project4, Author at Project Four

Back in the Room With the Liverpool Property Club

Today saw the return of the Liverpool Property Club and not on bloody Zoom. Face to face felt good, a sunshine-filled morning in Liverpool (and a big boat as a back drop). Great to see so many familiar faces and some new ones too, and to hear from Tony Reeves, Stephen Cowperthwaite + Colin Sinclair. This is my very brief summary on the key points discussed.

Colin Sinclair kicked off proceedings at the Liverpool Malmaison + discussed the change in office dynamics, productivity levels, mentioning that he feels (and I agree) that the timescales for people returning to offices/cities highlighted in the Centre of City Report will be greatly improved; we are already seeing the Liverpool City Region bucking the trend, and getting back to it. Colin also touched on the issues surrounding career development + opportunities being greatly improved with offices returning. Colin was also keen to highlight the need for quality workspaces, that offer more than a desk, providing better experiences for staff.

Colin's final point of interest, was that we/the Liverpool City Region (like others regions) have a real shortage of labs, and the need for quality developments/place making to connect these workspaces with the public - using the recently completed Spine and forthcoming Hemisphere as perfect examples.

Next up was Tony Reeves of Liverpool City Council, the man tasked with leading Liverpool back to credibility and trust, something I am confident he will do. There is going to be 'some hard yards' as LLC must get it right now. Liverpool has stuck its/their head above the parapet, a dynamic + pioneering approach has meant we are the most progressive city in the western world - this helped with securing the mass pilot testing. Liverpool is fighting back.

Tony sympathised with the room of property + development professionals, and understands the frustrations - but transactions will be slower for now, no room for failure if we are to push forward. Commissioner's involvement not great, but so much better than a full take over. He highlighted that the Liverpool City Region appeal to funders, investors + developers is evident, and bigger hitters like L&G are interested.

UNESCO World Heritage bureaucratic nonsense can 'do one'. UNESCO wanted all planning decisions for the whole City Region stopped/paused.

Last up, but by no means least, Stephen Cowperthwaite of Avison Young + who heads up the MIPIM Partnership for Liverpool. Avison Young commissioned report proves that the so called 'death of cities' is bull. The MIPIM offering has evolved and is not just about five days in Cannes (that's just the good bit), but about a year round programme of events + support for the private + public sector partnership. As part of this evolution, the MIPIM Partnership will be rebranded 'Liverpool Place Partnership'. Stephen used the three P's to describe how Liverpool strategically tackle the fight back + at MIPIM...PROMOTION, PLACE, PARTNERSHIP.

The one re-occurring message mentioned by all speakers, was the need for QUALITY developments and a real focus on placemaking, connectivity + sustainability.

So - a tough couple of months ahead for LCC, but doing things right and ensuring trust + credibility is restored. Much to be positive about and shout out about, onward + upwards! Look out for the next Liverpool Property Club social event in July - date TBC shortly by Downtown.

by project4

Oh Manchester...! New home for Project Four

It was on, then it was off...a bit like the last 12 months, in all parts of society. But now is the time to make the move, and we are delighted after viewing many spaces to announce our new home in Manchester - will be Blackfriars House, just off Deansgate.

Although this feels like a big step and a new era beckons, as a business Project Four have had a presence in Manchester from day one of setting up (01/03/2017), and for many years before that. Working with clients strategically on a retained basis and on some key projects, quietly delivering away under the radar.

Professionally, both Directors have worked in Manchester for many years working on some great projects, such as Manchester Airport Group with Laing O'Rourke, Major Redevelopment of City Tower with Bruntwood, No.2 St. Peters Square with Mosley Street Ventures and Proton Beam Therapy Unit with The Christie NHS Foundation Trust.

More recently we are working on projects with One Heritage, Glenbrook, Sheppard Robson, Robertson, Fletcher Rae Architects, Cert Properties, JDA Architects, Commercial Estates Group (CEG), Wates Construction, Buttress Architects, Shedkm Architecture, Studio Egret West, U+I, Ultimate, and Peel Land + Property to name a few.

To compliment our head quarters on Liverpool Waterfront, at Avenue HQ (AHQ) Mann Island we have seen first hand the benefits of co-working and working with our landlord to support the growth of the business over the last four years. Initially, taking 'hot desk space' at AHQ evolving through fixed desks, small office and three moves later (within the same building) we have 12 person office (and looking at the next move later this year). There are many positives that come with this setup - social events, breakout spaces (couches, arm chairs), meeting rooms, boardroom, parking, city centre vibes to name a few.

Project Four also have office and meeting space at East Parade in Leeds City Centre to support our Yorkshire client base. Taking this strategy to Birmingham and London later this year, following clients and projects. Ultimately we don't need huge office space, but a space to meet the team, socialise and open up to clients for 1-2-1 meetings, hosting design team meetings and (when restrictions lift) hosting networking and CPD/training events for clients and the construction industry.

To support our arrival at Blackfriars we have also been busy on the recruitment front + are very excited to make those announcements very soon also.

Heather Gray of Bruntwood Works "We're absolutely thrilled to welcome Project Four Safety to Blackfriars House, and that they've chosen our Pioneer site for their Manchester HQ. They have shown incredible growth aspirations over the past year, and we think they'll fit right into our community of inspirational, community led organisations." Heather was extremely helpful and instrumental during the viewing/selection process for our new Manchester based.

We really are excited about this new phase of our business and look forward to being able to invite our nearest and dearest to a face-to-face office launch, when we are able. As always...onward + upwards.

by project4

Eleven Tips for Project CDM in 2021

During our final team meeting of 2020 we decided to pull together our 11 top tips, and put into simple terms - so here they are:

1. DEVELOP THE CLIENT BRIEFING.

Very rarely done effectively (from a CDM perspective) + is a missed opportunity to set the tone of the project, in relation to CDM compliance + engagement.

2. EARLY APPOINTMENT (OR AT LEAST ENGAGEMENT/CONULTATION).

The appointment of CDM advisors or PD/PD support at the earliest opportunity – we can add greater value + be better positions amongst the team. We can always undertake an initial desktop appraisal to offer initial consultation for the project – offering at least minimum compliance from the onset

3. GET APPOINTMENTS NAILED DOWN PROPERLY.

It is important that appointments + scopes are correct and agreed. To often we see a mish mash of client + principal designer duties. We promote + encourage the APS Form of Appointment, the industry benchmark.

4. ENSURE DUTYHOLDERS UNDERSTAND/APPRECIATE THEIR OBLIGATIONS.

At P4 upon appointment we ensure that we deliver a strategic project briefing to ensure that all key stakeholders are fully briefed, understand their obligations + what the client expects.

5. REGARDLESS OF ROLE – AGREE THE DESIGN RISK MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FROM DAY ONE.

One global hazard + risk register (set a tab up for each discipline) – reduce paper work.
Notes / symbols on drawings
ACM Strategy
Report on compliance

6. DON’T IGNORE THOSE MUNDANE – PAIN IN THE BACKSIDE STATUTORY OBLIGATIONS.

SKET Assessments (formerly referred to as competence assessments) – have you done these? We can provide templates if needed.
Pre-construction information – eliminate + reduce generic guff – project specific information, don’t duplicate + ensure shared amongst the team for feedback (gap analysis).

7. FOR GODS SAKE – ENSURE CDM + PD IS ON THE MEETINGS AGENDA.

Too often do we attend meetings – and CDM isn’t on the meeting or is stuck right at the bottom.

8. DON’T KEEP DOING THE SAME THING + EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS.

The changes to CDM IN 2015 were a significant shift + fundamental change to the structure of the regulations – don’t keep applying the same approach as 1994 + 2007. Embrace the change.
We hear / see many different attitudes towards CDM obligation (statutory obligations – not an optional extra) – change within the industry is needed.

9. REDUCE UNNECESSARY MEETINGS.

We accept meetings are an essential part of project delivery, particularly at pre-construction for creating collaborative working, design development...but meetings alone do not dictate CDM compliance.

At P4 we will discuss + agree (set expectations) meetings attendance from day one – requesting a slot within the meeting once initial setup satisfied.

10. BE READY - SHIFT IN HSE FOCUS + ENFORCEMENT/INTERVENTION.

We are seeing a real shift in the focus of the Health + Safety Executive in that we are now seeing other duty holders, other than the PC being targeted. This is a positive for the industry but compliance levels need to improve across PD’s and clients.

11. ENGAGE + VALUE PROJECT APPOINTMENTS.

CDM is not just box ticking + paperwork, though our profession has a bad reputation – CDM applied properly can offer real project value from pre-construction through until + beyond operation/occupation.

by project4

Return of The Property Club

Last week saw the return of Liverpool Property Club, but not as we know it. So, I'd best start at the beginning, which was circa 2009. Myself, at the time MD of Innov8 Safety Solutions, Oliver Crook (now Delucia-Crook, Curtin's Consulting) then of Todd + Ledson, Susan Patterson (Morgan Sindall) then of Sutcliffe + Paul Buttery (Carefoot) then of Nobles Construction had talked (a lot) about pulling an informal but selective property focused social event together for Liverpool, and the City Region. An event that was less about sales + more about building existing + new relationships. The four of us were out attending various networking, CPD + other professional/business events + meeting other businesses right across the UK on a daily/weekly basis, and we felt Liverpool lagged behind other cities when it came to construction specific events - as many of us were fed up of networking with web designers + cake makers (no offence to either professions/sector, by the way - I like cake).

Now here's the big news, the LPC event wasn't anything ground breaking...a venue, organisers/sponsors (to pay for drinks + advertise the event), guest list + agree a date. And if I am being honest the event format was taken from our chums up the M62 in Manchester, who use to have a similar event called COPS (and I cant actually remember what it stood for, if anyone cares to enlighten us?).

LPC soon gathered positive momentum, with the sponsors hosting circa 3-4 events per year + the feedback was really positive, the attendees from all walks of construction: public, private, clients, developers, designers, construction professionals, contractors. The events continued to grow + even attracted many of our Manchester, Leeds + London colleagues. With the majority of events averaging 100+ invite only guests, running until about 2016/17 the sponsors/contributors proved there was an appetite + desire for this style of event. One of the sponsors changed, and this lead to the introduction of our friends at Ellis Williams Architects joining the LPC sponsors.

If I was to criticise the LPC or more so, learn from the experience (and improve/change), was that events became far too big + the success of an event was judged by how many attended, we relaxed the guest list/invites resulting in the attendees being diluted into other sectors. I am happy to plead guilty to that, after plastering the events over social media, again, another learning curve. As we look to develop LPC + recreate the early successes, the primary objective is to ensure the events are strategically planned, invite only, informal + with fewer invites being sent out, we'd rather have a room of 15-20 people whom we can help + work with, over a room with up to 150 with no real structure or prospect of having any meaningful discussions. LPC is aimed at strategically focused events, anyone giving up their valuable time to attend - will see great value, build relationships over many years, share intelligence + enjoy the time taken to network in a nice informal environment - quite the opposite of those loons who attend BNI.

The event moved around various different bars, restaurant's + hotels, most notably The Racquets Club on White Chapel and Bean Coffee + Cocktails on St. Pauls Square both looked after LPC for several years, both venues still operating (or will be next week).

After joining forces with Downtown in 2019 + seeing that LPC had not been organised or promoted for several years, and now in position as Managing Director of Project Four, we thought it was time to have another go with Downtown in Business. Regardless of who sponsors (it really isn't that important) the event is very much focused on the points above. We are also exploring some other formats for 2021 breakfasts, lunches, round tables.

After face to face events being cancelled in March (which had keynote speaker Sir Howard agreed to join the relaunch of LPC) + again cancelled this month, so last week we took things online with organisers Downtown hosting a roundtable (virtual of course) discussion with circa 30 construction + property professionals, from all walks of the sector.

We had some of Liverpool's finest construction sector folk on the call + you can listen to the discussions here: https://downtowninbusiness.com/downtown-den-124-liverpool-property-club/

You can also watch/listen to the event we did May: https://downtowninbusiness.com/downtown-den-076-liverpool-property-club/

The diverse mix of construction professionals further highlights the purpose behind LPC - to share intelligence, ideas + promote a positive construction outlook (even during these darkest of days).

After a very difficult year for all, The Property Club used the platform to promote all that is positive, focus towards a brighter + (hopefully) a NORMAL 2021. Anyway, thank you for reading my ramblings about The Property Club, we are excited for developing our work with Downtown in 2021. If you are interested in talking to the team at Downtown, contact clare.odoherty@downtowninbusiness.com

Alan Robson alan@projectfoursafety.com or 07786447777

by project4

Is it Ageism or Just a Lack of Confidence in Our Young Professionals?

Most research on age discrimination covers bias against older people in the workforce. Ageism isn’t all one way…! Age discrimination at any age reduces our wellbeing and commitment to our work.

I was motivated to write this blog following an ‘incident’ (nothing major at face value, but a deep routed problem within our industry) that occurred recently with one of our junior safety advisors. As the managing director of a business that has a relatively young team, myself only 39 and my co-Director being 29 – I ask the question ‘do we have an ageism issue towards younger professionals within construction, that restricts potential opportunities for development?’ And what can we do to ensure young professionals are nurtured in an environment that allows them to develop, build confidence and gain experience. We often talk of a skills gap and the need to attract new talent to our industry, yet are we really able to embrace, promote + engage with new / younger professionals. This coupled with a longer term strategy for addressing any kind of age discrimination (no matter how minor it appears).

The incident…something of nothing?

So the incident, which actually wasn’t knowingly meant as blatant or disrespectful, but I felt could have been handled better and more so highlights a lack of awareness (much more tact required). As a business that promotes enterprise and sees real value in apprenticeship style recruitment and providing unique career opportunities for the right candidate, we must promote our junior members of the team, so that they have confidence to grow and develop. The incident itself was in relation to an email sent to me, but also copying in our junior member stating ‘that they/he/their business would prefer a call with me, due to greater experience and knowledge’. Am I over reacting? (possibly), but I do feel this could have been dealt with in a much more positive way – a way that would give junior professionals greater confidence. I was very quick to point out to our trusted client, that my colleague in question (despite his age, 20 years young) does have experience and the skills to deal with the issue/query in question. And I completely understand the concerns our client had, but this was based purely on his age.

Age… is it an issue?

I started my working life out at Cammell Lairds Shipbuilders + Repairers, as an electrical apprentice 1997-2001 – where the average age of the workforce was 65-70. The skills gap and lack of apprenticeships the result of Thatcher’s Conservative Government cuts, with unemployment at a peak level and apprenticeships axed. And I do feel this process enabled me to learn the basics (like making tea, getting up in the morning) over a four year period – during which time we built confidence, credibility and independence. Though ageism (border line bullying) was the order of the day back then, and being young meant plenty of verbal abuse, the bad jobs and running round after the tradesmen.

I do believe the issues also relates to ‘what am I paying for’ matter, were clients/project stakeholders assume being young relates to less knowledge, skills, experience… COMPETENCE even. We will work towards changing clients + industry stakeholders’ take/view on this, but I believe we can take immediate action to support our young professionals?

Call to action

I call upon our nearest and dearest, professionals (of all ages) to engaged with younger professionals, support them, trust in them and help build their confidence – this will attract talent to the construction industry. As a business we have and will ensure:

Director involvement in all projects offering guidance, support and confidence to both client and our young professionals
Primary and secondary contact (a kind of buddy system) – using the expertise of our senior team members to support
Briefing clients on our young professionals skill set – this allows the client question / challenge (if needed) and set out expectations
Implemented a client relationship management facility – meaning collectively we can share ideas and progress
Provide a total commitment to supporting, guiding and nurturing our young professionals – not simply providing training but invaluable 1-2-1 support

Please do feedback, comment...we welcome any contributions (agreeing or disagreeing)!

by project4

Evolution of the Workspace, Not the End (in My Eyes)!

Throughout the last few months I keep hearing ‘we won't need offices in the future' or similar bold statements! It's a topic of conversation that has been forced upon us all during the pandemic (I am refusing to use everyone’s favourite new phrase ‘unprecedented times’ in this piece). I've discussed it at home with family, colleagues, co-workers, clients + business/industry friends – with varying responses. It cropped up most recently on a virtual round table discussion with our pals at Downtown in Business joined also by a few other partners/members, which motivated me to throw a few words onto social media. I start this discussion piece as a tenant + business owner more so than being focused on what Project Four do for a living (day to day)…working on the refurbishment, new build + mixed use commercial office spaces as part of our core business, though the two predicaments/items may cross over.

Taking the positives - this horrendous virus has forced us to #WFH + restricted many from getting to their offices. I was fortunate enough to be able to get access to our office intermittently during the lock-down but the #WFH has raised some worthwhile questions over my work life balance and how #WFH would (in parts) improve the work life balance! I for one have embraced the opportunity to spend time with my young family + I am keen to maintain that time as we progress towards a return to our day to day lives, without lock-down restrictions. The positives aside, I am desperate (as are my colleagues) to get back to some face to face interaction. As good as Teams/Zoom have been during these times - it doesn't build/promote team work + build effective relationships!

I understand and fully appreciate the impact of the pandemic will give us all cause to question, reflect, assess our working spaces and I believe we will see the evolution of commercial space, and our overall approach to our work life balance. And based on the evidence we have observed from the construction sites we managed + supported throughout the lock-down, commercial office space will have to improve the standards on offer also, both in the short + longer term to give tenants the confidence to return. However, as we start to re-occupy our office (very slowly) with much reduced capacity I am positive that we will return as a team and use the office to bond, socialise, learn, share knowledge/experiences and play darts – to name a few of the positives. As a business we recruit and develop graduates/trainees – and despite tools such as Zoom + Teams you can’t get the same interaction + relationships with colleagues as you do when face to face. Face to face interaction is essential for everyone, and even if #WFH has been fantastic for you during the lock-down – we still need that face to face interaction. Bearing in mind we have started new staff remotely and undertaken appraisals virtually while #WFH, so we acknowledge it can play a part of our strategy moving forward.

To conclude this piece – I am confident we will soon be back playing darts (dont mention the Merseyside Derby match) + supporting our clients from our HQ at Mann Island on Liverpool Waterfront. But we now know that we can #WFH effectively and combine the two elements to further improve the work life balance. And look forward to finally announcing our plans for a new HQ in London with one of our favourite retained clients.

Thanks for reading my waffle + welcome the opportunity to further discuss on here (written on West Kirby beach – not the office ????).

TALK - What have you missed the most about the office time?

CHAT - Will you / your business change or relocate the office as a result of the pandemic?

DISCUSS - Did you #WFH before lock-down? Will that likely or unlikely increase in the future?

ASK - Could you operate without an office?

by project4

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