Building the Shard

BUILDING THE SHARD

MEET FLAN McNAMARA, THE IRISHMAN WHO BUILT THE SHARD

FROM his 18th floor office window near London’s Oxford Circus, if Flan McNamara looks southeast, he can see the distinct 1,016ft glass and metal skyscraper whose construction he oversaw, The Shard.

Looking north-east, the 62-year-old Irishman who was born in Kilrush, Co Clare, can see Archway, where he lives, and nearby Highbury, the old home of his beloved Arsenal FC.

He’s telling the story of his work on the £435 million, 95-storey flagship, where the weather was the key variable that threatened to hold up progress on its upper reaches. “At times, the cranes were idle for 60pc of the working week, so there were significant delays. We didn’t have comparable weather records, other than for Canary Wharf, for the height we were working at.

“But we built it on time and on budget. It was a flagship project at a time when the workload in London had been seriously impacted by the 2008 economic crash. But that also gave us an advantage, because the best people were available - whereas today, for instance, if you tried to do it, many of them wouldn’t be.

“I’m incredibly proud of the building; it redefined London. I love seeing it when I’m driving around the city. And of course, I can look out my window here and see it, though the skyline is also becoming crowded nearby.”

Modest to a fault, McNamara emphasises how much of a team effort completing The Shard (in November 2012) was. “We had the world-leading architect, Renzo Piano. He would come to the site very regularly and engage with those of us working on it. A lot of big-name architects don’t do that, but he was very approachable; someone you could really communicate with.

“The building’s developer, the late Irvine Sellar controlled it day to day, and ran a very tight ship. He was very careful with the budget, in the knowledge that the funder was Qatar’s Sheikh Abdullah al-Thani, who also visited every three months (He stepped in with funding after problems that resulted from the economic crash). They were an amazing duo to work for. Irvine was very driven. They shared a passion for the project and got on together like they were brothers.

“The main contractor, Mace, whose chief operating officer (COO) was on-site with us full-time, definitely made an impact too. We had great subcontractors as well. From an Irish perspective, the Byrne group provided the concrete, and their top men shared our commitment.

“We all realised this was something special - a landmark that would change the South Bank and the face of the city forever. In many ways, it was technically ahead of its time.

“The best leaders in this industry that I’ve been lucky enough to work with over the years have no discernible egos. That was true of Bernard Ainsworth who I took over from on The Shard after he’d stepped aside. I was fortunate to work with Renzo - and I’ve also worked with Lord (Norman) Foster and his firm. I’ve learned a lot from that, and been inspired by their eye for great design,” McNamara explains.

It was not the only huge London landmark that he helped get across the line. Prior to it, he finished a pre-construction report and planning submission for a hospital in Peterborough and was brought in to review the progress of the Westfield shopping centre in West London. He then stayed on as Construction Director.

“I had to tear down some fiefdoms and associated entrenched positions there. One of my first major decisions was to take a fresh approach and speed up work on an underground rail siding that was behind schedule and delaying the start of a big section of the shopping centre.

“I brought two previously separate teams together and beefed up the rail workers. It was essentially a refocus restructure that provided greater flexibility in decision-making, and again, allowed us to deliver the project on-time and on-budget at the end of October 2008. It got it back on track, and without it, there wouldn’t have been a shopping centre.

Some years after he completed a fouryear apprenticeship with a colleague of his uncle Dessie who was a chief engineer in London, McNamara worked in the Middle East.

His mechanical and electrical engineering qualification took him to Oman, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Yemen in the 1980s. “It was probably one of the most formative experiences of my life. It toughened me up, being away from home, and made me very adaptable and resilient. I particularly loved Yemen. I was in Aden, which was so undeveloped at the time, in contrast to the tragic land of war and famine today - and very much enjoyed getting to know people from all these cultures.

He then worked on Heathrow’s Terminal Three in 1986, followed by other major projects in London: Broadgate, Canary Wharf, Olympia, and then the refurbishment of the NatWest Tower after its bomb damage, plus a stint in Barcelona, working on its Olympic stadium, along with fellow Irishmen Ray and Des O’Rourke.

Today, McNamara is the Design and Construction Director of Osborne and Co, a firm founded by fellow Irishmen, father and son Jim and Conor Osborne, whose roots are in Dundalk, Co Louth.

Osborne and Co, formed from the Osborne’s previous businesses GRDI - which operated in Asia, India and the Middle East, and Vanguard Real Estate’s UK business, has over £1bn of development under way, including £550m worth alone in Glasgow and Belfast, with others in Bootle and Milton Keynes, and an eye out for a future project in London. What’s more, the firm - which specialises in building to suit occupiers who are mainly blue-chip corporates such as banks – aims to grow its development pipeline to £5bn by 2022.

Belfast in particular – where they’re building the Waterside development – is likely to see further investment. The firm has looked at Dublin too, but not entered the market there yet.

It’s only a matter of time before McNamara will be building another stunning building somewhere on these islands; we can’t wait to see it.