Raptor cranes at 2 Finsbury Avenue
10 Jan 2025Raptor cranes enhance productivity at 2 Finsbury Avenue, British Land’s iconic dual-tower project redefining Broadgate’s skyline.
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they are the leaders and they are the
people most most able to influence that
situation and by the the quality of
contract of subcontractors that they
take on board and as you know there's a
lot of work been done at the moment in
relation to redefining competences for
all the different skills and trades that
make up the industry
um increasingly that again has to be
something which is has to be
demonstrated before people come on site
so I think the focus on the quality of
training that people have the
qualifications they have within their
trades and the fact that they
demonstrate evidence of that before they
come on site should all become part of
the regime of of contractors and
understood large contractors who
primarily are in that role unfortunately
the way that we procure in this country
so much is driven by trying to get the
lowest cost that that drives the the
whole quality issue down the other
factor which I feel is most significant
in that aspect is the of supervision on
site by trade foreman and people who
actually understand the trades that are
working there and again the level of
supervisory staff put to a site will
increase the cost and when people are
getting purely on cost that's another
area which is squeezed out one of my
recommendations has been out instead of
supervisory staff been included as the
general element within the preliminaries
of those quantities but they should be
specifically identified as to the
allocation that contractors are making
in relation to specific advisory staff
on site and that's before the
independent inspection that's the
supervision by the contractors and the
contractors team themselves
well that's a very very general term
isn't it doing doing the right thing
um I think doing it right first time is
is absolutely the way that should be
focused in that first of all you know
what you're doing
um I'll step back to the confidence
science secondly it's fully designed
that you know what it is you're been
required to do
um and quite often a lot of design is
done without the property developed
design an increasingly designed teams
are doing less design again generally by
a push-up on fees a lot more is being
transferred down the line to
subcontractors so with that integration
of design and making sure that the
design is properly developed and
particularly the interfaces between the
different elements and because the we
can't work as silos unfortunately that's
what happens to awkwards so um and it's
it's knowing what you have to do knowing
you have the confidence to do it and
having a culture of making sure there's
right and only making only doing it
right and uh not trying to get away with
something less than that and that again
brings you back to the the culture of
the organization and to be fair and SRM
or have identified always as a company
which does focus on that quality and
your common uh management system is
certainly an indication of that
commitment by SRM and however we need to
make sure that that gets right down to
the individual
operatives on site and I think that's a
problem that increasingly tier one
contractors have less and less technical
people on their team on a much separated
from the actual practical idea of
finger break and talk another or a piece
of reinforcement and
whatever so we need to make sure that
that's
connectivity Right Down the Line brings
all the elements together and that's the
quality that the same for the top
actually does get transmitted all the
way down to the guy at the bottom and
that means change right across the
industry and terms of the way we
currently do things we have to bring
teachers in place and back to this word
of evidence demonstrating evidence
that's compliant and not just tick bug
evidence because unfortunately a lot of
the quality share systems in the past
haven't worked properly they've just
been ticked and said it's hard happened
even though there was no proper
inspection we have to have digitally
recorded inspections I have all the key
elements in buildings and put that
together and so that you have that
record which which people are talking
about now as being an absolute key to to
Future users of the buildings as well as
to give not assurance that the building
is safe and properly built
first of all the fact that they they
approached me to ask me to look at the
Quality as some as a course or even a
self an indication of that desire to to
constantly review and seek continuous
improvements
um and I think at the point that I did
this I think it was in March or maybe
sometime earlier this year I think I did
that review for you and um
even at that time I know that there was
a major ongoing review of the common
management system and I also was was
um was was very encouraged by the the
the the enthusiasm demonstrated by the
individuals and it was quite clear that
it wasn't just a box ticking quality
assurance approach they were very
serious about about the intent so that
that was hugely positive I think that
the negative side was how that fits into
the wider uh construction industry where
you don't have the same control and uh
obviously there was a again of you about
building up expertise within the trade
so she could have that better
supervisory role in relation to
subcontractors and also you're picking
up subcontractors
um I I I think that that demonstrated
you know how important you feel it is
and also your Aftercare service was
something which was impressed with but
um yeah I I got a a very positive um
feel about it I don't think anyone is
there yet and I think that that
issue of getting down to the actual
workers on site and making sure that the
supervisors staff are are probably a
portion of resource
um untrained
which I think is a weakness throughout
the industry
um but there was every inclination in
what you did and what you said I think
there may be a risk in a very large
um documents like this EMS that you have
that it can be difficult to be
accessible to that General uh to a a
Workman coming on site to understand how
you've assemble that so familiarity and
continuity of working in the longer term
Frameworks uh which I know is one of
your your approaches in SRM is is one
way to to improve that so so I I was
generally impressed with SRM they
certainly would be up there towards top
of the tree in terms of the focus on
quality
yeah well I I think the the key word
maybe I've I've used already are first
of all competence
that we need to make sure that people
working on site are competent
two that's a resource properly that
they're not trying to do it in less time
and for less money than it's possible to
do as well
three that they produce evidence to
demonstrate of the Arkham plant and that
becomes standardized
within the industry and for that we all
take pride in what we do you know and uh
it can be a very difficult industry to
work in the conditions can be very harsh
at times making it very difficult people
but um I think that what we achieve we
hand on the infrastructure for
generations to come and we have to make
sure that that is safe and to the
Quality that we would want it to be
um so um I'm hopeful that we're we're
starting to see the light on the that
the culture of the industry as a whole
will will change over time to have that
renewed focus and quality rather than
just get it done as quickly as possible
and get out of here which unfortunately
has been too prevalent in many parts of
the industry and we need to focus on
doing it right doing it right first time
I'm standing back I'm able to be proud
of what we've done and and uh having
said that there are many great people
I've met within the industry it's a very
very good industry in many ways it makes
achieves great things but we don't do it
consistently enough and the risks that
lie there if we get it wrong
unfortunately can end up like with
something like the Granville tragedy we
can't afford to let that happen again
and as an interesting we should stand up
make sure it doesn't
