July Event - Cafe Royal Site Visit

This was a very popular event!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Royal The Crown Estate had a vision in 2003 to refurbish their central London Estate which include the Café Royal.  To achieve the vision a team was created from Mace http://www.macegroup.com/projects/caf%C3%A9-royal as Construction Manager (construction management contract); Buro4 (B4) as Project Manager; Chipperfield Architects ; URS Scot Wilson for Structural ; Aecom for M&E and the personal involvement of a client, Alrov, the hotelier – an Israeli company - http://thesethotels.com/  and http://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Hotel_Review-g293983-d1467206-Reviews-or110-Mamilla_Hotel-Jerusalem_Jerusalem_District.html .Manly was Mace’s client for this project http://www.manlygroup.com/Company%20Brochure%202012.pdf

Adjacent blocks owned by Crown Estate were also being redeveloped at the same time and became colloquially known as Quadrant 1,2,3 & 4. There is a 125 year Crown Lease. Café Royal (CR) is Quadrant 1  and has all its site access, due to planning and Regent Street is a Red Route so that means no stopping at all the kerb, in a side street called Air Street. Access to the site is from Quadrant 3 which is behind CR and separated by another street is 'interesting' in that materials go into Q3, down into its basemen then along a new tunnel into Q1 = CR and up again!

Planning Permission was granted April 2008, Ground break was January 2009 and final completion is slated for September 2013. A phased opening is happening right now. Apparently, the original CR was a gentleman’s club and was kept operational is some form or other during construction. The building is listed – English Heritage (EH) and so whilst a wall might be listed, a floor might not and vice versa so inserting new services was not always straightforward and varied room to room, floor to floor.  There are 10 floors and 8 historic rooms. Now it is an hotel with 159 5* rooms http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186338-d586582-Reviews-Cafe_Royal-London_England.html

Following on from an unexplained fire, the Grill Room was refurbed and had to fit back in all its respects due to EH listing status. So if walls had been finished with say green paint, then the insurers were happy to pay for new, green paint although there had been gold leaf under the green paint and so they wanted new gold leaf and then have it painted over with green. All very bizarre and fascinating!

Altogether it is was one of the most interesting and informative site visits we have made.  Enjoyed by all.

June Event - The Energy Landscape 2013 on

As a change to the usual single presentation the event was formed by having 3 speakers doing 10 minutes each.  Feedback suggests this format went down very well.

Richard Quartermaine opened the evening with the Sweett Group view on the sustainability landscape.  The issues and the speed of change are really factors that take industry and government to work together.  Unfortunately so far the government has been dragging its heels on enforcing target percentages and keeping to dealine dates.

Martin Fry took the floor next. He is well versed on the inner wheels of Brussels, Whitehall and beyond with a very wide plethora of documentation.  Lots of acronyms to take in! The impression was that the domestic housing market could still offer up a lot of savings.  The concept of people being paid not to use electricity is quite interesting, especially the newly coined word of negawatt.

There also was a very interesting short  presentation from  British Gas and how it is working with government and local authorities to promote energy saving e.g. boiler scrappage.  Strangely the biggest challenge is spending all the money otherwise Centrica is fined 10% of its turnover!!

As always there was a lively Q&A then more conversation of a networking natiure over a glass or two of wine.

May Event - The Benefits and Challenges of Modular & CLT Construction

Morgan Sindall Image

On the subject of modularisation   - Justin and Sean talked about the fate of the old Hammersmith Palais - it has definitely danced its last tango! It has been demolished to make way for student accommodation.  It is being constructed by Make, Morgan Sindall and others.  To show that times have really changed the accommodation on offer will be 17m2 en-suite bedrooms renting at £228 per week with a 99% occupancy rate - being a student is way different these days!


Very interesting  comparisons were made between the traditional on-site and off-site delivery methodologies. The statistics prove that the offssite method beat traditional in terms of programme, working at height, temporary works, standardisaation, foundation load, design life. But about 1% more expensive - which maybe be considered a lot in these lean times. Lessons were learnt in respect of oquality - surprising as the repeated manufacture in factory onditions should have solved this issue. The units were “complete” including IT and fire alarms.

BRE Image

On the subject of Cross Laminated Timber -  The 2 speakers were Gavin and Sophie,  academies designed by Sheppard Robson & Ramboll. An individual CLT component can be 13.5m x 2.95m x 200mm thick. Transportation becomes a limiting factor. Construction gives a good air tightness quality (a la Passivhaus). Unlike the component modular the space in the academies is created and then sub-divided. This means that future teaching methods (whatever they may be) and thus larger smaller spaces can be created / re-configured.  The aesthetics in having so much wood is of course a very personal thing. Wood is more forgiving in terms of knocks and bumps.The Q&A afterwards brought up the question of  fire rating – A very erudite answer was given whereby it is easier to set fire to a match than it is to a log! 

Two very different and interesting takes on innovative construction methods. As with all events it was topped off with ample time to network and, as is the custom, enjoy a few glasses of wine!

April Event - 10th Anniversary & Ray Crotty on BIM

This event held at the University of Westminster  marked the 10th Anniversary of the London Club.  Ray Crotty was the main speaker for the event and as an expert on BIM Ray took the floor to discuss BIM and where it is going. 

Don Ward of Constructing Excellence proposed a toast to the clubs 10th year being also its 100th meeting.  The presence  of members and past members showed  that the continued enthusiasm for the club and its events continues unabated.  

Ray Crotty talked about the need for an approach to BIM that brought together the supply chain and worked through it - joined up thinking.  He drew examples from the past where original drawings were used rather to support the build rather than the usual re-drawing at the time.  A practical domestic example being Ikea where, for instance, a kitchen can be created that will fit into the space with all the units so that on delivery everything will fit together and work with no on site problems.

There was also a special vote to increase the number of officers for the club with a view to being more inclusive and to allow opportunities for others in a less formal structure.  Themotion was approved!

Networking, reminiscing and celebrating the 100th event continued afterwards, as always, over a glass or two of wine!! 

March Event - Communicating & Engaging on Sustainability - Making It Happen

We were delighted to welcome Andrew Kinsey who spoke on the subject of practical sustainability.  He  drew on his experiences working on the Olympics and elsewhere. 

Andrew discussed how to effectively communicate sustainability messages to promote action and engage project teams. Putting theory into practice including how Andrew helped deliver some exemplar sustainability outcomes at the Athletes Village, for the Olympic Delivery Authority.

Andrew joined Mace in February 2012, and has responsibility for the sustainability in Mace’s UK construction operation and is working to ensure consistent delivery of sustainable outcomes on all of its projects, and position the company as a leader in sustainability.

Andrew fields susbstainability as a story to grab attention using 4 main facets: Policemen, Science, Money & Time - elements that everyone can relate to easily. To change behaviour the whole has to be addressed across all levels from the CEO down to the newest intern. The sue of metaphors works even though they may be seen as 'un-cool' which makes them 'cool'.  The linking of messages is important as waste for example has to be linked to H&S and money.

Inevitability there is the conundrum that sustainability creates savings - quite who pockets the savings or where they end up is another subject entirely.  Measuring/accounting for savings is of couse another subject.

Andrew concluded that the sustainability issue is one that is carrot and stick!

Another great session topped off  y the usual networking over a glass of wine or two!!

February Event - CE Project of the Year - Stratford Westfield

Our guest speaker Ian Ogden Design Director of Westfield Shoppingtowns Ltd.

 gave his company’s view of the development  of the prestigious Westfield Stratford using some very interesting slides to illustrate his talk.  

Some key points:

• It is a mixed development -  retail, leisure and commercial
• Statistics are always in the “millions” which is no stranger to Westfield – the Lowe Group from Australia, who broke their teeth so to speak on an Australian development in West Field.  
• Lowe Group have gone on to projects in Australia, Europe, UK and South America.
• On the cards are developments for Milan and Croydon…. no one asked about the link!
• Stratford has millions of square feet of retail , millions of visitors, millions of feet of commercial. And a £4bn price tag
• Well served by road, bus,  rail, HS1, LU, taxi, on-foot, cycle and maybe at some time in the future they will need to turn to have river access
• Shopping rationale was established in the West End and Lakeside and the “economics” suggest Stratford would work to infill the gaps
• Westfield are always principal contractor employing all the specialists directly
• The project itself has the largest ever contribution to a Section 106 amount at £200m.
• Jobs during construction topped 27000 and leave a legacy of 10000 permanent posts
• 97% of the space was leased before opening
• Westfield own, operate and FM through their own companies and also have a projects arm for the inevitable life cycle refurbishment works along the way.
• A measure of success is the 800000/week footfall. Retail is more lucrative than leisure

The Q&A was wide  ranging from river access through sustainability to post Olympic fervour all of which Ian answered with lots of statistics showing that Westfield’s initial homework has stood the test. The  presentation slides were a real help to members helping them engage in a Q&A session as well as post-presentation discussion and networking over the usual glass or two of wine!!

January Event - Peter Jacobs and AGM

 Peter Jacobs was our guest speaker, he is currently the Managing Director of Morgan Sindall London & Aviation and also Senior Vice President of CIOB, succeeding as President in June 2013.

Peter talked about the Olympic Delivery, the London Market in 2013/14 including the latest developments in Aviation Infrastructure. He also spoke on the importance of the Professional Institutions and their key role.

Peter reviewed the delivery of the Olympics and in particular some behind the scenes aspects which were fascinating. A fantastic project with some extremely interesting angles such there were 14 architects employed!

On the subject of the market Peter was bullish about London.  In aviation there is £2 Billion to be spent per annum for the next 5 years which is encouraging.

In his closing remarks Peter wished that the organisations he is involved with - CIOB, RICS, ICE, CIBSE, RIBA - would collaborate actively.

The AGM went well with all officers elected.

As always the evening was capped off by discussions and networking over a glass of wine .... or two!

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.

December 2011 - Wine Tasting Event

In her usual way Julia Trustram-Eve created a great evening of wine tasting on December 7th.  Julia never fails to entertain with her taste challenges and amazing knowledge of wines.  The quality of the wines that are produced in our green and pleasant land inevitably make a very welcome appearance.  Always surprising, always engaging. 


A great start to the Festive Season! 

LCEC at the Constructing Excellence Awards 2011

The committee members at the Constructing Excellence 2011 Awards.  A full account of the awards and the winners of the event can be visited from here when it is posted to the CE web site.

Clock wise from the left : Rajvant Nijjhar, Keith Maynard, Paul Brampton, Hugh Bantin, a guest, Barry Dobbins, Andrew Bowles, David Hucker, a guest, Kathy Bagster

November 2011 - Energy from Waste

One of today's key topics which concerns everyone. The challenges offered by the fundamental issues surrounding the generation of energy from waste in a eco-friendly way that can adapt to emerging technologies were outlined by Andy King, Energy & Waste Section Leader at Morgan Sindall. The subject is very relevant to the construction industry particularly at the design stage which was echoed by those attending, "very relevant" being the most used words!

Andy's presentation can be downloaded from Click here or watch the following: