WHEN Stockton Council took the decision to refurbish the iconic Billingham Forum, an appraisal highlighted that delivering a successful project required collaborative working.
Opened in 1967 and described by Pevsner as the ‘grandfather of leisure centres’, the Forum is a complex structure housing a theatre, an ice rink and a swimming pool, and other services.
To reinforce the ethos of collaborative working the council decided to integrate the design team with the contractor during the design stage through the use of Early Contractor Involvement.
The ECI process helped to build relationships and enabled the contractor to be involved at a much earlier stage in the project than would traditionally be the case.
It also enabled the contractor to work closely with the design team, client and end users to develop the project in sufficient detail to ensure that risks were identified and mitigated and to enable a robust final cost plan to be produced through the sub-contractor supply chain.
Collaborative working came into its own when asbestos overspray was located in the wall cavity to all the walls that formed the main internal plant room.
Demolishing and replacing the wall would have meant taking it down in fully controlled conditions with each block being bagged individually and transported off site as contaminated waste. This option was costed at £450,000.
A collaborative value engineering exercise involving the client and the whole project team was undertaken to find an alternative solution.
This involved a major redesign and the encapsulation of all exposed cavities leading to a saving of £300,000 over the original option.
Throughout the project, the team encouraged an ethos of user and stakeholder inclusion. Consultations with stakeholders took place throughout the project. An interactive website was also set up to encourage comments from all parties.
This has provided ongoing information on progress and continues to invite comment and ideas to enhance the experience for Forum users.
According to the client: “Working on the Forum has proven to be quite a challenge.
“The problems associated with the building were so prevalent and unexpected that it took a project team with a true trusting, non-confrontational relationship to be able to pull it off. Stockton Borough Council and Morgan Sindall created such a relationship with its project team.
“Decisions and agreements were made in such a collaborative way that at times it was difficult to see if there was indeed a contractor-client split.”
SPONSOR: Fabrick Housing Group
WINNING PROJECT: Billingham Forum
CLIENT: Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
ARCHITECT: Devereux Architects
CONSTRUCTION: Morgan Sindall
OTHERS: BGP Structural Engineers, White Young Green
