Best public safety initiative

Winner

Carillion Building

Take a £100m construction project of nine secondary schools next to existing primary schools, add hundreds of inquisitive children, and you have a problem. Except, of course, if you’re Carillion. On its huge Renfrewshire PFI schools programme, this contractor has tackled the risks involved in building close to where kids are running around by creating a Disruption Management Plan, a comprehensive document that was presented to the council, the schools, the public and anybody else who was interested. This extensive public consultation was welcomed warmly after getting over what Carillion calls an initial “frosty reception” from the sceptics. The result was that teachers, parents and children all knew what to do and not to do, what to expect from the programme and how best to deal with it. Carillion also took the kids round the building sites to explain the hazards, and hopefully get one or two interested in a career in construction.

‘On its huge PFI schools programme, this contractor has tackled the risks involved in building close to where kids are running around by creating a Disruption Management Plan’

Runners-up

Bramall Construction

Also shortlisted in our Best Maintenance Contractor’s Safety Initiative category, it seems Bramall Construction can do no wrong. Getting 16,000 houses in Rochdale up to the government’s decent homes standard is no small task, but doing so with residents living in those homes, and yet keeping them safe at all times, is a really tall order. But Bramall’s series of smart solutions has made it possible. The firm has developed a residents’ handbook (published in several languages), set up a dedicated website, held monthly tenants’ meetings and sent out regular newsletters to keep people in the picture. It has also gone to 30 local primary schools to take the safety message to children. Bravo Bramall.

‘Bramall set up a website, held monthly meetings and visited 30 primary schools to take the safety message to children’

Frank Haslam Milan

Another social housing refurbishment specialist, Doncaster-based Frank Haslam Milan also impressed our panel with its public consultations, especially “tenant’s choice day”, at which residents can highlight any special needs or illness they may have that could be affected by refurbishment work (as well as choose the colour of their tiles). The judges also liked the dedicated tenants’ liaison officer, regular communications and safety messages. But it was the firm’s in-action safety measures – such as slip-proof floor protectors instead of dust sheets, the use of cordless tools with dust-suppression systems, and a diligent attitude to leaving the home at the end of every day in a safe and tidy condition, with no loose wires, lifted floorboards or sharp corners – that clinched Frank Haslam Milan its position on this shortlist.

‘It was the firm’s in-action safety measures that impressed’

Galliford Try

The third of our social housing specialists in this category was also faced with the problem of keeping residents safe while their homes are being refurbished. In Hackney, east London, Galliford Try decided that it was children who were most at risk, and sent a (brave) safety adviser along to the local schools to take their morning assemblies and explain to the children what sort of risks they would be likely to come across and how best to avoid them. It also ran competitions to design safety posters, with the winning designs displayed on the site hoarding. For the grown-ups, Galliford set up regular residents’ meetings to involve them in the safety planning of the scheme and feed the comments given to them into the way the refurbishment programme was managed. To top all this off, monthly newsletters and a noticeboard helped keep the public fully informed.

‘Galliford Try ran competitions to design safety posters’

ISG InteriorExterior

In constructing the £6.4m Alsop-designed Goldsmiths College building in south-east London, ISG InteriorExterior found evidence that the perimeters of its site are the favoured location for a considerable amount of social student activity on the weekends. Hmm … So the company addressed what could become a serious risk by opening up the site for students to see what was going on, and taking tutors and college staff on tours. ISG also very cleverly gave the students any unwanted off-cuts for their design projects – again mitigating the risk of somebody trying to get in at night and nick it for themselves. While it was at it, the firm also went into the adjacent primary school and gave them a talk about the hazards of construction, complete with Bob the Builder characters. The students would have loved that.

‘ISG gave the students off-cuts for their design projects’

J Murphy and Sons

Undertaking the works to replace London’s Victorian water mains is a massive task, and one that involves a lot of activities that pose a high risk to the public. Most of the work is done on the street and much of it in deep excavations. What’s more, all this had to be very carefully managed as J Murphy could be working on up to 40 streets at any one time. The judging panel chose this firm as one of the finalists in this category for the measured, well-judged approach it took to managing public safety on this programme of works. The firm has been tireless in its public consultations and communications, inviting local residents to the regular meetings it held with Thames Water and the council, and in its liaison with schools, hospitals and the emergency services. And no flimsy bollards and tape for J Murphy – the firm has implemented the use of a new high-spec hoarding to protect the public from all its deep excavations.

‘It implemented the use of a new high-spec hoarding to protect the public from all its deep excavations’