LCEC February 2011 - Integration & Collaborative Working - Hackney City Academy

LCEC February 2011 from Mike Colquhoun on Vimeo.

A full house heard Sabah Abed (Project Director, Willmott Dixon) and Andrzej Kusnell (Studio E Architects) talk about their Constructing Excellence award winning project - Hackney City Academy.
Why did they win the CE Award? This is why -

Hackney is the second of 3 Academies sponsored by the City of London delivered through collaborative partnered team working. Despite relocating sites midway through process and still completed on time and to budget

The challenges of a tight programme and complex site have been successfully met, whilst extending the collaboration to the community and end users by implementing an exemplar programme of “young client” engagement with the participation of the Sorrell Foundation. This approach has resulted in a striking contemporary building that has been delivered on time and to budget by a fully partnered team composed of the City of London Surveyors Department, Willmott Dixon Contractors, Studio E Architects, Max Fordham Environmental Engineers, Dewhurst Macfarlane Structural Engineers, Northcroft Cost Consultants, Subcontractors and The Sorrell Foundation Young Client Team.

A well honed team operating at maximum efficiency under the Partnering Contract, managed to recover the lost 6 months caused by moving sites to process designs, planning application and procurement in time for the construction start in January 2008. For a second time the partnered team succeeded, in spite of adversities, to deliver a quality result to time and to budget.

The confined nature and location of the site next to Homerton High Street meant that construction works had to be monitored and planned to minimise disruption in the area. With the number of workers on site reaching up to 240, arrivals and departure from site also required close management.

The sponsors and project team engaged with the Hackney Community through extensive consultations. With the aid of the Sorrell Foundation a young client group was created from two primary feeder schools, Berger and Morningside as well as the local Hackney Community College and the first City of London Academy in Southwark. These young people participated in the creation of a brief for the new Academy and then worked alongside the project team for two years. Through a series of workshops during the construction phase the client team were given the opportunity to investigate, understand and comment on the delivery of the building and how it was constructed.

In delivering the academy Willmott Dixon’s design team worked closely with studio e to develop the design with the practical input of specialist subcontractors and an in-house services manager, ensuring that the integrity of the design aspirations were not compromised.

Encouraging a sense of identification with the aspirational nature of the facility a hoarding display of the input of the client team was erected and apprentices were employed from local colleges to reinforce this sense of community shareholding.

The team integration continues through the post completion learning including a post completion workshop to evaluate how the partnered process assisted in an effective delivery, and how the process could be further improved.

The team built relationships and operating structures that were professional and respectful but direct, creating a decision making process that was very quick but not irrational. When problems occurred the group focused and overcame the problem. It was also agreed that the use of a partnered contract ensured that decisions were made in the interest of the project rather than in the interest of each entity.

A key element of the project had been the collaborative approach which allowed constructive criticism to be taken on board and solutions reached as a team.  Had this not been the case, the change of site and resulting contracted programme could have seriously impacted delivery of the project.

45% of the supply chain was appointed on a preferred or partnered basis which reflects the delivery team contract. Early appointment and involvement of the supply chain on design saved time and created cost savings. As a comprehensive value engineering exercise had not been able to take place due to contracted timescales, this was important in achieving the budget.

Members of the supply chain were involved in work with the Sorrell Foundation group. This provided them with opportunities to interact with the end users and many expressed how their connection to the project was deepened by the workshops.
(Abridged text)