About the Project

80 Strand, London

Refurbishment of grade II-listed office building, completed in 103 weeks.

In his first construction manager role, David Mills aced a constantly shifting set of challenges in creating a new entrance pavilion and glass lightwell structures as well as refurbishing four floors of category A office space.

The consultant team was unable to finalise the design until the grade II-listed 1930s building was vacant and the strip-out had started, so there was significant discovery and design change throughout the project. Despite the contract notching up an additional £12m of work as a result of the high change count, David accommodated it all without extending the programme until a final batch of extra instructions in the final weeks of the project that took a further month to process.

He constantly resequenced to reduce risk and streamline the programme. In one atrium, rather than installing all the steel first, he had the concrete slabs cast immediately after the first level of steel was in place so that progress could be made on the shower and changing facilities as the rest of the atrium steel went in.

Delighted with the new building – and the awards and glowing press it has attracted – the client has awarded the contractor another project, with David as the construction manager again.