November Event - Localism - What it means for Planning & Procurement

Philip Clifford, London Councils, provided an overview of the Localism agenda, its actual launch, aspirations and then the reality of what is happening. The reaction of the local neighbourhoods was not as revolutionary as envisioned. This fact is backed up by statistics gathered by the London Councils in a survey of the London boroughs. 31/32 boroughs responded so it is a significant result. 

Nick Spall, Planning Director at CgMs Consulting, gave an overview of the new planning regulations, Section 106, The London Mayor CIL, new Local Authority CIL’s – three bites of the proverbial cherry! An interesting comparison was given on what was required in 1971 when submitting a project for planning and the nature of the information required in 2012.  

An interesting Q&A session was followed by further conversations on the subject together with the usual networking opportunities over a glass of wine!

October Event - Are you getting what you paid for?

Are you really getting what you paid for?  How do you know? How is it managed? An emotive subject in any organisation, especially in construction where delivered value is the essence.


We had two great speakers. First up was Dr Bill Bordass from the Usable Buildings Trust.  Bill spoke on post occupancy reviews. It isn't simply about inputs & outputs, rather it is outcomes examining the difference between expectations & reality. Designers shouldn't provide what the occupier cannot afford or manage. Keep it simple with gentle engineering not over engineering.  BPE's recent review of domestic building showed the potential for simple improvements. Get the basics right - Foresight, Hindsight & Insight then everybody wins.


We were then treated to Dr Jenny Thomas, founder of the Performance Consultancy. Jenny talked on the perception of usability focussing on the human element post construction.  End user engagement is key which is something that needs to be addressed before the build as opposed to after the build when it  could become a real issue.  It really is about having the right people in place at the right time which is of course a challenge with traditional construction management. The Golden Thread is so very important so a key team member should be there from start to finish, the client leadership is essential.

As always there was an excellent and lively Q&A session followed by conversation and networking over a glass or two of wine!

September Event - Winning Work

Tim Whitehill delivered a great talk on winning work in this difficult environment.  Tim is Chairman of the Wirral and Warrington CE Club and also a delivery partner with SECBE.  It is terrific to have an individual who is so committed to the Improvement Agenda and actively involved as a corporate member of CE come and speak to the LCEC.  Tim is also the MD and co-founder of the Chester based construction consultancy Room 4 Consulting (click the link to find out more)

Tim's talk took the form of a discussion covering the various initiatives with which Tim is very much acquainted through his connections with the BRE etc., nearly an A-Z!  Zero carbon and global warming came under the spotlight creating a lively interaction. Innovation naturally featured echoing the need to do better on this front. The issue of Excellence vs Compliance together with the reality of the lowest tender price winning were brought to the fore. 

All in all a very thought provoking session which was further discussed during the post talk networking and a glass of wine!

July Event - Beyond BIM with Paul Fletcher

Paul Fletcher of the RIBA Construction Strategy Group  led an interesting debate into life beyond BiM, and where an evolution of BIM may lead us towards designing better buildings.

For progressive designers, Level 2 BIM is now readily deliverable. So what does life beyond BIM look like? Incorporation of social engineering will lead to a step change in delivering better buildings. Henry Ford once said "if I ask people what they want, it is faster horses". They never dreamed of a step change in to life without horses. As an industry we need to embrace the power of BIM and the social client engagement agenda to take the BIM knowledgement on and use it to deliver better environments, not just spaces, in the future.

BIM needs to take cognisance of BEM, the building environment model, and BPE, post occupancy performance evaluation, to build buildings better, with better certainty on outputs, and better associated quality. Smart energy management and user engagement could save 30% energy costs compared with enhanced insulation and cladding.

The audience was inspired to lead the way in the future, rather than follow the example of mainstream BIM package vendors. A common approach using COBie standards was seen as a good thing.

As one would expect debate was lively and promoted a lengthy Q&A.

BIM remains a topic that brings in a large audience and our thanks go out to Paul on throwing down challenges for us all to respond to. Something that was the subject of discussion over a glass or two of wine during the networking afterwards!

June Event - Energy Savings? Prove it!

We were treated to a double header on Energy Performance contracts (EPCs). Rajvant Nijjhar, founder of Ivees who are independent verifiers, clarified the jargon and acronyms. She then discussed the real need to establish best practice. The monitoring of energy needs to be a clear process. To demonstrate the state of play we were asked to say if know about and/or use ISO 50001 – the answer is easily guessed! Rajvant quoted Greg Baker, a government minister - “Energy efficiency has the potential to address 38% of electricity savings by 2030”

Professor Tony Day TEAM (Energy Auditing Agency Ltd), clarified some more acronyms. He drew attention to the fact that proving operational performance is very dependent on the quality of the data. The focus was on low carbon heat sources, and the particular issues around heat metering which need to be addressed for claiming Renewable Heat Incentive payments. He noted that Europe has greater experience in this area, particularly with large CHP installations, and the UK needs to ensure best practice in data collection. As Tony is a former academic he couldn't help giving us a formula: Q = p V Cp (tf - tr) - something to puzzle over!

A lively Q&A followed together with the customary networking over a glass or two of wine.

May Event - Maurice Wohl Building Site Visit

This was a very successful visit to the Maurice Wohl Building site at KCL in Denmark Hill with well over 50 attending, somewhat of a record for an LCEC visit! This was a first for the LCEC as we had never hosted a visit to a site under construction.  Timescale wise the project is half way through due to complete in Spring 2013. The visit was organised in response to member comments via our social media survey tool (SurveyMonkey).  More about the project can be found by clicking here.

Points of interest:

• Very 'tight' site' with limited access
• Involved demolition of a 3m diameter sewer prior to construction 
• 99% of site waste was re-used to cap a landfill site
• Had all cofferdam piles been laid end to end they would have reached Kings Cross 9 km away
• Risk of insolvency of subcontractors features on the daily agenda - sign of the times
• When open the centre will not be a public building as it is for research, labs & offices
• So far a 100% safe site!
• Novel green sedum roofs 
• Copper coloured brize soleil.

The overall consensus was that it was a must to revisit to see the fit out. 


Here is a very short set of pictures with some progress shots:

Maurice Wohl Building from Mike Colquhoun on Vimeo.

Here is a project fly through:

April Event - Retrofitting as a Sustainable Solution

Richard Quartermaine

This event brought us a five man band with the presentations being kicked off by Richard Quartermaine of Sweett (UK) Ltd. Richard discussed the Green Deal and in particular the practical considerations of undertaking such projects.

Uly Ma's book

Uly Ma then brought a colourful and common sense approach to waste, and in particular highlighted a project case study at the Olympic site. Uly described how the impact of ‘No waste’ management was far more reaching than simply reducing skip hire costs. When also considering the reduction in time and labour, these savings were the equivalent of what multimillion pound construction scheme may wish to achieve through the cost of sales.

Simon Green

Simon Green of Lakehouse was next on. He explained a noticeable trend towards more tenders involving the Green Deal, emphasising that the devil is in the detail. Dr. Terence Lewis, also of Lakehouse, brought case study examples and highlighted the need to engage tenants and to understand the ‘what’s in it for me’. Educating the tenant and behavioural changes were key in his opinion to the Green Deal achieving success.

Finally, Andrew Eagles of Sustainable Homes described a process called Carbon Reduction Options for Housing Managers (CROHM). This process involves understanding your stock’s current energy performance, and providing a detailed assessment of the most cost-effective options for improvement.

The evening was well attended and provoked an interesting debate at the end which carried on through into the networking afterwards. 

March Event - London 2012 ODA - Project of the Year 2011

Ruari Maybank from ODA 43 members attended a fact-filled presentation giving an insight to the Velodrome, Aquatics Centre and Stadium - in fact the entire Olympic Park project including the infrastructure and landscaping  as it currently stands.  Apart from the presentation and video there were many questions asked.  Ruari focussed on the main areas of Sustainability, Carbon, Costs (of course!), Variations (vigorously challenged), Procurement mechanisms and then followed up with legacy arrangements, stakeholder interaction and let's not forget statistical analysis!! Click here for Velodrome project PDF.

We were wooed with tales of velodrome competitors having toilet facilities WITHIN the centre of the track. Allegedly something new.What did they do before in all their Spandex?

Interesting points arising - Even the way the doors open into the velodrome was modified as apparently the opposition were known to open the doors surrepticiously, let the cold , denser air in to slow the cyclists down. The ODA even gave money back as they did not need it all.  Something quite rare! The "mix" was 1:2:4  not just concrete but constructed with 1 year to go; 2 years of planning; 4 years of building.


No LCEC session is complete with a networking session, this one was no exception especially with the discussion points raised from the talk!


Postscript: Ruari Maybank has emailed to say "I regret that for reasons of brand protection, I am unable to share the presentation, but would note that most of the points raised are available on the learning legacy website and in ICE proceedings papers.

http://learninglegacy.london2012.com"

February Event - Procurement Best Practice

Judging by the attendance the subject of procurement in the industry is still a hot topic!

Richard Ward, a lawyer and partner at Eversheds, co-opted to the BSI, started the session with an overview of BS8534 from its early roots through to its function as a supply chain tool.

This was followed by David Hutchinson, past VP if ICE now with Parsons Brinckerhoff,  who described how he was 'roped in' to working with the BSI.  He noted that for him the main targets were cost, time & performance though many other aspects of import were included such as HSE.


All in all a very interesting, informative session with plenty of questions and topics for discussion over a glass or two of wine afterwards!

January Event - An Evening with Paul Morrell & the AGM

Paul Morrell answered questions from the floor ably assisted by LCEC officers Rajvant Nijjhar and Kathy Bagster.  Paul observed that "we are at an interesting point in history where we cannot afford to hold on to historic models of doing construction" which statement includes the recessionary environment and eco-issues.  A lively and interesting evening as always when Paul gives us his views.  A personal question, how does Paul relax? The answer: he likes to sail, watch plays, ballet & opera and for Sunday's "friends, family and food".

One of the main features of the AGM is the election of officers for the current year. All the current team were re-elected except for Hugh Bantin who has decided to step down. The Officers are grateful to Hugh for his contribution to the success of the LCEC.