Project Horizon, more commonly referred to as the ‘Island Site Refurbishment’, is the name given to the £90m renovation and refurbishment of 5 separate properties at Norwich Union’s Headquarters.
The Norwich office of Davis Langdon became involved in the project in early 2003, supporting Norwich Union by providing a variety of initial feasibility and budget costings based on the range of potential design scenarios and solutions, which were central in informing and shaping the overall business plan for the project. In addition they were involved in the selection of an outsource partner, Land Securities Trillium, and have been supported by the Cambridge office in providing a team to successfully service both the client, Norwich Union, and the outsource Partner.
The project is located at the centre of Norwich and at the heart of Norwich Union’s business, housing more than three thousand staff. The properties within the scope of the project include Marble Hall; a historic Grade II listed building, as well as the construction of a state of the art atrium linking the buildings.
The combination of linking the old and the new, combined with the scale of the construction work as well as quality of design, has made the project uniquely challenging with dedicated management support required to meet the overall cost, quality, programme and business objectives of the client.
Norwich Union is a prominent employer, both locally and nationally, and the position of the Island Site project is at the epicentre of Norwich. This has ensured that the development has been under constant scrutiny and has required dedicated and proactive management of the daily challenges of logistics, access and general construction activity. In addition it has been important to maintain unhindered business operations during the construction stage.
The project team has successfully and collaboratively worked to overcome these challenges, constantly managing to balance the requirements of the project with the day to day operational requirements of the client.
In considering the scale of the project and the need to meet the overall dynamic objectives of the client and end user, a number of measures were implemented including:
- A logical and straight forward handover procedure at the completion of each phase, allowing incumbent service providers to take over the running of the properties from the contractor
- Implementation of a sophisticated change control process involving all three parties (client, end user and contractor)
- Management of the design approval process and established control mechanisms
- Acting as the conduit for design approvals from Norwich Union and Land Securities Trillium
- Provision of two full time Senior Project managers based full time in Norwich Union’s offices’ to work alongside their contract monitoring team. Their role requires them to track the proposed Land Securities Trillium delivery against the agreed contract basis and specficiations and develop close working relationships with Norwich Union’s internal departments (IT, Communications, Catering and Focus Groups). In addition full strategic cost management advice is provided through a team of three
- A Project and Cost Management team to support Land Securities Trillium, two of whom are largely based on site full time with the LST Team
The drive and attitude of the team has been fundamental to the success of the project, alongside drawing on the skills of additional Project Manager’s for different stages. This has benefited the project by avoiding complacency and lack of enthusiasm, as well as bringing new experience and objectivity to the programme. During the course of the project Davis Langdon has continued to contribute in relation to the management of the construction processes and risks, allowing both the developer and end use to achieve their overall project objectives.
In 2006 Davis Langdon took first place at the Building Magazine awards in the ‘Construction Consultants/Surveyor of the Year’ category, with Project Horizon highlighted as physical evidence of its success.
In parallel to its complexity, the project is unique insofar as Davis Langdon’s multiple roles as Project and Cost Manager for Norwich Union as well as Employer’s Agent and Cost Manager for Land Securities Trillium, the selected outsource Partner. Through embracing these roles the teams have instilled a disciplined approach to the management of a complicated construction project.
