Construction Manager of the Year

Rod Nutbourne, Project Manager for the Building Division – South, recently received a silver medal at the Construction Manager of the Year Awards in the category of New Build and Refurbishment £10-£15m. Rod was nominated for the award by The Tank Museum at Bovington, a £10.4 million project which included the design and construction of a new 5000m² display hall and control tower.

Rod was praised for his handling of the project from start to finish: “Right from the start Rod worked hard to keep the client relationship as effective as possible. His tender proposal was the only one willing to compromise the convenience of the site operation to allow the venue to remain open during the works.

And he was the only tendering project manager to undertake a proper ground survey to quantify the risk. His appreciation of the non-profit-making client’s need for its contractor to buy out the risk was the sort of insight that so thoroughly impressed the client during the whole project.

Rod was clearly in charge from the off, willing to shoulder the responsibility for delivering the contract. He personally supervised the overnight concrete pours, and postponed his own holiday at a key moment.

He proved resourceful and determined when events did not go to plan. Faced with a delay to the structural steel package, he identified the key elements and negotiated with the following trades to mitigate the programme loss. When design information flowed too slowly, he held joint workshops with the architects so his team could elicit and understand the key design principles.

He took it on himself to understand the design vision and implement it. It was a stance that, helped by his keen eye for detail and considered technical understanding, stood the project in excellent stead.”

Rod was presented with his medal by TV presenter Natasha Kaplinsky.

Published: 11/11/2009