Construction National

GMI is Praised for Considerate Construction at New Engineering Centre

Work commenced on the construction of the new £7.5m Engineering Centre for Kirklees College in Huddersfield in Summer 2011 and the team are already being highly commended for their exceptional measures in respecting the community.

The first Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) site visit took place recently at the site just off St Andrews Road where the 5,700 square metre educational facilities is located. Having achieved consistently high scores this year above the national average, GMI excelled and received particular praise for their efforts in being a responsible constructor and a good neighbour within the area.

With a series of initiatives such as controlled working hours to reduce noise and inconvenience, clear effective communications and a good relationship with local trainee schemes; this helped GMI to achieve full marks in two of the eight sections of the Site Code of Considerate Practice.

GMI has also taken a proactive role with Kirklees College with a series of engagement activities with the students and local community. These include offering construction students with the opportunity to tour the live construction site to find out how, once qualified their skills may be used on multi-million pound projects.

Students from the college have also entered into a design competition to create artwork for the gates as well as design opportunities throughout the building, which is being delivered by KPP architects. Furthermore, GMI sponsored the Engineering and Motor Vehicle categories at the College’s annual COLS awards which recognises the hard work and talents of students from the latest academic year.

Andrew Schofield, Contracts Manager for GMI, said:

“The team are thrilled with the CCS assessor’s comments and the overall score as it shows that a full commitment to the scheme can result in value and benefit to all involved on a project of this scale. We have made great progress on the construction so far and everything is on track for the new facilities to open next year.”

The Considerate Constructors Scheme has become a very prominent part of the industry and operates a voluntary Code of Considerate Practice with the aim of improving the image of construction. Registration with the scheme demonstrates a company’s commitment to working against the Code and is designed to encourage best practice beyond statutory requirements by contractors.

Peter Waring, the CCS assessor that undertook the audit at Kirklees College said in his report: “This is an excellent score for a project where the principles of the Considerate Constructors Scheme have been incorporated at the planning and implementation stages. The company take CCS very seriously and have appointed a CCS champion who attends monitor visits. This hard work is showing dividends as scores improve.”

Kirklees College’s project manager for the new building Ray Sheller, commended GMI for their well-deserved recognition. He said, “We have been very impressed with GMI Construction for their professionalism and for the consideration they give to all aspects of the project. This is an excellent achievement in a very competitive industry and I’d like to congratulate them for all their hard work both on and off the site. We’re very much looking forward to having the finished building but thanks to GMI, the construction process itself is also offering opportunities to our students and the community.”