
Meet the Finalists
2022 | Secondary Schools

Mulberry Tree House Centre, London SE7: construction of two-storey block with residential unit for special needs school, completed in 83 weeks.Â
Client: Department For EducationÂ
Contract: JCT, design and buildÂ
Value: £7.2mÂ

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. Â
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.Â
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. Â
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. Â
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.Â

