They were tough times for Richard Pike. His company was being sold for £1. There were redundancies and resignations and morale was bottoming out. He was in charge of a landmark project and there were nasty surprises in the ground, including 38 caves and 1,400 skeletons from the 15th and 16th century.

He was trying to erect the National Ice Centre in Nottingham, Laing’s first guaranteed maximum price contract since the Millennium Stadium, which lost the company £31m. It was tough, but he did it. He delivered the building early and to budget. In so doing he helped redeem Laing’s tattered reputation at the lowest point in the company’s history.

Is it any wonder he’s Building Manager of the Year? Turn to page 12 for his story and for details of all the medal winners in this year’s competition. At Construction Manager we feel it is a privilege to be able to tell the stories emerging from the industry’s most rigorous and personally-moving awards ceremonies.

Rushed to death

Only one thing saves lives in construction: money. It takes time to plan effectively, time to train properly, time to design safely. And time is money.

The Major Contractors Group is missing the safety targets it set itself nearly two years ago. Although MCG director Bill Tallis is quick to pass this off as an increase in reporting, anecdotal evidence suggests that integrated teams, found in framework agreements or partnering, work more safely. But Tallis dismisses this and the MCG seems committed only to hosting more seminars and urging subcontractors to take up the CSCS card. Something is blinding the MCG to the root cause of death and injury in construction.

As long as lowest-price tendering survives, everybody in the supply chain will be pressured to scrimp on safety. Death will always be seen as an acceptable risk in the business of building profitably.

Source

Construction Manager