About the Project

Marina Centre, Great Yarmouth

Construction of leisure centre, completed in 82 weeks.

Danny Branson’s successful completion of this leisure centre was no foregone conclusion, particularly when the M&E contractor failed 16 weeks from completion.

Right from the start, Danny targeted programme and cost advantage. He took a whopping £6m out of the projected costs by, among other initiatives, using concrete walls and floors and precast landings and stairs, and scaled back unnecessarily high roof parapets. His extensive reuse of crushed demolition materials also lowered the volume of what had to be imported onto the site by 80%.

He introduced building information modelling to detect service clashes and support quality recording and monitoring. And he had a falcon brought in to deter gulls from nesting on the seafront site.

With a serious risk of groundwater flooding the works, Danny made the key call. Once the basement had been sheet-piled, he put in a well to draw water below the dig level away into a temporary soakaway 150 metres off.

After the M&E contractor failed, he ended up splitting the package into a series of mini contracts to finish the works. He constantly walked the site to review progress and resolve difficulties.

His completion on time, within budget and to a high standard prompted a 10/10 satisfaction score from the client and has led to further discussions on future schemes.