About the Project

Mulberry Tree House Centre, London SE7

The complicated live site for this project held no fears for Ryan McGreevy, who arrived fresh from a similar school scheme.  

On a new block within the existing building footprint, Ryan swerved the access route challenge by replacing the planned mobile cranes with a tower crane. It meant redesigning the new-build’s lift pit to support the tower but it downsized the plant and offloading-time requirement to great effect. 

When the foundation excavation revealed lots of loose shingle, Ryan had the foundations fully re-engineered within weeks. He had the area piled with a CFA kitten rig, installing sheet piles to deal with the risk to the site’s sole access road.  

Identifying shortfalls in the design and procurement allowances, he set about preventing programme loss. He installed the gas-proof membrane above rather than underneath the suspended ground-floor slab. The membrane was joined together under the partition walls in a cost-effective and time-saving solution. And his swapping out the slab finish for a liquid screed gained yet more time.  

Ryan’s value management was exceptional. He greatly reduced the hefty expense of installing new patient hoists for the residential unit. By fitting the existing hoists with custom-made bracketry, he got them working perfectly with a now smaller number of new hoists. The money saved funded a switch from manual track in the bathrooms to an electrically operated turntable.