Eggers, who is currently managing the construction of the Foster and Partners-designed London assembly building, won the award for his management of a project designed by another high-profile architect Michael Wilford and Partners.
Judges said Eggers, 36, stood “head and shoulders” above the other entrants for the construction of a top-of-the-market residential block (apartment prices start around £3m) at 5-7 Carlton Gardens in central London. “The client [Benchmark] told us that Eggers had been magnificent – and they’re a tough client,” said chairman of the judges Chris Richards.
And there is no better testimony than the one lavished directly by Benchmark.
It said: “His guile, personality and management skills assisted us in our most successful project to date.” The project required the demolition of a concrete-frame building and its foundations on a site in the St James conservation area that neighbours the Reform and RAC clubs. “Both of these establishments could have created difficulties if annoyed, but Eggers handled them well,” said Richards.
“Ian planned disruptive work almost by the hour to cause the least disruption and he met each of the occupiers personally to explain the future activities on the site. He continued to communicate with neighbours via a weekly newsletter,” said the judges.
So successful was Eggers in keeping his neighbours happy that he won a Considerate Contractors award.
The 22-month timetable for completion of the £28m project was tight. One of the ways in which Eggers managed to ensure that the design was completed at an early date was to arrange a day-long meeting at the start of the project involving the client, design team and cost consultant to reconsider every drawing and specification. This meant that all queries could be settled early on and that no major design reworkings were required. It also cut down the number of requests for information issued by the trade contractors.
One of Eggers’ most endearing qualities is his sense of fun. At Carlton Gardens, Eggers threw down the gauntlet. He cleared the site completely on handover day and challenged the architect to find a defect.
Eggers won a silver in the 1998 Building Manager of the Year Awards and in the same year he was named Construction Fee-Professional of the Year.
After graduating from Oxford Polytechnic with a civil engineering HND in 1988, Eggers was services package manager in the famous Bovis B division that built Broadgate. He followed many of his B division colleagues to Mace in 1993 working his way up from assistant project manager to director.
Eggers is a member of the chief executive’s board and enjoys skiing and football in his spare time.
Source
Construction Manager
