Bob a job

When you meet Bob Hughes he doesn't look like a restless soul. But when he reflects over his career he readily admits he suffered from a two-year itch. Well-travelled among the major m&e contracting firms, Hughes has just rejoined N G Bailey as development manager for the prefabrication division after a seven month 'sabbatical' from the company. Changes are afoot.

Some might take the fact that Hughes is back with a pinch of salt, as he has actually worked for N G Bailey three times now. But the truth is that he is a man with a mission, and driving the new business plan for Bailey Prefabrication is now more than enough to keep him busy.

Back in 1984 Hughes joined N G Bailey's Birmingham branch as a supervisor, before moving to AMEC to work as a site manager based in Hertfordshire.

In 1996, Hughes rejoined N G Bailey as contracts manager. From here he moved into prefabrication and, with his insatiable appetite for a challenge, began to see real possibilities for this approach to contracting: "From surveys carried out by BSRIA, it was obvious that prefabrication is the largest on-site contributor to reducing costs and time, as well as improving quality and reducing defects. I realised that, done right, prefabrication would offer the company the chance to leap ahead of the competition."

As Hughes' thoughts about prefabrication's possibilities began to consolidate, he was offered the opportunity to fulfil his ambition by setting up a similar operation for rivals How Engineering. The offer was too good to refuse, but Hughes quickly returned to N G Bailey and is now quite clear about his choice: "I returned because N G Bailey is committed to satisfying clients' expectations, ahead of time and within tight budgets, using innovative solutions. The company gives leadership and empowers me to make significant changes."

He is equally enthusiastic about prefabrication: "Bailey Prefabrication is all about providing high-quality modules to drive down costs. Other contractors are also offering prefabrication, but their approach is very different. They offer bespoke units, usually one-offs for each job. With clients increasingly under tight cost pressures, our range of modules offers a huge array of options but at competitive prices. The emphasis is still on quality, but the costs are greatly reduced. What's more, it's possible to modularise, produce drawings and cost an entire system in just a few hours."

Despite being back just a short time, Hughes has introduced two fundamental changes already. He has re-established the strategy group to ensure ideas are shared across all branches of the organisation and he has developed a proprietary system for the design and installation of prefabricated modules, which will significantly reduce design and planning time.

And the innovations don't stop there. With a bit of imagination, Hughes says, the applications for prefabrication are limitless. "Take that light fitting, the extractor/heater and the electrical supply," he says, gesturing towards the ceiling. "At the moment they all come as separate pieces in different boxes – several installation jobs for specialised technicians and lots of waste packaging. With prefabrication, that could be one unit in a single box, ready to install by a multi-skilled technician in minutes. And what about hollow floor tiles that can house a building's core services, or a prefabricated modular wall that not only contains the electrical and mechanical services, but can also change colour like a television screen?" His face beams.

It is quite clear that Hughes is inspired by prefabrication but, given his track record, some may wonder if it will be enough to keep him there. "I have a vision for Bailey Prefabrication, to become the market leader in building services prefabrication and to make up 40% of N G Bailey's total labour costs by 2005. Currently it accounts for around 10%. We have already started a benchmarking exercise to measure this," says Hughes. "My goal is to see this through and start persuading users to specify prefabrication from the outset."

This ambitious target will require a culture change within the industry, and some re-education to demonstrate the benefits of taking an alternative approach. But if anyone is qualified to talk about change, it's Bob Hughes.