Yeovil Innovation Centre

Yeovil, Somerset

Project Details

Client
South Somerset District Council

Project Manager
NPS South West Limited

Architect
NPS South West Limited

Contractor
Midas Construction Ltd

Value
£1.5m

Contract Period
40 weeks

Procurement Type
Competitive tender – 2 stage

Form of Contract
NEC3 Option A

Size
1,044m²

Project summary

The Yeovil Innovation Centre is an evolving business community designed for small businesses and entrepreneurs that require high quality, low-cost and flexible work spaces with room for growth. Supported by funding from the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership, Midas constructed this two-storey extension for client South Somerset District Council to expand the capacity and update resources at this multi-office facility.Located on Lufton Trading Estate to the east of Yeovil’s town centre, the Innovation Centre provides reception and meeting areas for tenants and entrepreneurs looking for the flexibility of short term leases. This extension offers over 1,000m² office accommodation across two floors. The structure is strip footing foundations supporting a portal steel frame, with a block and beam ground floor and precast first floor and roof, and raised access flooring installed to both floors. It benefits from brise soleil solar shading, with internal plasterboard finish that allows for future reconfiguration of the ground floor to meet the changing needs of tenants. Midas’ works included a lift, shell and core finish to the first floor, a single ply roof and landscaping. The project received a score of 96% in the customer satisfaction survey at practical completion.

“The perfect location to nurture and grow your business.”

Yeovil Innovation Centre

Community Engagement

Career Development

8 Apprentices through the project

Key Challenges

Meeting the client’s design expectations within their budget

Budget: Early in the programme Midas’ market intelligence and cost benchmarking works identified a challenge, with the client’s design requirements exceeding their budget allowance. Midas’ commercial team worked closely with the client’s designers and our supply chain partners to deliver £550,000 of value engineering – including changing the structural frame, amending the window and natural ventilation configuration, amending hollow clay pot and lintel solution, and rationalising roof and gutter design – to make the project viable whilst achieving the client’s vision.

The Innovation Centre remained open and occupied throughout the works

Occupied building: Prior to commencement, Midas established a secure construction site perimeter to segregate live works from the Centre, and erected full perimeter Heras fencing with solid hoarding to the front elevation and post and rail fencing to pedestrian routes. Midas liaised with the client in advance of works and completed noisy works at agreed times. The team implemented acoustic protection measures including forming two baffle bunds from soils excavated on site. The team restricted and segregated noisy works, managed the movement of plant, and situated cement mixers on the opposite side of the site from neighbours. The team held regular consultation meetings to update neighbours on the project; allowing one to one discussions and providing advance notice of noisy works to Centre staff. The team monitored noise, dust and vibration levels through the works and across the site. Contractors completed cutting works in designated areas and made sparing use of damping down to manage dust whilst restricting the site’s water use.

The project involved connection of the extension to an operational building with live services

Live services: The project included demolition works to form a link opening to the existing structure, and service and utilities connections between the original building and the extension. Midas engaged early with the Centre’s management team and planned works in consultation with them. Thanks to the good relations with the client, the site team developed a mutually agreed programme. This ensured Midas could complete demolition, connection and security works during daylight hours, allowing time to address any potential issues. Midas installed a lockable partition early in the programme to segregate works and mitigate disturbance from noise or dust. The team then installed temporary works prior to commencing demolition to support the structural integrity of the façade whilst forming the structural opening. Midas brought new services to the edge of the extension and existing services to the connection point in the original building, before completing service connections overnight. This simplified the connection process, ensured services were not in use during works and prevented disturbance of the Centre staff.

Project Takeaways

Our Success

The client requested several changes near the end of the project. Midas collaborated with them, the consultants and representatives from the school to adjust the programme to accommodate these works and still complete on the agreed date. Midas liaised frequently with these stakeholders to maintain a positive working relationship and accommodate the client’s requests.
The site team undertook extensive pre-start planning and consultation with NPS South West and the design team. The clients required the project to receive planning permission prior to them completing purchase of the land; Midas liaised with stakeholders at the preconstruction stage to collaboratively support the planning, in line with the philosophy of the SCF Framework, developing the design to maximise efficiency within the budget through an integrated team. Midas developed the cost plan and risk register with the client team to ensure a collaborative approach.
Midas invited representatives from the school to attend regular site meetings, keeping them informed on the progress of works. The team completed a sample room early in the programme, to use as a quality standard for subcontractors, to allow the client and end users to view the planned final standard and décor of the rooms

Our Learnings

The site experienced severe inclement weather during the winter and spring of 2017/18. To accommodate this, Midas liaised with the client and the school as a team to agree a solution. Midas completed works to the sports pitch, play area and gazebo at the end of the project during the school summer holidays, an adjustment that suited the school and enabled works to progress whilst mitigating the impact of the weather on the programme.

Value Added

Midas delivered over £90k (3.7%) of savings to the client by project completion Gateway 4, with a combination of best practice and added value reviews including: saving £15k through programme mitigation; and saving £56k through early contribution to the risk register and managing potential issues.
The project worked to the Employment Skills Plan, providing seven work placements for persons aged 16 or over; supported seven curriculum activities; advertised four jobs through local employment vehicles; supported three NVQ starters through subcontractors; completed seven training plans for subcontractors and supervisor training for one subcontractor; and provided advanced health and safety training for 21 subcontractors. The site provided four of the work experience placements through the ‘Step In Step Up’ careers campaign and subsequently made an offer of employment, with the candidate accepting a job with the site team.
The site employed 100% SMEs, with 61% of firms based within 30 miles of the project

KPI’s & Statistics

Contract	Gateway 2 Planning	Gateway 3 Contract Agreement	Variation
Cost	£2,238,653	£2,420,067	-£40,300 (8.1%)
Time	37 weeks	37 weeks	0 weeks

KPI Graphs

Apprentices 3
Average AIR 0
Average CCS score 41
Waste diverted from landfill 41%
Cost/m2 £2,793m²
Cost/m2 excl abnormals £1,948m²
Cost/m2 Industry average £ m

Contact:

Email:

Wincanton Primary School

April 2, 2020/in Education: Primary Block, Brick, Council, Industrial, Office, Roads, Steel/by Guy Davies

Wincanton Primary School

Wincanton, Somerset

Project Details

Client
Somerset County Council

Project Manager
Faithful & Gould

Architect
Atkins Ltd

Contractor
Midas Construction Ltd

Value
£3.3m

Contract Period
43 weeks

Procurement Type
Competitive tender – 2 stage

Form of Contract
NEC3 Option A

Size 1,020m²

Apprentices
4

Project Summary

The client commissioned Midas to construct a two-storey, eight classroom teaching facility at a primary school in Wincanton to increase the school’s capacity and meet the growing needs of the community. The school’s ethos is to deliver high standards of education within a supportive and stimulating environment. The bright and colourful design of the new building provides a visually striking building with extensive play facilities.

The project team delivered inclusive activities to engage pupils and the community with the project. Events included hosting a time capsule and beam-signing ceremony; having twice monthly site visits from Wincanton Primary and local schools; and hosting students from the local college. The school invited the Midas team to judge their ‘Best Digger’ competition and Midas donated £150 as prize money to the school raffle. The project also won a CCS Silver 2018 National Site Award.

The finished building features educational, administration and associated spaces. Midas’ works included partial demolition of a shelter, fit out of the finished building and all associated utilities connections. The structure is steel frame with block and beam flooring, precast concrete staircases and a lift. Midas created gardens and a play area, completed soft landscaping and provided car parking facilities.

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“Children will have had individual Learning Experiences throughout the year that will focus on the build and the construction, as well as having opportunities to make time capsules and be part of momentous ceremonies such as ”Ground Breaking” and ”Bolt Tightening” to mark the end of the project. “

Wincanton Primary School

Community Engagement

Career Opportunities

Four apprenticeships provided through the project

Key Challenges

In proximity to a live school site with challenging logistics

The team managed the live educational site through effective collaboration with the school to coordinate the programme of works and schedule external and noisy works around lesson times and exams, timing significant works to occur during school holidays to mitigate disruption. Midas maintained close communication through weekly and ad hoc meetings with the school as required, and detailed restrictions in contractor toolbox talks and during site inductions, with daily monitoring to ensure workers complied with restrictions. The Midas team clearly set out site rules and requirements to all members of the supply chain, confirming site standards and providing recognition and rewards for good performance, and providing copies of the traffic management plan and logistics plan to all operatives. The site scheduled deliveries to avoid busy periods, with no deliveries permitted before 9am and avoiding the end of the school day, and noisy works restricted to the afternoon (3.15pm to 5.00pm) to avoid disturbing lessons.

The school requested additional works late in the programme

To incorporate the request for additional works, Midas liaised with the school to agree a revised programme. The team implemented a countdown programme, completed additional hours and carried out quality checks during the works. The Midas team closely monitored contractors during the final stages of the project to ensure workers maintained safety standards during the busiest phase of the works, and maintained careful coordination of subcontractors. The team completed the total project, including additional works, to a high standard of quality and to programme.

The project included installation of a mains electrical substation

To ensure safe installation of the mains electrical substation, Midas completed a ground penetrating radar survey, identifying routes of new and existing services, before compiling a Risk Schedule/ Register. Midas collaborated with SSE (the services supplier who relocated services and removed redundant cables) ensuring the project benefitted from early risk identification. The team encouraged stakeholder input during regular risk meetings, established “no dig” zones along known service routes to reduce risk, used trial pits and hand excavation and completed groundworks under permits to excavate. The team secured Heras panels around the works, with clear signage, and installed protective barriers within public highways during utility connections. At the start of the programme, the site’s power supply ran from generators (with back-up) before connecting into the new mains following installation of the substation. Following this, Midas worked around live services, identifying and removing redundant services in association with SSE.

Project Takeaways

Our Success

The school is situated halfway around a one-way system, with a bus stop directly outside and residential premises and commercial businesses in proximity. The school remained live during periods of the project, presenting a significant logistical challenge. Midas created a detailed, bespoke traffic management plan to avoid adversely affecting the neighbours and the local industry, and employed a full-time traffic marshal to supervise site access, ensuring site traffic and parking did not block buses or local access, and managing deliveries. The team installed airlock-type inner Heras gates, to allow delivery vehicles to pull off the public highway into a holding area, performed vehicle safety checks on arrival and departure from site, considered vulnerable road users in the logistics plan, and planned delivery routes to reduce left-hand turns in accordance with Construction Logistics and Community Safety (CLOCS) initiative requirements.
The project manager issued weekly ‘Look Ahead’ newsletters for the school, providing details of works completed in the previous week and works planned for the forthcoming week, including warnings regarding potentially noisy works. These regular communications engaged the pupils and local community in the project and contributed to site safety.

Our Learnings

The client’s representative raised a concern regarding the fitting of the rainscreen cladding. To assure them that the cladding had been installed safely and correctly, Midas organised a site inspection with a meeting between the representative and the cladding manufacturer. This inspection confirmed the cladding had been safely and correctly installed.

Value Added

Midas delivered over £164k of savings for the client by practical completion Gateway 4, through a combination of best practice and added value solutions including drawing on specialist contractors to provide £125k of savings through design advice and alternative products.
The site employed 100% SMEs including seven local firms that formed 36.3% of the workforce on the project.
The team held regular site visits for the school pupils, providing updates on the site progress to the children, with weekly ‘Look Ahead’ newsletters and progress photos provided for the school’s website. The site manager organised hand-delivered copies of the monthly newsletter to 50 residences and businesses in the local area, and the site held weekly ‘Through the Fence’ presentations for up to 70 pupils at a time, with Wincanton Primary and other local schools. These presentations included safety awareness and progress updates. Midas made presentations to parents during a school fete; donated £150 as prize money for a school raffle; and judged the school’s ‘Best Digger’ competition

KPI’s & Statistics

Contract	Gateway 2 Planning	Gateway 3 Contract Agreement	Variation
Cost	£3,229,311	£3,250,840	£21,529 (0.7%)
Time	37 weeks	37 weeks	0 weeks

KPI Graphs

Apprentices 4
Average AIR 0
Average CCS score 42
Waste diverted from landfi ll 93.7%
Cost/m2 £2,995m²
Cost/m2 excl abnormals £2,342m²
Cost/m2 Industry average £ m²

Oceansgate

April 18, 2019/in Civic and Community Block, Brick, Council, Industrial, Office, Roads, Steel/by Guy Davies

Oceansgate

Plymouth, Devon

Project Details

Client
Plymouth City Council

Project Manager
AECOM

Architect
Form Design Group

Contractor
Midas Construction Ltd

Value £6.1m

Contract Period
63 weeks

Procurement Type
Competitive tender – 2 stage

Form of Contract
JCT Design & Build 2011

Size 3,000m²

Apprentices
13

Project Summary

Oceansgate is the UK’s first marine enterprise zone, occupying a 35 hectare site on the southern edge of Devonport Dockyard, one of the largest naval dockyards in Europe. Delivering new opportunities and economic regeneration to a deprived area of Plymouth, Oceansgate has transformed derelict land into a site that aims to bring together marine-based businesses to create a world-class hub for industry. The development, designed by local architects, uses a layout and materials that
reflect the area’s naval history.

The project features a three-storey office and two single-storey industrial terraces, arranged in parallel rows and offering nearly 3,000m² of office and industrial space with provision for up to 21 businesses. Completed to a high standard, the finished buildings are steel portal frame with brickwork and blockwork, curtain walling and power floated concrete slabs; they feature fibre connectivity and internal floor layouts that can be subdivided to suit tenant requirements. Externally, Midas completed car parking, access roads and planting to improve the site’s appearance and ecology.

The development has been shortlisted in the ‘Regeneration’ category of the 2019 South West RICS awards and was shortlisted for ‘John Bracey Building of the Year’ in the 2018 The Building Forum Awards.

“Oceansgate occupies a 35 hectare site on the southern edge of Devonport Dockyard, one of the largest naval dockyards in Europe.”

Oceansgate

Community Engagement

Career Opportunities

Thirteen apprenticeships provided through the project

Key Challenges

The project had demanding site conditions, including the discovery of underground wells, basements, oil and asbestos

Prior to commencement of works, Midas reviewed all Ordnance Survey maps of the area and commissioned a ground penetrating radar scan of the site for unexploded ordnance, as Devonport Dockyard was heavily targeted for bombing during World War Two. During excavation works the team discovered several voids including basements, bank vaults and foundations of buildings destroyed during the Blitz. Midas pumped 400 tonnes of Type 1 granular fill compactable material into the holes, solid enough for the 55-tonne crane to sit on, and filled other excavations with concrete. The site fenced off excavations, with a vehicle controller in place to guide operations of plant and excavation machinery, and tested the ground for stability before each stage of the works. The team completed excavations under close, careful management, utilising remote compactors over the arches and basements to avoid risk to operators.

The development had a challenging, innovative design that included a kinetic wall, the first of its kind in the West Country

Midas joined this design and build project at RIBA Stage 2. The innovative design included use of a kinetic wall to reflect light and move with the wind, and random rubble stone cladding to some elevations. Midas constructed the kinetic wall, which is nearly six metres wide and over seven metres high, with 1,786 aluminium shingles affixed to steel wires attached to a full-height screen over the main entrance. It is the first of its kind in the west country and provides a distinctive feature of the development. Midas completed and connected the gable ends of the buildings early in the project, adjusting the programme to mitigate this requirement and completing the gable ends as soon as possible to make the buildings watertight and enable progression of interior works. Internally, the structural grid and division walls were designed to be easily combined to provide larger floor plates to respond to market interest.

The client required achievement of BREEAM Excellent

Midas successfully achieved BREEAM Excellent through provision of bicycle storage; attaining a lower Building Emission Rate than the Target Emission Rate; and installation of one bat box, one bird box and one bee brick on each building. Midas fitted a PV array to the roof of the office, with an estimated annual generation of 19,616.00kWh and a declared net capacity of 20.00kWh. The team also planted verges and trees, improving the site’s ecology, and achieved a 98% recycling figure, with demolition waste sent for reprocessing and reuse.

Project Takeaways

Our Success

Midas liaised with the neighbouring Ministry of Defence (MOD) site in advance of commencing works to coordinate logistics and ensure the site kept MOD access clear at all times. The site employed several gate controllers and traffic managers to ensure safe site access, with radio-linked site management teams.
The site contained multiple underground services, including a gas governor and electrical transformer. During excavation works the site team uncovered more than 130 services, not included on any plans or surveys, including underground external drainage. The team hand dug excavations to expose cables and arranged for the isolation of services, with utilities proved dead before works proceeded. Midas included a service grid system over the site survey, overlaid on a plan of the new buildings.
The project had restricted site access that presented challenging logistics, which had a significant impact on the construction programme. Midas mitigated this by utilising weekend working and employing a high volume of staff, including increasing the number of managers on site.

Our Learnings

Value Added

KPI’s & Statistics

Contract	Gateway 2 Planning	Gateway 3 Contract Agreement	Variation
Cost	£5,809,000	£5,425,000	-£384,000 (-6.6%)
Time	48 weeks	48 weeks	0 weeks

KPI Graphs

KPI Graphs Apprentices 13
Average AIR 0
Average CCS score 40
Waste diverted from landfi ll 98.9%
Cost/m2 £3,837m²
Cost/m2 excl abnormals £3,017m²
Cost/m2 Industry average £ m²

Thorn Turn Highways Depot

August 29, 2018/in Civic and Community Block, Brick, Council, Office, Roads/by Guy Davies

Thorn Turn Highways Depot

Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire

Project Details

Client
Central Bedfordshire Council

Project Manager
Central Bedfordshire Council

Architect
Atkins

Contractor
Morgan Sindall

Value
£18.7million

Contract Period
71 weeks

Procurement Type
Traditional

Form of Contract
JCT 2011 SFC / CDP

Size
2,795 square meters

Apprentices Employed
Two

Project Brief

The project consisted of the construction of a highways and waste disposal depot to service the maintenance requirements across the council’s highways whilst relieving pressure on the existing household waste and recycling centre (HWRC) nearby.

A new modular office was built to accommodate approx. 100 highways staff, a large tension fabric salt barn, a Highways Maintenance Dry store warehouse which enables the ongoing maintenance of fleet vehicles, whilst providing a suitable storage area for high value materials. The building was also fitted out with a small office provision for up to 10 staff. A refuelling area was also provided on the site.

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“I am delighted that this ambitious project continues to progress so positively. We went through a highly competitive exercise to appoint them [Morgan Sindall] and were impressed with their ambitious vision for the new highways depot and household waste recycling centre.”

Marcel Coiffait, Director of Community Services, Central Bedfordshire Council

Community Engagement

Careers

Two apprentices employed through the project

Key Challenges

The initial cost plan from the client was below the proposed project value aspiratise therefore causing issues to the Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC).

At Gateway 2, we presented a very open and honest cost plan to give CBC sight of the initial deficiencies. We then worked closely with CBC on an extensive Value Engineering exercise, resulting in all four main buildings being taken on as CDP’s. By doing so, we were able to deliver the project in line with the Employers Requirements whilst offering considerable savings on the initial design. The VE exercise resulted in a saving of nearly £2m.

Commencing works on site in time to avoid the bird nesting season (March to September), despite the budgetary issues.

We provided accurate forecast figures for the main contract sum, which gave CBC confidence to issue a notice to commence for £3m to undertake initial earthworks ahead of bird nesting season – without this, the project start date would have slipped by six months.

Liaison with Ringway Jacobs for the S278 highways works and the various interfaces between the two project.

Early engagement and involvement with CBC and Ringway Jacobs throughout the design phase of the S278 works enabled the programmes to run concurrently without causing delay to the programme.

Project Takeaways

Our Success

Employment and skills plan targets were exceeded
Full team collaboration from appointment to completion
Early and continued engagement with CBC fostering a good relationship with the client

Our Learnings

Interpretation of the end user requirements has meant that some areas of the site are not being utilised to their full extent, e.g. the vehicle wash bays and the vehicle maintenance store.
The project would have benefited from buildability input from Morgan Sindall during the design stage.

Value Added

KPI’s & Statistics

Contract	Gateway 2 Planning	Gateway 3 Contract Agreement	Gateway 4 Completion
Cost	£24,284,755	£16,952,854	£18,714,980
Time	63 weeks	63 weeks	71 weeks

Value Engineering	Saving
Change construction of Salt Barn	£300,000
Use alternative supply chain partner for Highways Depot	£500,000
Change construction of Maintenance Shed	£450,000

Apprentices: 2

Average AIR: 0

Average CCS score: 46 (out of 50)

Waste diverted from landfill: 99.95%

Contact: Tom Martin, MS Project Manager
Email: Thomas.Martin@morgansindall.com

Archive for: Roads

Tufnell Park Primary School

Islington, London

Project Details

Project Summary

Key Challenges

Yeovil Innovation Centre

Yeovil, Somerset

Project Details

Project summary

“The perfect location to nurture and grow your business.”

Community Engagement

Key Challenges

Project Takeaways

Our Successes

Our Learnings

Value Added

KPI’s & Statistics

Loddiswell Primary School

Loddiswell, Devon

Project Details

Project summary

“Our aim is to provide the best possible learning environment for all of the children in a caring supportive atmosphere.”

Community Engagement

Key Challenges

Project Takeaways

KPI’s & Statistics

Wincanton Primary School

Wincanton, Somerset

Project Details

Project Summary

Community Engagement

Key Challenges

Project Takeaways

KPI’s & Statistics

Oceansgate

Plymouth, Devon

Project Details

Project Summary

“Oceansgate occupies a 35 hectare site on the southern edge of Devonport Dockyard, one of the largest naval dockyards in Europe.”

Community Engagement

Key Challenges

Project Takeaways

KPI’s & Statistics

Thorn Turn Highways Depot

Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire

Project Details

Project Brief

“I am delighted that this ambitious project continues to progress so positively. We went through a highly competitive exercise to appoint them [Morgan Sindall] and were impressed with their ambitious vision for the new highways depot and household waste recycling centre.”

Community Engagement

Key Challenges

Project Takeaways

KPI’s & Statistics