Construction projects have become more complex and more expensive due to material costs, supply chain costs and the need for more automation. Construction managers are facing a great challenge, in the form of sudden projects landing in their lap. This may be to extend a building, build a new office building, convert an office building into an apartment building. There are some construction managers that are head and shoulders above others. Here is one of them and the kinds of projects that are catching our eye right now.

Marc Burton’s approach

Marc Burton became the construction project manager of the year, beating out 76 other finalists. He played a key role in the building of the Jersey General Hospital’s Nightingale wing for £6.6. So what is the key to his success? He says that within 72 hours of the order coming in for a new wing, he was continually contacting suppliers and delegating responsibilities to individuals on the ground. This meant that he was connecting incoming materials, with roles that could be given the green light one after the other. This was not done in unison, it was first come first serve, which turned out to be very effective since everyone could get working as soon as they had what they needed.

Equipment for the job

So as we can see, choosing materials is the first thing you need to do to get any project off the ground. The next thing will always be equipment to move, store and use those materials. So if you were on a project as the lead, you would need specific equipment to allow them to get going and complete tasks.

• Hanging Scale. This will help you to weigh the items you are lifting so you can judge how quickly and safely you can move certain objects. It can be used for weighing cement bags, barrels, or beams.
• Beam trolley. This will help you to move heavy objects very fast around the construction site. This is great for moving items between buildings or perhaps from structure to structure.
• Beam clamps. These will secure the heavy support beams that you need to move, and when you attach them properly they prevent beams from swaying in the wind the higher they are lifted.

New projects

There is a need for new buildings but also, new repairs. At the Sherman Police Station, a new metal roof is being fitted for $300,000 in a project with an overall cost of $17 million. This will be the new headquarters of the police, with a size of 34,000 square-feet. So what is worth noting about this project is, the city is waiting for GMP to finalize the material order. If they did, they would need to wait 3 months for the materials to arrive, but if they went ahead without formal approval from the GMP, they could get the materials within 5 weeks. So in the world of stretched supply chains, formal reviews of material costs and orders need to be shortened as much as possible, or project owners might need to just go ahead on their own.

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