CC Sep-Oct 2023

CASEstudy
SEQUENCING A PROGRAMME
WITH PIONEERING TECHNIQUES
The hotel's extension plans carried
significant risks. The new mega
basement was situated directly
underneath Claridge's Art Deco
extension, constructed in the 1920s on a
single reinforced concrete slab. McGee's
Project Director, Jim Mackey, developed
a creative construction plan to be
executed by Project Engineer Michelle
Mackey (who is also Jim's daughter).
"We did some trial works to determine
what the existing building structure was
made of and what was and wasn't
possible, then Jim sat down with our
technical department and put together a
3D animation of the sequence."
With the high-level sequence mapped
out, Jim handed the project to Michelle,
who needed to turn a static plan into
something more dynamic. Michelle
chose Asta Powerproject planning and
project management software to rise to
this challenge.
"Asta Powerproject enabled me to put
in the detail we needed and then roll the
programme up, so we could still present
a high-level view. We didn't need
everyone to see tasks hour by hour, but
going into that level of detail meant we
could flag any potential issues early on."
The Claridge's project was divided into
multiple phases, starting with a team of
miners hand-digging a network of
tunnels directly underneath the hotel.
They dug down 30 metres to create a
series of shafts that would become the
hotel's new foundations.
Concrete was poured into the shafts to
create the new foundations, and new
columns were constructed from within
the shafts for the existing hotel building
to rest on. Then the team excavated 500
cubic metres of earth from around the
columns, using heavy machinery
assembled underground, to construct
the new five-story basement.
"Once I set up the programme in Asta
Powerproject and tested the first few
lines, I felt confident that I could
sequence the project from start to finish
and there wouldn't be any errors,"
Michelle added.
MANAGING COMPLEX TIME AND
MATERIAL SCHEDULES
It wasn't just construction techniques
that challenged McGee. Working on a
landmark building in the middle of
London also presented logistics
challenges, as the excavation work
involved removing 45,000 tonnes of clay
through one hole just 2.5 metres wide.
McGee could not store waste material
on-site due to insufficient space.
Instead, materials had to be moved to
and from Claridge's daily from a nearby
holding yard, with a single loading area
on-site. Asta Powerproject delivered the
precision planning needed to ensure
materials were collected on schedule,
preventing programme delays.
"The Claridge's project was very
complex by nature. We had one space
to work in, and all our equipment and
materials came in and out of one
opening. Asta Powerproject allowed us
to take just-in-time material planning to
the extreme."
The project also involved coordinating
tradespeople working two different shift
patterns. While standard building
contractors worked Monday-Friday,
8am-6pm, two teams of miners worked
seven days in alternating 12-hour shifts.
McGee used Asta Powerproject to
coordinate site resources with material
requirements, managing the pace of
work to synchronise deliveries with their
progress. "We never wanted to be in a
situation where teams arrived for their
shift and the materials that they needed
weren't available. Or a situation where
we couldn't get materials in fast enough.
With Asta Powerproject, we could drop a
line down the programme to monitor
and adjust progress on a daily basis,"
said Mackey.
Some material deliveries were timecritical,
like the thousands of tonnes of
concrete needed for the basement
columns. Michelle's team needed to
ensure that mining work finished at a
time when concrete could be delivered
to fill each shaft as quickly as possible.
"We used Asta Powerproject to
coordinate both timings and logistics.
For example, we couldn't have mining
teams finishing on a Saturday night and
then the base of each shaft being left
open for 30 hours until the concrete
could arrive."
COORDINATING CONSTRUCTION IN
THE PRESENCE OF PAYING GUESTS
If project logistics weren't challenging
enough, McGee also had to coordinate
site activity around what was happening
in the hotel. In addition to ensuring
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