Section 01 - Contract approach and methodology
Established in 1933, Balvac has an unrivalled history and strong reputation in the field of structural repair, strengthening, and protection to buildings, bridges, car parks, industrial premises and heritage structures. In particular, we are renowned for our health and safety management, quality, technical capability and contract performance. In recent years we are proud to have been at the forefront of involvement in modern procurement initiatives by our commitment to adopting a partnering culture on all projects.
Our company philosophy and business culture is the delivery of successful project outcomes through the adoption of modern, non-adversarial procurement methods, within a culture of teamwork and project-focus.
We strongly believe in the principles of partnership, innovation, supply chain commitment and value engineering and we are committed to achieving better business performance through modern management techniques. We believe in direct employment of staff and operatives and we invest heavily in training, performance assessment and appraisal.
We strive to drive down costs and deliver best value solutions through productivity and improvement initiatives.
Company turnover in 2004 is forecast to be £15m. Balvac is a wholly owned subsidiary of Balfour Beatty plc.
The company enjoys the benefits of:
A compact organisation and flat management structure, making it responsive to clients needs, and agile within its chosen markets.
A loyal, well qualified, and experienced management team, a significant number with higher education qualifications, and membership of professional organisations.
Balvac aims to put these advantages to commercial good use in its target markets. The company regularly undertakes work with the following characteristics:
Schemes of technical complexity / high engineering content
Mission and safety critical components
Demanding clients
Balvac recognises that ensuring client satisfaction is the only certain way of maintaining the good reputation of the company, and ensuring repeat business. Client satisfaction is therefore central to the company’s business ethos. Individual contracts are staffed and managed with the goal of client satisfaction as a primary requirement, in particular Balvac aims to:
Deploy a proactive management team, skilled workforce, and reputable subcontractors
Deliver on price, programme, and quality
Maintain a safe and enjoyable workplace
Minimise inconvenience to members of the public and third parties
Further company details, information about car parks, and a list of services offered are held as as Attachment b01, Attachment b02 and Attachment b03 at the end of this section.
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Following a confirmed order, Balvac hold a handover meeting between the estimating and site management teams, chaired by the Operations Director. The tender philosophy is explained and discussed at this meeting. From this point the site management team will develop, refine, and publish a contract programme, in collaboration with, and based on input received from:
The client
Subcontractors and suppliers
Statutory undertakers
Other stakeholders
Compliance with the requirements of the contract will be controlled by use of the following document types incorporated into an overarching HSEQ plan for the contract:
Contract phase Health & Safety plan
Risk assessments
Method statements
Contract quality plan
The contract progress will be reviewed at least weekly by the Site Manager. Deviations from programme logic will be analysed, and where necessary steps taken to protect the completion date from slippage. Such steps could include:
Adjusting resources levels on site
Re-deploying resources to critical activities
Adjusting programme logic
The contract progress will also be monitored against the requirements of the quality plan, contract phase health and safety plan, and method statements to ensure the contract requirements are being properly delivered
The following particular technical challenges are recognised at Birch Street Car Park:
Minimising disruption to customers
Programme phasing given the constraints on bay usage and the need to vacate bays on the floor below those being repaired
Traffic management within the car park
Selection of waterproofing materials and techniques
Minimising overall contract period
Minimising the duration of the full shut down period
It is anticipated that willing participation by all stakeholders in the partnering process will deliver an optimum solution to these challenges that is technically and commercially acceptable to all.
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