Published by Blakes for more
than a quarter of a century
than a quarter of a century
Gardiner & Theobald
HOUSING AND URBAN REGENERATION
Gardiner & Theobald, international project and cost managers, provide comprehensive construction and property industry consultancy services for all aspects of housing and urban regeneration from student bed-sits to reinstating Windsor Castle after the fire in 1997. More frequently, Gardiner & Theobald plays a major role in ensuring the success of mixed schemes of housing, offices, shopping, entertainment and recreational buildings funded jointly by the public and private sectors.
Vanguard of change
Gardiner & Theobald have been working with English Partnerships from the initial stages of reclaiming the Greenwich Peninsula from the contamination of the former gas works site to the monitoring of the construction of Greenwich Millennium Village. Master-planning work started with site remediation - creating roads, river works and establishing an ecology park; it continues as we ensure that construction of the private and affordable housing meets the ambitious environmentally sustainable targets agreed for this first Millennium scheme.
The Peabody Trust's BedZED has been heralded as one of the UK's most environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, mix of housing and workspace. It has turned a disused sewage works into an affordable, attractive and viable example of sustainable living. It incorporates the latest thinking on sustainability and energy conservation. The development is almost entirely carbon-neutral, as all the site's energy and heating requirements are provided by a wood-chip-burning heat and power plant supplemented by photovoltaic 'solar' cells mounted within the glazing. Gardiner & Theobald provided cost-management, construction management and planning supervision on the project as well as facilities management and tax advice to the Peabody Trust.
As project managers, Gardiner & Theobald are implementing procurement processes that encompass many of the ideals springing from Sir John Egan's report, 'Rethinking Construction'. This has been well illustrated by the Merton (Care Homes) Renewal Programme, where all involved were contractually committed to principles of partnering and continuous improvement and the end result has been five care homes built in three years rather than the five years allowed in the contract. All have commented on the pleasure they had from working so successfully.
Constraining costs
Keen cost-management is essential in complex urban regeneration and this was particularly the case for London's new International Exhibition Centre in Docklands, ExCel. Not only is there over one-and-a-half-million square feet of exhibition space, but a conference centre, a trade mart, an hotel, 150 apartments, shops, bars and restaurants.
In Glasgow similar skills are working to ensure the success of the Glasgow Harbour project, which is witnessing the demolition of the Meadowside Granary building - one of the largest demolitions in the city - to create a 120-acre mixed-use site for residential, retail, leisure and offices.
Gardiner & Theobald's cost-management ensures that costs are contained by using a cost-control model based on their in-house designed 'traffic light' system. Ideas and actions that will increase cost face a 'red light' preventing implementation until fully investigated and approved by the client. Investigations include a review of all relevant processes and products to see if the desired result could be achieved by more cost-effective means. The aim is to ensure contractors finish work on time or earlier, and on or below budget.
Bringing new life
Gardiner & Theobald cost-management expertise has assisted the success of many complex projects, for example in Newcastle where work to create the International Centre for Life began with the removal of a burial ground! The regeneration includes a bio-science centre for small- to medium-sized biotechnology companies, a genetics institute for scientists undertaking human genetic research, a visitor-centre attraction for exploring life on earth and a shopping complex.
Research, development and implementation
When Gardiner & Theobald seek ways to improve practice they share this throughout the construction industry by their wide involvement in all aspects of UK construction and because of their involvement with funded research projects.
Working for the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) and funded by its core funding and with additional funds from the Highways Agency, Defence Estates, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Department of Trade and Industry, Gardiner & Theobald have developed an industry-standard toolkit 'Integrating Value & Risk in Construction'. The toolkit draws on leading-edge experience from across the industry and includes Gardiner & Theobald's clients, such as the director of a major port who attended a workshop with the aim of making a brief presentation of the business case for regeneration and then leaving. However, he found the ensuing facilitation so beneficial that he cancelled his appointments for the rest of the day to become an active team member, helping to find the right business solution.
Another project, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, draws on the US Army's 'After Action Reviews and MIT Learning Histories' to create an easy-to-use 'Learning from Experience Toolkit' which is being used across UK construction to ensure knowledge passes from project to project, thereby creating a climate of constant improvement. This works particularly well in projects such as housing development, where teams can easily take learning from one project to another if they have the methodology to assist them.
Use our public-sector framework
Public-sector clients can employ Gardiner & Theobald to provide a comprehensive range of technical assurance and client-advisory services dealing with current and future construction, project management, facilities management, estates and property arrangements via an Office of Government Commerce, OGCbuying.solutions, or a framework contract that has already been procured through the OJEU process. Current projects include developing a methodology to measure value-for-money gains and another to assist in the implementation of best-practice integrated and outsourced facilities management. The contract can be used to gain advice for housing, regeneration and other market sectors.
Details of the OGCbuying.solutions Framework Agreement are available from Tim Ainger at Gardiner & Theobald (t.ainger@gardiner.com).
Vanguard of change
Gardiner & Theobald have been working with English Partnerships from the initial stages of reclaiming the Greenwich Peninsula from the contamination of the former gas works site to the monitoring of the construction of Greenwich Millennium Village. Master-planning work started with site remediation - creating roads, river works and establishing an ecology park; it continues as we ensure that construction of the private and affordable housing meets the ambitious environmentally sustainable targets agreed for this first Millennium scheme.
The Peabody Trust's BedZED has been heralded as one of the UK's most environmentally friendly, energy-efficient, mix of housing and workspace. It has turned a disused sewage works into an affordable, attractive and viable example of sustainable living. It incorporates the latest thinking on sustainability and energy conservation. The development is almost entirely carbon-neutral, as all the site's energy and heating requirements are provided by a wood-chip-burning heat and power plant supplemented by photovoltaic 'solar' cells mounted within the glazing. Gardiner & Theobald provided cost-management, construction management and planning supervision on the project as well as facilities management and tax advice to the Peabody Trust.
As project managers, Gardiner & Theobald are implementing procurement processes that encompass many of the ideals springing from Sir John Egan's report, 'Rethinking Construction'. This has been well illustrated by the Merton (Care Homes) Renewal Programme, where all involved were contractually committed to principles of partnering and continuous improvement and the end result has been five care homes built in three years rather than the five years allowed in the contract. All have commented on the pleasure they had from working so successfully.
Constraining costs
Keen cost-management is essential in complex urban regeneration and this was particularly the case for London's new International Exhibition Centre in Docklands, ExCel. Not only is there over one-and-a-half-million square feet of exhibition space, but a conference centre, a trade mart, an hotel, 150 apartments, shops, bars and restaurants.
In Glasgow similar skills are working to ensure the success of the Glasgow Harbour project, which is witnessing the demolition of the Meadowside Granary building - one of the largest demolitions in the city - to create a 120-acre mixed-use site for residential, retail, leisure and offices.
Gardiner & Theobald's cost-management ensures that costs are contained by using a cost-control model based on their in-house designed 'traffic light' system. Ideas and actions that will increase cost face a 'red light' preventing implementation until fully investigated and approved by the client. Investigations include a review of all relevant processes and products to see if the desired result could be achieved by more cost-effective means. The aim is to ensure contractors finish work on time or earlier, and on or below budget.
Bringing new life
Gardiner & Theobald cost-management expertise has assisted the success of many complex projects, for example in Newcastle where work to create the International Centre for Life began with the removal of a burial ground! The regeneration includes a bio-science centre for small- to medium-sized biotechnology companies, a genetics institute for scientists undertaking human genetic research, a visitor-centre attraction for exploring life on earth and a shopping complex.
Research, development and implementation
When Gardiner & Theobald seek ways to improve practice they share this throughout the construction industry by their wide involvement in all aspects of UK construction and because of their involvement with funded research projects.
Working for the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) and funded by its core funding and with additional funds from the Highways Agency, Defence Estates, the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Department of Trade and Industry, Gardiner & Theobald have developed an industry-standard toolkit 'Integrating Value & Risk in Construction'. The toolkit draws on leading-edge experience from across the industry and includes Gardiner & Theobald's clients, such as the director of a major port who attended a workshop with the aim of making a brief presentation of the business case for regeneration and then leaving. However, he found the ensuing facilitation so beneficial that he cancelled his appointments for the rest of the day to become an active team member, helping to find the right business solution.
Another project, funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, draws on the US Army's 'After Action Reviews and MIT Learning Histories' to create an easy-to-use 'Learning from Experience Toolkit' which is being used across UK construction to ensure knowledge passes from project to project, thereby creating a climate of constant improvement. This works particularly well in projects such as housing development, where teams can easily take learning from one project to another if they have the methodology to assist them.
Use our public-sector framework
Public-sector clients can employ Gardiner & Theobald to provide a comprehensive range of technical assurance and client-advisory services dealing with current and future construction, project management, facilities management, estates and property arrangements via an Office of Government Commerce, OGCbuying.solutions, or a framework contract that has already been procured through the OJEU process. Current projects include developing a methodology to measure value-for-money gains and another to assist in the implementation of best-practice integrated and outsourced facilities management. The contract can be used to gain advice for housing, regeneration and other market sectors.
Details of the OGCbuying.solutions Framework Agreement are available from Tim Ainger at Gardiner & Theobald (t.ainger@gardiner.com).
Supplied by Gardiner & Theobald LLP
Copyright © 2006 Blake.