Trading spaces

Every client living through a refurbishment, be it a kitchen extension or supermarket refit, would prefer its builder to be seen and not heard. Add to that the pressure of working around a troubled retailer's flagship store at the height of the Christmas period, and the need to be fast, quiet and on programme is paramount.

That was the challenge facing interior contractor Styles & Wood, on its £12m refit of Marks & Spencer's Manchester city centre store. Built on the wreckage of the 1996 IRA bomb, the shop, with 250,000 sq ft of sales space is the world's biggest Marks & Spencer.

M&S has leased half the space to Selfridges. Styles & Wood's job was to split the store in two leaving a shell for Selfridges, adapt four scenic lifts and create joint staff catering facilities. Several of the departments had to be relocated into the new M&S site, which could only be achieved through careful programming and an understanding of the retail business, says Steve Bray, senior contracts manager for Styles & Wood.

"One of the departments we had to relocate was women's wear," he says. "We had originally planned to do it at the end of December, but we gave Marks & Spencer an extra three weeks to get the Christmas and sale period out of the way. The move was non critical for us, so it made sense to let them have that time."

Sensitivity at Christmas when working round a live store may seem obvious, but there are many other aspects to consider, says Bray. "The children's wear department goes mad over the school half-term, so we had to keep away from it then. This particular M&S does 26% of its trade through the food hall, so we had to be sensitive about that section too, especially as one of the first jobs we had to do was move the cold store. It's a case of understanding when the peak trading time is, and when each business unit produces the most money."

Protracted negotiations between M&S and Selfridges meant the project start date was delayed by two weeks, leaving Styles & Wood 24 weeks to complete the contract. The only way to get the job done was through a fast-track system of 24 hour a day working, seven days a week. Styles & Wood's divisional managing director Jeff Tonge says it also meant a having reliable supply chain. "We have to know that a subcontractor will do the work when its says it will or it throws our plan out and slows us down."

Six weeks before the job started the design was a blank sheet of paper, so working closely with the design team and understanding the client’s business were important to getting the project finished on time

"Six weeks before the job started on site the design was a blank sheet of paper," he adds, "so working closely with the design team was also important to getting the project finished on time. Understanding the client's business and detailed planning were the other factors to getting the contract completed quickly."

As well as working quickly, M&S insisted on maintaining business as usual, with as little disruption to the public as possible. "We had to look at the customer perception as well as the client's," says Steve Bray. "Customers don't want to see construction work going on, so we used a hoarding system that the client can fit graphics onto, for adverts or directions. Plus all the noisy operations had to be carried out outside working hours, which around the Christmas period meant after 10pm."

Christmas delays
The festive season brought other unexpected problems. Part of the building that is to become Selfridges was a fallow area, meaning it had no services in it. Styles & Wood had to get £500,000 worth of plant for the services onto the roof, using cranes. "We had to negotiate with the council to get the road closed so we could bring the cranes in," says Bray. "Plus we are in the middle of a construction zone, with Bovis and Mace working on developments right next to M&S so we had to talk to them about when their cranes were coming in to avoid a clash.

When we spoke to the council we were told that it wasn't possible to bring the cranes in when we wanted to because the Christmas decorations would be up until the beginning of January, so we had to reschedule the lifts."

Bray rates access as the biggest stumbling block to the project, which threatened its success right from the outset.

the council said we couldn’t bring the cranes in when we wanted because the Christmas decorations would be up until the beginning of January

The only entrance to the site was through the store car park, which gets backed up with traffic throughout the day. This combined with the crowded city centre streets meant most deliveries had to come in after hours.

However, Marks & Spencer also takes most of its next-day store deliveries at this time, which would have caused severe congestion around the loading bay.

"We negotiated with the landlord of the building, Prudential Property, to create our own delivery hatch," says Bray. "We cut a section out of the wall a few metres from Marks & Spencers's loading bay, put in a loading platform and took our deliveries through there. Without it we wouldn't have been able to complete the project."

As well as customer perception, ensuring customer safety was also a major concern. "We discussed with M&S how we could provide complete segregation of the construction from its business. The hoardings were one way of doing that. They reach from floor to ceiling to prevent anything from being transferred into the retail area. The customers never saw any construction activity."