coverA3 182:Layout 1 25/02/2013 12:20 Page 1
BUILDING DESIGN &
CONSTRUCTION THE MAGAZINE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY APRIL 2013
DELIVERING GAS TO THE NORTH OF ENGLAND
INSIDE:
BALI National Landscape Awards 2012
BUILDING DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
APRIL 2013 ISSUE 184
NORTHERN GAS NETWORKS
ARCHER ELECTRICAL
CONSISTENTLY DELIVERING QUALITY
SETTING NEW BENCHMARKS
DESIGN INTERNATIONAL
PRESTOPLAN BUILDING ON BETTER IDEAS
RIA:feature 2 06/02/2013 10:20 Page 70
TRANSPORT: RAIL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION
GOVERNMENT TO INVEST IN RAIL NETWORK Government investment is welcomed by The Railway Industry Association which represents UK-based railway suppliers to the world’s railways
70
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
RIA:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:01 Page 71
TRANSPORT: RAIL INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION he Railway Industry Association (RIA) has welcomed the recent announcement by Government of major investment in the UK railway network. RIA Director General Jeremy Candfield commented: “Today’s commitment to future investment in the railways rightly recognises the importance to the economy of fast, reliable train services for passengers and freight. It will bring great benefits to the travelling public, freight hauliers and the nation as a whole. “The railway suppliers now look forward to working with Government, Network Rail and the train operators to develop plans in more detail so that these proposals can be delivered as efficiently as possible. Greater confidence in future workloads will help suppliers to invest in the people and equipment that we need for tomorrow's railway. The central role given by the statement to a rolling programme of electrification work, which industry has long advocated, will facilitate the economic delivery of this important upgrade. “This is an important long-term announcement with strategic implications for the future of the railway, not just for the next five years. We welcome it, and look forward to its implementation.” The RIA represents UK-based suppliers to the railway industry. Its 160-plus member companies include manufacturers, maintainers, contractors, con-
T
sultants and providers of specialist services. RIA members represent the greater part of the UK railway supply industry by turnover. Most large firms are members, as well as a wide range of smaller companies. RIA provides its members with extensive services, including the provision of technical, commercial and political information every week, and representation of the supply industry's interests to Government, Network Rail and others. It also provides opportunities for dialogue and networking between members, including a number of Special Interest Groups, and supply chain improvement initiatives. The origins of the Railway Industry Association date back to 1875, when a number of independent steam locomotive builders grouped together to petition Parliament. They won their case and decided that it would be valuable to create a formal body for their mutual benefit. It was first known as the Locomotive
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
Manufacturers Association of Great Britain and proved to be very effective in promoting its members' interests, both at home and overseas, and in such areas as coordinating development of technical standards. Membership was widened to include manufacturers of all forms of rolling stock, including components suppliers, with a change of name to the Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers Association in 1957. Finally, the change to the Railway Industry Association was completed in 1971 with the inclusion of all parts of the railway supply industry. With the break-up and privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s, many of the resulting supply-side companies joined RIA as they moved into the private sector and membership has continued to grow. www.riagb.org.uk Tel: 020 7201 0777
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
71
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:06 Page 72
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
UPGRADING BRITAIN’S RAILWAYS Established this year Infrastructure Projects is effectively a new company within Network Rail that aspires to build an unrivalled record of successful project completion, innovation and reduced cost to rail users and taxpayers whilst delivering better value for money aking responsibility for the ownership and operation of Britain’s rail infrastructure in 2002, Network Rail was charged with establishing improvements in the key areas of safety, reliability and efficiency. In 2004 the maintenance side was brought in house, almost doubling the number of employees, as a way of standardising practices. Additionally, a sustained programme of renewing track, signals, power and telecoms equipment was introduced. Today, passenger miles are greater than at any time in the past 60 years – 1.3 billion per year – while the network continues to grow and freight traffic has increased to carry 28 billion tons of freight per year. On 16th April 2012, Infrastructure Projects aligned with the devolved route structure of the
T
72
operations and maintenance teams of Network Rail to become a regionally based delivery business. This effectively established a new company within Network Rail that aspires to build an unrivalled record of successful project completion, innovation and reduced cost to rail users and taxpayers whilst delivering better value for money. In the longer term, Infrastructure Projects aim to be the leader in providing rail infrastructure solutions in Britain. The focus over the next few years will be on improving and becoming more effective at delivering projects in a commercial environment. Whether it is the earlier definition of client requirements, engaging more collaboratively with the supply chain to drive innovation, more cost-effective programme management, or inviting competing suppliers to tender for work, these changes will all
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 73
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
73
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 74
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
play a key part in Network Rail achieving its objective of delivering outstanding value for taxpayers and rail users. Richard Walker is the recently appointed Route Delivery Director for the East Midlands region, based in Derby. He is also the most recent recipient of the Project Manager of the Year Award at the annual Association for Project Management (APM), Project Management awards for his work overseeing the £290m re-development of Farringdon Station in London. “The East Midlands has not really seen the levels of investment that other routes have seen, for example the West Coast Mainline, in recent years. My role has been to establish a new infrastructure projects team, based in Derby, that will be multi-disciplinary including engineering, commercial, project and construction management competences. I also need to develop a new supply chain based in this area capable of delivering a portfolio of circa £1.4 billion over the next 6-7 years,” says Richard.
“MY ROLE HAS BEEN TO ESTABLISH A NEW INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS TEAM, BASED IN DERBY, THAT WILL BE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY INCLUDING ENGINEERING, COMMERCIAL, PROJECT AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT COMPETENCES” RICHARD WALKER ROUTE DELIVERY DIRECTOR
PROJECTS Working according to five-year Control Period schedules Richard and his team are gearing up for the programme running 2014 – 2019 which includes major electrification schemes across the
74
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 75
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
75
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 76
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 77
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
Network Rail – Derby
entire network to create “an electric spine”. Significantly for the East Midlands region this includes the electrification of the Midland Mainline which runs from London St. Pancras to Sheffield. “In the next year we are increasing the line speed on this route to enable a better timetable and service as well as reducing the journey time from Sheffield to London time to below two hours,” says Richard. Additionally, a number of projects have included increasing freight train provision which also suffers from physical restrictions due to constraining Victorian bridges. A major re-development of Nottingham station includes re-signaling works, upgrade to the interchange including the tram and
a re-development of the station itself with improved concourse, ticketing and retail facilities currently under construction. “We have developed a very diverse portfolio of works with a high number of projects involving upgrading the current rail assets to ensure they are serviceable for future changes we will be making; and able to take on the demands of a modern rail service as well as the extreme weather conditions that we’ve been experiencing recently,” adds Richard. “The portfolio includes projects worth £10,000 right up to multi-million pound programmes of work which need a variety of project management skills and technical competencies; so we’re building Network Rail's new East Midlands Control Centre to be built at Bateman Street, Derby
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
77
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 78
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS NOTTING HAM HUB VISUAL: Birdseye view over new Tram Bridge and South Concourse building
up a strong team to be able to develop and deliver those projects.” SUPPLY CHAIN Richard is also re-thinking how the IP business will work with its suppliers in the East Midlands: “Moving forward into Control Period 5 we have some very significant schemes which are changing our approach and how we spread the work. Rather than one or two major projects we’re getting our suppliers engaged early to deliver a mixed portfolio of work so that we can grow the capacity within the supply chain. We want to provide visibility and certainty with the right group of suppliers to be able to demonstrate value for money” Additionally, there have been recent company wide changes in supply chain management where a number of key actions have been implemented. These have included completing a review of purchase to pay processes and implementation of iprocurement; developing a strategic sourcing process to manage commercial activity consistently; launching a supplier account management process for key suppliers; reviewing the qualification and assurance processes; and refreshing the standard suite of contracts.
78
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 79
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
79
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 80
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 81
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
And supply chain management is always brought into sharp focus when it comes to health and safety practices. On this Richard is challenged with establishing his new supply chain while ensuring that high standards in company safety protocol are adhered to throughout the network of suppliers. But he has a clear idea about how this needs to be approached. “We work with a very large supply chain and the change I would see in terms of Infrastructure Projects as a business is in terms of empowering and supporting our suppliers. A lot of them have their own arrangements and I’m not looking at replacing or updating their initiatives because they
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
have their own culture and way of doing things; I want to support and encourage the initiatives that my supply chain are already doing.” VALUE FOR MONEY However, what runs at the absolute core of Infrastructure Projects is the ambition to be even more cost effective and efficient at delivering projects in a commercial environment. And ultimately this comes back to the passengers using the railways on a daily basis and their requirements for a better, safer service offering value for money. “There is a huge demand for railways which is only growing,” says Richard. “We can see a large
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
81
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 82
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
“I’M PASSIONATE ABOUT EMPLOYING THE RIGHT PEOPLE. WE’RE RECRUITING HEAVILY AND I WANT TO BUILD A TEAM OF GOOD PEOPLE WHO CAN COME IN AND CONTRIBUTE AND CHANGE THE WAY WE WORK, OUR PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE. ” RICHARD WALKER ROUTE DELIVERY DIRECTOR
82
investment going into the railway and we’re in a very privileged position to be able to use that investment to improve the service. “There’s been criticism that we’re not good value for money or the rail industry isn’t working efficiently but it’s part of our remit to deliver major projects in order to provide the best possible service on behalf of our stakeholders – the passengers; and we can demonstrate record levels of reliability and seat capacity.” MULTI-DISCIPLINARY TEAM But ultimately none of this will work without a strong, multi-skilled team who can deliver results. This was the learning that Richard brought with him from the Farringdon re-development, and clearly his recruiting and delegating skills were not lost on the APM award jury.
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
And perhaps this will be the key to the success of the scale of projects planned for the East Midlands region, notably the electrification of the Sheffield to London line. By employing a multi-disciplinary team with an emphasis on a diverse range of competencies, qualifications and experience, Richard is looking to improve further still on the successes of Network Rail’s first 10 years through culture change and innovation. “I’m passionate about employing the right people,” he says. “We’re recruiting heavily and I want to build a team of good people who can come in and contribute and change the way we work, our philosophy and culture. So that we continue to learn, and we become smarter and more efficient than we have been in the past.” Tel: 020 7557 8000 www.networkrail.co.uk
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
network rail:feature 2 17/01/2013 09:07 Page 83
TRANSPORT: NETWORK RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS
www.bdcmagazine.co.uk
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION MAGAZINE
83