Finnegan takes on last major LSC contract

It's problems have been well documented, but the Learning and Skills Council did fund a few impressive schemes before it went into meltdown. James Stagg went to Sheffield to see where some of the money went.

Fact file

• Project: Sheffield City College
• Main contractor: Finnegen
• Start date: September 2007
• End date: May 2010
• M&E: NG Bailey
• M&E value: £12m
• Steelwork: Hambletons
• Concrete: Northfield Construction
• Cladding: Richmond Cladding

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Though scores of projects have been left in debt and delayed by the funding crisis at the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), there have been some success stories. Many college project mangers must still be smarting, but in Sheffield one is able to reflect on trouble-free financial support and a smooth construction programme.

Alan Biggin is projects manager for The Sheffield College - a federation of three colleges in the city - and is currently overseeing work on Sheffield City College, the first purpose-built vocational college in the region. The landmark building brings together five sites across the city into one impressive centre of learning.

Work has been completed on a children's nursery, while the college's dramatic eight-storey tower is at the fit-out stage. The remaining three-storey block - which will include a catering facility with six commercial kitchens, an aviation academy and a restaurant - is nearing completion.

The Sheffield College secured 62% of the funding for the £60m project through the LSC. "It was a really good bid and we knew because of all the environmental credentials that we were ticking the right boxes," says Biggin. "I think this will be the last college of this scale to be built unless the government re-invests in the LSC or whoever replaces them."

Having worked with the Sheffield College on a similar project at its Hillsborough site, regional contractor J F Finnegan fought off national competition to secure its largest ever job.

Construction manager Tom Charles explains: "We were up against Laing O'Rourke, but we like to think we won because the client went for the non-confrontational known contractor. They trust us as we've got a good name in the area and they knew we could deliver the scheme."

"We proved our credentials at Hillsborough College. That was worth £17m and turned out to be a nice flagship job on an old warehouse site."

It took on the job, let in the form of a JCT contract, with architect Jefferson Sheard - also Sheffield based - and NG Bailey, both of whom had worked with Finnegan at Hillsborough.

Traditional contract

Biggin says the college wanted to go for a traditional form of contract to give it more control of the final outcome. "It's a few per cent more costly but we felt it was worthwhile," he says. "For us it's much better than the PFI model. We don't want head teachers struggling with maintenance issue because the building is built to a price rather than for longevity."

Essentially what Sheffield City College wanted to do was to merge its five satellite sites into one flagship college that would be visible across the city. Standing on a hillside overlooking Sheffield, the dynamic new eight-storey building will feature a curved glass façade protecting a six-storey steel frame cathedral-style atrium and, just to ensure stands out, will also include three 15m wind turbines on its roof.

"You'll be able to see it from across the city. The key thing for the college was visibility and they'll certainly get that," says Charles.

Being a college and funded by government money environmental considerations have been high on the agenda. Accompanying the striking wind turbines will be a full facade of solar photovoltaic panels to provide additional power to the campus, as well as rainwater harvesting. The site will also draw energy from its link to Sheffield Heat and Power, a district heating network which provides a renewable source of energy to offices and council-owned properties across the city.

"It wasn't the sustainable features that were really an issue though," says Charles. "The real challenge was that the students weren't leaving the campus."

This meant Finnegan had to work around 6,000 students and 600 staff. The only way to allow college life to continue while construction proceeded was to split the work into four phases. "The basic principle has been to build a phase, move the students in and demolish the old buildings to make way for the next phase," Charles says.

Phase one - a nursery that also features a small wind turbine - is now complete. That released space for phase two, a three-storey, state of the art catering block the features kitchens comparable to those in a Michelin starred restaurant.

However, this high specification wasn't in the original design, and the extra time required to install the Angelo Po kitchens put extreme pressure on the programme.

"During phase two, the college secured additional funding so instead of the planned home economics block the specification changed to fully-fledged commercial kitchens on a grand scale," Charles adds. "The funding meant an additional £1.2m was put by just for catering equipment. Obviously the head chefs at the college were delighted but for us it meant a major redesign of the ventilation and an extra 20 weeks' work."

The extra work might have triggered an extension of time, but because of the good relationship Finnegan has with the college it was able to agree on starting phase three - the tower - at the same time as phase two.

"The college had to sacrifice some space, which put more stress on the system we had in place to move students in and out, but it worked," Charles says.

Phase three

Finnegan is now getting on with phase three as it was originally planned. Structurally the eight-storey tower block is a concrete structure up to the first floor, including parking at lower ground alongside plant decks, with steel frame on top. At either end, there are two rising stair cores in in-situ concrete which act as stabilising structure. The steel frame will also support the curve of glass curtain walling that will give the college its identity.

To phase this stage of the work and give the college early site access, the block is being built in two halves. Finnegan first erected the one core and two-thirds of the steelwork. When it hit the existing building, it erected a wall of temporary cris-cross bracing to enable cladding and full fit-out. "It just looked like an earthquake had ripped off the side of the building," Charles says.

Now the students have moved into the catering block, the second half of the tower is under construction. This means that while one half is at the final fix M&E stage the other is still being screeded.

The main tower is already taking shape and - once complete - will provide the flagship front of house the college was looking for. Inside the classrooms are simple painted blockwork designed with internal walls that can be moved if the curriculum changes.

"We've accommodated a lot of changes on the job through heads of department wanting different things," Charles explains. "In fact I think that's one of the reasons the college wanted Finnegan, as they know they won't get huge claims when the change floor plates and footprints."

Though there have been some changes to the programme and the design, Finnegan has managed to absorb any alterations and keep the client informed and positive. As we sit overlooking Sheffield in the new refectory, Biggin's pride is palpable as he describes the buy-in of both students and teachers.

"One of the chefs told me he had booked the restaurant for his wedding anniversary," he says. "You may say he's a cheapskate, but the reality is he was desperate to bring his family in to show off. You can't buy that."

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How to keep 6,000 students unphased

With 6,000 students and 600 teachers on site while construction is underway, Finnegan had to come up with an open, available approach while also making sure construction progressed safely and efficiently.

"We've developed a successful formula for making it work. So much so that other contractors working on education schemes have come to have a look at how we're doing it," explains construction manager Tom Charles.

One of the initiatives was to bring in a college liaison officer to create a buffer between the project team and the college's estates team. This left the project manager to get on with the job rather than having to deal with numerous stakeholders.

Dave Cyphus attends weekly meetings with the college to update them with the programme, phasing plan, fire strategy and deal with any problems they might have.

"As we have handed over more phases to them, I've also taken on the role of ironing our any problems the teachers have," Cyphus says.

"The college is much happier with one point of contact. With so many people at the college there are many channels to go through and if they had to do the same with Finnegan nothing would ever happen. So I am the single point of contact who farms out the work."

The liaison officer was part of Finnegan's pitch and the firm believes it made a considerable contribution to the successful bid.

"We also came up with a site segregation plan which probably changes every 12 weeks," Cyphus adds. "Each time it changes, we issue a new set of plans which we issue to the college. We have to change access points and build temporary paths but it works."