Staffordshire Wildlife Trust Education Hub | Construction Management

Services:            Construction Management | Architectural Design

Client:                Staffordshire Wildlife Trust

Location:           Rugeley – Stafford

Value:                £400,000

Year:                  2020

Record Associates were engaged by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust to provide project management support to the Trust on a particularly challenging contract they had already entered into for the development of a new pre-fabricated education pod by Pod Living (ceased trading), a sister company of Pod Developments.

The contract was finally terminated in July 2019 for breech of contract and Record Associates were engaged to complete the design and procure a main contractor to complete the works.  However, due to the partially complete nature of the works and working with a unique prefabricated panel building, obtaining good value for money was extremely challenging and the works became increasingly unaffordable despite a range of value engineering which was undertaken to simplify the design.  On the advice of Record Associates, the Trust agreed to undertake the works directly and Record Associates were engaged as Construction Manager to procure the materials and trade packages either on a fixed price or labour only basis and co-ordinate the works.  

The works were completed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic at the end of April 2020 within programme and achieving savings of approximately £80,000 less than the original budget, which has in part been due to charitable donations amounting to approximately £10,000 from Tuffa Tanks (water harvesting tanks), Ideal Standard (for WC’s), Howden’s (for kitchenette’s) and Johnson Tiles (for tiles!), but primarily by procuring the works creatively and managing the risks closeley.

The finished product is undoubtedly better than what would have been procured under the original contract.   

“We’ve worked with Julian on two construction projects, both of which have been a long time in the planning and funding. As a charity we have to allocate resources wisely, and the project and construction management expertise provided by Record Associates has been a solid investment! Having been badly let down by a main contractor on a project Julian was not originally involved in, Julian was engaged to progress the project. Julian’s professionalism, knowledge and tireless dedication has been invaluable – without which we couldn’t have successfully completed our project. Julian is a pleasure to work with, and has provided comprehensive support along the whole development and building process. On behalf of the Trust and our Board I’d like to extend our sincere thanks to Julian and Record Associates and we hope to work with you again in the future” Jo Olivant, Project Sponsor and Head of People and Engagement, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust.

Record Associates is a Shropshire based firm of Chartered Building Surveyors and Construction Project Managers which specialise in providing property and construction expertise within the residential and commercial sectors. If you would like to get in touch about a new development, then please call Julian on the number above.