Executive Hire News › Archives › January/February 2010 › Executive Report : Olympian challenge
Executive Report : Olympian challenge
Nick Johnson reports from the Olympic Park construction site where the provision of two different hire, merchanting and training facilities is proving to be a big bonus on this time and cost critical project.
Hired plant and equipment is playing a vital part in helping to keep the UK’s largest construction project - the £9 billion London 2012 Olympic Park site - on track. A good selection of machines, together with the imposing 80,000 seat main Olympic Stadium, can now be easily seen by the public from a new viewing platform erected beside The Greenway public footpath close to Pudding Mill Lane station on the Docklands Light railway (DLR). Called the View Tube, the platform is made from recycled steel shipping containers, painted bright lime green.
Whilst the View Tube provides a good vantage point from which to monitor site progress, it does not reveal one particularly interesting aspect, namely the provision of on-site hire facilities specially authorised by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) - the public body responsible for developing and building the new venues for the Games. Having a hire facility run by a major plant hire company on a large construction site is not a new idea. However, what is most innovative is that there are two competing hire facilities, each run by a different consortium of prominent companies.
Thorough pre-qualification
Ray Payne, Head of Construction Strategy and Logistics at the ODA, says that two consortia were chosen due to the large (600 hectare) construction area that had to be covered, and the need to provide contractors with choice. The provision of on-site facilities also helps strengthen security and reduce CO2 emissions, as hire requirements can be met from readily available stock and consolidated deliveries through the correct supply channels from nearby logistics centres. Having recognised such benefits, the ODA held an Industry Day in July 2008 to explain its vision to interested parties. There was a lot of interest in the pre-qualification process, and official Invitations to Tender were issued the following December. In selecting the companies to run the on-site centres, the ODA evaluated their professional capability, their ability to provide not only the hire and sales of plant, equipment and consumables, but also training, and their potential contribution to the Games legacy. The two chosen providers are Construction Site Solutions (CSS) and Hire Alliance which have, respectively, established facilities in the north and south of the Olympic Park. Both facilities opened for business on 17 September last year and I visited them recently.
My first port of call was the CSS facility, constructed in a prime position close to the International Broadcast Centre site and the rapidly rising residential blocks of the vast Olympic Village. CSS is an LLP (Limited Liability Partnership) formed by BSS, Hewden, Lavendon and Speedy, each having an equal 25% share in the enterprise. The facility is managed by Paul Shepherd, who has been seconded from Speedy. He states that the operation is organised with an inter-party trading agreement, clarifying which member has first option as the primary supplier to provide each specific item. This is said to avoid confusion for customers who, once inside, are greeted by one long trade counter arranged with adjacent named sections manned by the four consortium members.
The centre has a well-stocked sales area with a vast array of consumables, including PPE (personal protective equipment). It aims to supply the full spectrum of site items, down to coffee and toilet rolls. An important aspect is the ability to undertake training in the safe and efficient use of products, and the facility has three training rooms - the largest accommodating up to 18 people. Simon Atherton, Speedy’s Olympic Commercial Director, says CSS is equipped to provide “total training solutions” for its customers in the Olympic Park. It offers over 200 courses including basic training for the Construction Plant Competence Scheme (CPCS), toolbox talks, and training in general Health & Safety, work at height and professional development.
CSS has invested approximately £1.2m in the facility, which includes environmentally friendly modular buildings. Simon Atherton proudly reports that the complex features rainwater harvesting, and photovoltaic cells that augment its electrical power supply. It includes covered workshop/storage areas for individual consortium members. When I visited, the Hewden area had several Thwaites site dumpers ready for immediate dispatch, whilst Lavendon’s section contained small scissor lifts and booms. Paul Shepherd says the facility is operating extremely well. Simon Atherton reports that the initial CSS business has been in line with expectations for 2009 and he looks forward to what should be a very busy period over the next two years or so.
“Joint collaborative approach”
The Hire Alliance facility, in the south side of the Park, is organised somewhat differently. It brings together A-Plant and HSS with Aggreko, Greenshields JCB, Hilti, JLG, Screwfix and SGB in what is described as “a joint collaborative approach”. The aim is to enable contractors to benefit from “a true competitive choice of supply” from a “shopping centre hire, supply and service facility”, formed from an alliance of suppliers, builders’ merchants and hire companies. A-Plant is the lead partner of the Hire Alliance, whose Board is chaired by Geoff Drabble, Chief Executive of Ashtead Group plc.
A-Plant, HSS and Screwfix each have a trade counter within this facility, with the five supporting companies providing back-up to the Alliance and contractors on-site to supply specialist products, knowledge, service support and training. Each Alliance member shares the storage, workshops and machine wash-down areas. HSS Marketing Director, Fiona Perrin, describes it as “a great example of good cooperation”.
The Hire Alliance facility is managed by Nick Hadley, seconded from HSS Hire. He says A-Plant and HSS (whose plant and access hire fleet in the London area has recently been augmented by machines from Group company, Laois Hire in Ireland) can compete to provide customers with “a marketplace for hire”. There is a dedicated A-Plant Olympic Field Sales team and activity levels at the A-Plant depot within the Hire Alliance facility are such that operational staffing levels have already been increased by 30%. Trading indicates that, at any one point, equipment valued at over £6.2m is typically on hire from the A-Plant depot within the complex. A-Plant’s Chief Executive Officer, Sat Dhaiwal says, “Having the right equipment, in the right place at the right time is critical for contractors working on the Olympic Park. By having a one acre storage facility on-site, we can deliver equipment within only one hour of the order being placed.”
The provision of training is again important. A large proportion of the two-storey Hire Alliance facility can be used for this, with up to seven rooms catering for as many as 160 delegates a day. This consortium offers a wide range of Health & Safety courses including work at height and manual handling training.
Contributing to the Games’ legacy
In choosing the two consortia, the ODA stipulated that they have to contribute to the Games’ legacy. This is being done through people development, a commitment to taking on 50-100 new apprentices, the provision of one-week work placements for the unemployed,
a local schools placement scheme, and the provision of on-going careers after 2012. A-Plant says it is working alongside the ODA to recruit additional staff from the five Host Boroughs, and adds that its plant maintenance apprentices are playing a key role, with on-the-job training visits to the facility being made fortnightly.
These on-site hire facilities seem to have got off to a good start. Given the logistics and security requirements of the Olympic Park, they should reduce traffic flows, maintain tight security, and ensure a rapid, reactive response for the many contractors now working on the project. The ODA is to be congratulated for its initiative, which will help the UK hire industry play its part to ensure that the infrastructure for the Games is delivered on time in the most cost-effective manner. • |
