Gold

Name
Paul Sims
Company
Bovis Lend Lease
Project
Three new buildings in public space redevelopment. Paternoster Square, London
Contract
£166m, Joint Venture/Construction Management with GMP, 90 weeks

After 16 years of public debate and disagreement, this massive project finally got under way, but its many ill-wishers were soon rejoicing when, six months in, the site lost its second project director. Morale plummeted and the whole project looked in doubt until Paul Sims, appointed with just four days’ notice, arrived on site two weeks before Christmas.

Sims knew he had to make a big impression before the Christmas close-down. He started by meeting each member of the project team and listening to their concerns. He then insisted on adding two new members to the team and appointing a separate project manager for each of the three buildings in the scheme, each with their own team and their own commercial, package, construction and document managers. Sims encouraged each team to manage its own area, referring to him only if a problem was likely to affect the whole project or the team couldn’t find a solution.

He also persuaded Stanhope and Bovis, alliance partners on the project, to focus their efforts in different areas: Bovis would control design and construction, while Stanhope would manage delivery to the client and tenants. The strategy required a great deal of mutual trust but worked admirably.

Work restarted in January with far more enthusiasm. Sims developed new building and trades programmes, all linked into the overall programme, so each team could own its own performance. And even under this considerable pressure, Sims had the bravery to test a communication tool that notified contractors directly of deliveries, making the whole process more efficient.

Rather than snagging defects out by engaging quality managers, Sims drove quality in by making each manager fully responsible for the quality of work under their control. They were likewise responsible for health and safety, and there were just three reportable accidents to more than 6,000 site workers and visitors. Among the project’s illustrious neighbours was St Paul’s Cathedral, and Sims appointed a consultant to advise on protecting the local environment. The Corporation of London responded with two gold awards under its considerate constructors scheme.

Sims’ great achievement was to turn around an established but demoralised team, encouraging enthusiasm, commitment and pride and delivering a stunning result.

Source

Construction Manager