The project was the £33 million construction of a new Marina in St Helier in Jersey, Channel Islands. I joined as Project Surveyor in February 1996 and was resident on the project until mid 1998 when the works were substantially complete.
I had one Assistant QS and I was responsible for preparing the main interim valuations and negotiating the payments with representatives of the States of Jersey. I also did the forecasting and budgetting of the project of AMEC Marine.
I was fully involved with subcontract and supplier management. From obtaining quotes (including visiting quarries in France to see samples of rock armour), analysing these, interviewing subcontractors and placing orders. With the help of my Assistant we measured and valued the subcontractor works and made payments in accordance with the Subcontracts.
The project was essentially in three parts. One part of this was the precast yard, this had a tower crane and its own batching plant on site. With my Assistant we managed a bonus system for this section of the works for the directly employed workers.
The second section was the landside construction that was essentially a lorry park and the above sea level breakwater. This was conventional civil engineering works in such a location. Again, with the help of my Assistant we managed the subcontractors on this section of the Works.
The third section of the Works was carried out in the tides. I was heavily involved with this and discovered that this area has specific problems, for example acceleration is very difficult if not impossible in a tidal situation. Old plant and equipment had to be sourced as the salt and wet conditions would have ruined new equipment. This section of the Works was also considerably increased with the deep berth works being much enlarged with much rock having to be broken out in the tide.
The project sum was originally £22 million and the Final Account was near £33 million, so there were plenty of variations on the project. It was agreed with the States of Jersey that instead of preparing a claim document, an Expert would be appointed to value and agree a final account. This led to a successful settlement for AMEC on this project.
During my time in Jersey I also assisted AMEC with new tenders and gave advice to the States of Jersey on future works, particularly marine based projects.
