Schal reaches the final phase at BP Sunbury

15/09/2004

Schal’s five year project as construction managers on the redevelopment of BP International’s 33-acre Sunbury Business Park in Middlesex is now virtually complete. BP Group Chief Executive Lord Browne recently visited to officially open the new facilities.

The project involves a major redevelopment to meet the future needs of BP and provides modern, flexible offices as one of the three major hub sites in BP’s global office strategy.
 
Since its inception more than 80 buildings have been demolished and seven new office buildings constructed. At the centre of the redevelopment is the Link Building, literally linking three of the buildings to one another, along with car parks, services, distribution roads, water features and landscaping.
 
The project has been undertaken with input from a wide variety of specialist contractors, working under Carillion Business Services’ construction management company Schal, in collaboration with the consultant designers, cost managers and a BP project management team. Many of these have been with the project from the outset in 1998.
 
During Lord Browne’s visit he addressed BP staff and people who have been involved in the transformation of Sunbury over the last five years. Guests included Councillor George Trussler, Mayor of Spelthorne, who has been closely involved with BP and the local community during the development. Lord Browne switched on the water feature which forms a splendid centrepiece to the new buildings with its sixty-one 8ft tall water jets.
 
Schal and BP have adopted a partnering approach throughout the contract and established benchmarks for safety, sustainability and continuous improvement. Schal implemented a programme of initiatives as part of a project-wide safety plan, resulting in 1.3 million man hours worked with ‘no days away from work.’ A waste reduction regime was also put in place with a total of 55% of all waste being recycled. The project received an ‘excellent’ BREEAM rating.
 
Alan Thomson, BP Project Director said: “Throughout the project, Schal and BP formed a close relationship which was characterised by being open and collaborative. Both companies shared their best practice which allowed us to set and achieve ambitious targets for safety and sustainability as well as for cost, quality and schedule.”

The success of the scheme has resulted in the BP Sunbury Link Building being shortlisted for the British Construction Industry 2004 Awards, with the winners being announced in October.
 
Schal is now working hard to deliver the final areas of the present programme. The logistics and planning of the redevelopment were phased to ensure that minimal disruption was caused to the day-to-day operations for the 3,500 BP occupants. BP will have the new facilities to themselves early in 2005 when the project team withdraws from a most successful programme.