Residential & Accommodation

Winner Stephen Pedro MCIOB, Telford Homes

Project: Stone Studios, Hackney Wick, London Scope: Construction of five blocks with 120 apartments, completed in 67 weeks Contract: JCT Value: £38m

A barrage of complaints from

worried neighbours about odours released during the groundworks phase of this project forced Stephen Pedro to rethink the design of the attenuation tank. The smell was due to benzene and naphthalene – mothballs – coming from the former metalworking site.

Stephen got the works moving again by reducing the depth of the attenuation tank dig and spreading it over a wider area. With no further need to excavate deep below the water table, there were no more unpleasant odours and the community calmed down. Avoiding the groundwater meant there were buildability advantages too.

Stephen had to make other changes to keep the project on track. Part of the retained facade for one block had become unsafe, so he elected to take it apart piece by piece and rebuild it with a blockwork inner skin. When the combustibility of iroko timber fins for the facade made installing them a concern, he switched to iroko-coloured aluminium fins.

Stephen drove value by replacing precast concrete coping stones and cladding panels with glass fibre-reinforced units. Substantially lighter, they delivered cost savings and were easier to install. Likewise, his introduction of no-joint CLP piping in the 120 apartments made for easier, faster, safer installation.

GOLD Other finalists

Martin Bennett MCIOB

Willmott Dixon, Ashton Rise, Bristol

Jon Kelly MCIOB

Storey Homes, Haymarket Rise, Bedfordshire

Robert Lanson MCIOB

Eric Wright Construction, Atelier, Salford

John O’Neill MCIOB

Drew Smith, August Fields, Newhaven

Stephen Sidebotham MCIOB

Willmott Dixon, Blackfriars, Salford

Jason Sims MCIOB

Caddick Construction, Hudson Quarter, York

Winner Kevin Larkin MCIOB, JJ Rhatigan

Project: Lu2on phase 1, Luton Scope: Construction of 11-storey block with 401 apartments, completed in 127 weeks Client: Strawberry Star Contract: JCT 2016 Value: £63m

On his first project with JJ Rhatigan, Kevin Larkin delivered a lucrative large-scale development to a high standard in a short space of time.

His use of BIM was effective and extensive, from design to quality assurance, with site managers and subcontractors taken along through the use of a BIM dashboard.

Changing the precast concrete lintels to lie flush with the scheme’s 1,200 windows, rather than protrude above and below, achieved buildability savings of £1.2m. Kevin’s decision to make 489 bathroom pods off site eased the critical path, saved time and cost and raised the quality bar.

The success of the project has seen the client award phase 2 – a £100m scheme with 565 apartments – to Kevin.

SILVER