it the following two years. This gave me an introduction into the CIOB which I feel has been very valuable in my career to date.

Since graduating I have continued my involvement and I am now the vice chair of the CIOB Novus Dublin and hope to influence young people into the CIOB like I was when I was a second year student.

What do you love about this industry? And what frustrates you?

What I love most is how diverse the people are. There are so many different people with varied backgrounds and knowledge banks. I enjoy meeting and working with new people and learning from others' experience.

What frustrates me is how long it takes for the industry to innovate, especially when you compare the construction industry to other industry’s such as aviation, tech and manufacturing. These other industries implement new technologies and innovative ideas much quicker than the construction industry. There are still buildings being designed in 2D in Ireland.

What›s your favourite way to spend free time?

I follow Clare Hurling and Munster and Ireland in Rugby. I also play golf at weekends and enjoy socialising with friends.

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11/12/2018 10:21

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10/12/2018 15:42

COMMUNITY JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

“I have experience of mega projects but Medupi is imply on another level” Rob Bazzant

Power up ROB BAZZANT MCIOB ON HIS PROJECT MANAGEMENT OF A SOUTH AFRICAN POWER PLANT CONSTRUCTION – DUBBED ONE OF THE LARGEST PROJECTS IN THE WORLD.

I arrived in the South African bushveld at the Medupi Power Plant project in February 2012. Having spent the previous eight years based predominantly in London the culture shock could not have been more emphatic. The rural isolation of Lephalale, a small town 300km from the nearest major city of Pretoria, meant the pace of life beyond the site was vastly different to London.

Medupi is a coal-fired power plant with a generation capacity of 4,800 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to approximately 10% of all electricity generated in South Africa and enough to provide power to over 3m homes. Super-critical technology is used in the six boilers to generate superheated steam to temperatures up to 560°C which results in a 38% increase in efficiency to sub-critical boilers. The means of heating the water to create this steam is by using clean coal technology with 16m tons of coal being consumed annually. Medupi’s pulse jet filtration system and the soon-to-bebuilt de-sulphurisation plant means the sulphur dioxide emission levels will be in line with the South African National Environmental standards. Medupi will be the fourth largest coal fired plant in the world but can also boast of being the largest dry cooled power plant in the world, a technology which ensures

Right and below: The Medupi Power Plant in South Africa

Me and my project

that the facility is zero effluent, meaning no waste water is discharged from the plant. Project costs are currently estimated at ZAR185bn or £10bn.

When I arrived on the project I was immediately struck by three factors: the first was the intense heat – mid summer temperatures can reach thehigh forties; the second was the early start times – work started at 6am daily; and the third was the sheer staggering scale of the project. At its peak, Medupi was billed as the largest project under construction in the world. Having already worked on two projects with similar stature (Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok and Heathrow’s T5 airport projects) I have experience of mega projects, but Medupi is simply on another level. Over 250,000 tons of structural steel have been erected, over 500,000 piping welds completed, 36 major fans and 12 colossal gas air

heaters installed, all supported by over 4m pages of quality control documentation. Five of the six units are now synchronized to the national grid with the last one on target to be generating energy by March 2019.

The legacy Medupi leaves behind can be measured nationally in terms of a secure and stable power grid which has seen the practice of load shedding (the deliberate and selective isolation of power to specific locations to avoid total network failure) become virtually nonexistent whilst locally the infrastructure has been vastly improved with new housing, roads, schools, hospitals and retail facilities constructed in and around Lephalale. The skills transfer programme has also been a huge success with approximately 15,000 local citizens benefitting from improved training, education and qualifications.

I have been responsible for the construction completion and turn over to commissioning of three units to date.

My final challenge will be to turn M1 over to commissioning by January 2019 and bringing the construction of the plant to an end by March 2019. This will see my time on the project extend beyond seven years which is difficult to comprehend in the modern era of construction. ● Rob Bazzant is boiler construction manager at Shanahan Engineering Ltd.

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | JANUARY 2019 COMMUNITY

Membership affiliations Membership of the CIOB brings with it many benefits, including exclusive access to discounts and special deals on products and services that could enhance your professional development, help your business or boost your earning power.

FREE WEBINARS FOR CONSTRUCTION PLANNERS.

INDEPENDENT FINANCIAL ADVICE FOR CIOB MEMBERS FROM CHASE DE VERE

Elecosoft develops software solutions that are designed for construction and are used by many CIOB members – including many Construction Manager of the Year finalists and winners. In addition, we provide our planning software, Powerproject [https://tinyurl.com/ y94whlpf], free of charge, to institutes that teach construction planning .

We regularly run free webinars, based on our software, which highlight ways that technology can help to improve project planning. This includes, how mobile devices can be used to facilitate more accurate progress reporting from site and how 4D planning provides benefits to construction companies through improved visualisation, co-ordination and efficiency.

Here is a collection of four recent webinars that CIOB members may find of interest [https://tinyurl.com/y9wby4s6]. We hope they will provide some ideas for how aspects of the planning process can be more efficient.

We offer 14-day, fully supported, free trials of Powerproject. Find out more or take a trial: https://tinyurl.com/ycznl5pj.

For more information email info@elecosoft. com, call +44 (0) 1884 261700 or visit www.elecosoft.com

CIOB membership affiliation partners Chase de Vere are independent financial advisers. Without ties to products or providers we are able to offer unconstrained fully impartial advice.

Established almost 50 years ago, we have offices across the UK. Our financial and corporate advice services are available to CIOB’s 34,000 UK members. We can help members save for the future, protect what matters most, enjoy their retirement, or pass on their legacy. We are working alongside the CIOB to provide help, guidance and useful information through articles and attending CIOB events.

We recognise the passion that CIOB has for supporting its members at every stage of their career. Our experience lies in assisting professionals to make sound financial decisions as they progress through their careers and their personal lives. By helping individuals and businesses build strong foundations for their financial futures, we have much in common with CIOB and its members and we are delighted to be associated with them.

Request a complimentary first meeting by calling 0203 1422507, e-mailing ciob@chasedevere.co.uk or by visiting www.chasedevere.co.uk/ciob”

Master projects with one-stop, definitive construction information The Construction Information Service is an online product giving access to current guidance, standards and news for the construction industry. Updated daily, it contains 26,000+ documents from over 500 publishers, including full text British standards and CIOB documents.

Contact us for a free trial.

Email. CustomerCare@ ihsmarkit.com or call us on 01344 328 300”

Premier BusinessCare is the CIOB approved insurance broker who specialise in sourcing the right insurance cover for construction industry professionals.

They can arrange insurance to protect your business, from single Professional Indemnity policies through to more comprehensive commercial insurance policies that can include Liability, Contract Works, Personal Accident and much more.

Talk to them today on 0330 102 6158 or visit www.premierline.co.uk/ ciob for a competitive quote.

You rely on tablets and smartphones when working in the field, but it’s frustrating when you cannot fulfill your work due to connectivity issues or a broken device.

Conker manufactures Rugged, IP rated Tablets, Smartphones and PDAs, to ensure your productivity never suffers due to unreliable tech. www.weareconker.com

Recipro can help your organisation save money, reduce waste and help communities.

Fourteen per cent of materials ordered each year end up as waste; Recipro finds a home for this material and ensures it gets used for its original purpose, keeping them out of the waste stream, therefore reducing costs. www.recipro-uk.com/ciob

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11/12/2018 10:27

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Hundreds of the best jobs in construction.

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10/12/2018 14:28

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10/12/2018 16:31

TRAINING & RECRUITMENT JANUARY 2019 | CONSTRUCTION MANAGER

Training & Recruitment Job spotlight Sarah Fraser Head, Willmott Dixon Foundation

SOCIAL AWARENESS SARAH FRASER, HEAD OF WILLMOTT DIXON’S FOUNDATION, ON HOW SOCIAL VALUE DELIVERS COMMUNITY AND BOTTOM-LINE BENEFITS

What does your role involve?

Our social value work takes many forms – from giving talks in schools, arranging work experience and apprenticeships, through to fundraising and revamping community facilities. We particularly focus on helping young people facing significant disadvantage.

It’s my job to set the strategy, support our people in its delivery, and then make sure we report what we do properly. I think of my role as 50% Nick Knowles and 50% Alan Sugar. This

is because the foundation is about doing the right thing, but it’s also about being able to add value to our customers, and so helps make us their contractor of choice.

Your background is in HR. Have you had to take on extra training?

The move wasn’t as big a jump as you might think. My role is still people-focused and all about influence and change. Like HR, there’s also a lot of work with spreadsheets and stats.

The biggest challenge for me was the jargon.

How is increasing focus on social value changing the way contractors work?

We are seeing public sector spending ever more squeezed and most of our clients are working really hard to do more with less.

It stands to reason that clients will have a preference for those contractors who can help.

Many have criticised the industry for being behind the curve on innovation, but when it comes to social value, I think we are leading the way – certainly in the UK. And this is good news when it comes to tackling the skills gap. We are seeing in Willmott Dixon that having a purpose beyond profit is helping to attract good people.

In Willmott Dixon we have seen a growth in the number of community managers that we employ and the skill sets needed in construction will change significantly over the coming years. This is partly because new technologies will change the way we do things.

But it’s also because the people side of the job – whether that’s helping clients understand the relative merits of different building solutions or training the workforce of the future – is going to become even more important. ●

Hundreds of the best jobs in construction.

Recruitment news and insight. www.constructionmanagerjobs.co.uk

Tackling mental health stigma Site workers are more likely to die from suicide than falls from height.

John Warne, head of divisional marketing at RMD Kwikform, on how construction can learn from a rugby club mental health initiative Until recently I was only vaguely aware of mental health and the problem of suicide until a friend took his own life and the statistics became very real. James was 40 when he died.

I had played rugby with him for over 30 years.

We knew he had a complicated life but we all do, and it was very easy when he tried to open up occasionally to say “don’t be so soft” or “don’t worry – it’ll get better soon”.

News of James’s death was hard for all of us to take and at the rugby club we wanted to do something positive in his memory. So we started working with a charity called It Takes Balls to Talk, working with sports clubs to break down the stigma around mental health.

We train members of the team at the rugby club to be listening mates, to support and to talk about things that men traditionally aren’t very good at talking about.

Since James’s death I’ve become much more aware of the issues around suicide and particularly about suicide in construction workers. Perhaps a site is similar to a rugby club changing room – with the bravado and banter and the inability of men to talk to other men about the problems they’re facing. These are things we need to start breaking down.

The Samaritans say that site workers are more than six times likely to die from suicide than from falling at height. That’s an awful statistic. And something as an industry we need to change. That’s why for me having balls to talk is a really important topic and one as men we need to challenge head on.

I believe by breaking down the stigma of mental health, by showing that men can listen and talk about their emotional side, we will start to make a positive impact. ● #starttheconversation ittakesballstotalk.com

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