Captains of the sky

Five months into his new position as BAA group construction direction, Richard Petrie has set himself key areas to work on.

Having taken over from Andrew Wolstenholme - who is now responsible for all aspects of construction at Terminal 5 - Petrie was appointed last November and has spent the past few months examining how the concept of best value is positioned in the group.

"I think the industry needs to understand that we have to move pretty quick in making sure we get more for our construction pound," says Petrie. "We have a £450m capital investment spend on construction each year. Contractors will now face tighter commercial control to drive better value."

The key areas Petrie is keen to focus on are productivity, quality and costs. He plans to monitor them through a hands-on approach as he sets the goal posts for his five-year rolling construction programme for the airports group.

Although he keeps his in-house targets close to his chest, Petrie explains that contractors face "substantial but achievable" milestones in the coming year.

"One of my responsibilities will be to closely monitor projects to make sure they are running in line with key control documents and to spot any cost variations that will reduce value to the group," he says.

Petrie adds that closer scrutiny will reveal discrepancies in projects earlier than previous systems and results will be reviewed in monthly team meetings.

So what targets should contractors be looking to achieve?

"With productivity we would like to see a 10% to 20% improvement over the next year. We want suppliers to provide more detail in planning for a project," he explains.

"We want to know what resources will be available when the project comes online. Will they be ready to start work? We want to know about contractors' cash flow. Are they constantly checking themselves against their stated expectations? In the past there hasn't been enough of this, so it was hard to monitor the value of a project."

But the construction director is quick to point out that, after recent feedback from contractors, BAA is looking to refine its benchmarks to prevent target overkill.

According to Petrie, interfacing between different project teams will also be improved over the coming year.

While new security requirements will put additional pressures on contractors, these pressures should be alleviated by asking them to plan further ahead.

"This gives us more opportunity to pre-plan projects with contractors," says Petrie. "We also want to try and increase the productivity of the work we do at night. This way we can gain hours and improve efficiency."

Petrie points out that BAA is increasingly conscious of putting too much strain on contractors. "At the moment work is steady, although with T5 and a demanding construction requirements for the rest of the group, we don't want to put additional pressures on contractors in the future," he says.

"We don't want artificial peaks and troughs in work that will make it hard for the industry to secure resources."

Petrie hints that this problem might be alleviated by inviting back previous unsuccessful framework contractors to help out, although he stresses that original contract agreements will remain firmly in place.

In terms of cost and quality, Petrie points out that models are being drawn up by in-house teams and will be introduced to suppliers soon.

"It's hard to put targets on cost and quality improvements and sometimes they can disconnect from what you are trying to achieve," he adds.

"However, Amec's Pavement Team has been a pioneer in driving down costs as its work is consistent and easier to measure over time."

This learning curve will be integrated into the cost model and will be fast-tracked into teams dealing with priority projects - determined by mapping a passenger's journey - such as pier segregation, where departure and arrivals piers will now be segregated for security reasons.

In terms of quality, Petrie explains that the group is creating a model based on surveys carried out with customers. "We want much improved quality of projects and this will hopefully become one of the main drivers for contractors. It will be something they can take pride in," he says.

"We want the team to look at specification issues and how to improve their interfacing. One example is with handing over a project to a maintenance team. This will now include all the relevant information on the structure, which is often neglected."

Results will also be fed to BAA's on-line project collaboration partner Asite to produce photographs and images to outline the desired specification and output requirements that BAA expects of its team.

"This is a perfect opportunity for contractors to say they have actually put Rethinking Construction principles into action," says Petrie.

"How many in the construction industry can say that? Making these changes will mean contractors can see the changes rather than relying on demonstration projects. The changes will be tough, but those on board could be the new captains of the sky." n