This months “In Focus” section looks at the 8 Bishopsgate project for Lindner Prater. We spoke to Grant Harrison (Construction Manager) to see how the project was going and to understand his journey with Lindner so far.
Grant, thank you for showing me around the site. How long have you worked for Lindner and how did you start with the business?
How long have you worked have you worked for Lindner and how did you start for the business?
I started in November 2016 in the Production team as a Production Planner supporting Crowborough and Thurrock and I was involved in a number of projects, my first project was the Alliance Manchester Business School and then I supported the team with the delivery of Manchester goods yard, Manchester airport, London City Airport. I worked in the production team for around 3 and a half years before being given the opportunity to progress into the core planning team. I gained some experience in the planning department before being given the opportunity to move into a construction management role with the roofing team. Whilst working in the operations team I started at Soho place, Energy for waste (Slough) and most recently I am the Construction Manager at 8 Bishopsgate.
What has been your proudest moment so far during your career with Lindner Prater?
I would say the improvement we saw at Thurrock. There was a big change at Thurrock with the introduction of new leadership and team members, we got the production unit to deliver a number of our objectives and worked on improving communication to plan projects more effectively and over time we saw a large improvement in the overall production process which I take great pride in.
I am also proud of the work that we did at Soho, we were behind programme initially but after a lot of hard work we managed to make a good margin, finishes were really nice and it was my first project working in the capacity of construction management. So all around, pretty proud of that one!
What do you enjoy most about working in the Construction industry?
I would say it is never boring as no two days are the same, it is very fast paced, although there can be a lot of stress the end product and the reward is more than worth it. Working in construction you get to work with a number of people from different backgrounds with different experiences and you are always learning something new every day.
What is the scope of 8 Bishopsgate?
We have 10 roof areas that we are working on delivering both inverted roofs and blue roofs with a mixture of finishes including granite paving, concrete paving and cobble finishes. The value is circa £2,200,000.
How is the project going?
So far so good, we have completed one terrace and we are about 50% through the second. We had a period of being off site due to delay in handovers. However, we have just been given a revised set of dates that we are now working towards, so it should ramp up very soon.
What has been your biggest challenge on the project?
Logistics have been incredibly challenging, it has proved to be quite difficult to get materials to the roof as we are battling for crane time with the other trades and with limited storage areas we are having to breakdown orders with our suppliers with the majority of our materials needing to be put into cages using the gantry crane, which is normally very busy and you are again fighting for time on the crane. So this has resulted in the need to plan effectively to ensure we get the materials up when we need them. What has been a big achievement/key success on the project so far?
Handing over our first area which was level nine, so hitting our first milestone and the finish looked great. We are making good progress on the other levels so we are looking to hit our sectional hand over dates, we are working closely with our client Lendlease to be flexible and to deliver a milestone project in a collaborative manner.