Stubley Medical Centre – Project and Commercial Management Services Combined

The Employer and Stakeholders confirm that joined-up project and commercial management provided an excellent mix when delivering this new build construction project.

Brunswick was commissioned to provide project and commercial management for a new Medical Centre with Residential and Retail provision in Dronfield, Derbyshire.

The Employers were two GPs with no previous construction experience who relied on the expertise of Brunswick to deliver a successful project whilst they managed their practice.  

The initial services provided by Brunswick included advising on the project’s viability including cost planning, life cycle assessments and risk analysis. It was later proven that the early risk analysis and subsequent management of risks saved considerable delays and ultimately lead to the timely completion of the project.

Having established the viability of the project, the Employer authorised the project to proceed to the development stage and Brunswick provided procurement advice and expertise in relation to both the appointment of consultants and the main contractor.

Pre-qualification questionnaires for interested tenderers were prepared in tandem with the preparation of the tender documentation. The prequalification stage was carried out swiftly to ensure prompt project commencement and to avoid unnecessarily wasting bidders time and resources. This was appreciated by the bidders who confirmed that a fast track selection process was much preferred and allowed a better allocation of tendering resources.

The shortlisted tenderers were issued with formal tender documents detailing the Employer’s Requirements using the JCT 2005 Design and Build conditions of contract and all tender queries were managed to ensure that time, cost and quality constraints were maintained.

Through the tender interview process Brunswick harnessed the expertise of the contractors to deliver significant ‘value engineering proposals’ and to mitigate further risks that had been identified through the process. The final result of negotiations being a very competitive tender with defined risks properly allocated.

Prior to contract award Brunswick carried out a full project review paying particular attention to ensuring that the Employer’s initial objectives in terms of time, cost and quality were satisfied and that risks had been identified and correctly allocated. Having satisfied the Employer, Brunswick arranged a Pre Order meeting and having received the final assurances from the preferred bidder, awarded the contract on behalf of the Employer.  Meetings were also held with the unsuccessful bidders to provide constructive feedback on their unsuccessful bids.

Brunswick acted as the Employer’s Agent under the contract and also carried out quantity surveying duties. The Employer’s interests were well represented and excellent working relationships were maintained between all parties.

A number of variations inevitably arose and these were properly managed through the contract procedures and through a change management process agreed by all members of the construction team.

Brunswick utilised their planning and programming expertise to effectively monitor progress and to identify potential causes of delay so that proactive measures could be adopted to maintain progress.

The commissioning, testing and hand-over stages were carried out without a hitch due in no small part to the attention given to this aspect in the Employer’s Requirements. Consequently the works were completed, commissioned and handed-over as planned.

Overall the project was delivered very much according to plan, to a high standard and within budget. The Employer and the Stakeholders regard the project as a great success and a prime example of how Medical Centres should be delivered by the construction industry.

BrunswickIS is a part of the Alway Group and has offices across the UK providing the strength and depth of resources to deliver successful projects.