Q&A with Ireland’s Construction Manager of the Year 2013

CM quizzes Collen Construction’s Thomas O’Connor

What did the projects involve?
My firm was commissioned to build three separate 110kV substations in the Dublin suburbs to connect into Ireland’s national grid. Just one of these substations would typically take about three years to procure and deliver, but I was given just 12 months to assemble a team, design, build and commission the substations simultaneously. The client left us with no illusion that missing the deadline was not an option.

How were you able to meet such a tough challenge?
The biggest issue was procurement, the projects required six 110kV transformers that typically have a 10-month lead-in time and switching gear that requires eight to nine months lead-in, so we had to get all those components designed and approved by the Irish energy companies and place pre-orders right at the start while we were still designing the substations. We based the designs on gear used in other substations.

Another challenge was communication. The projects had three separate integrated teams for design and construction, and the project sites were located on opposite sides of the city. My role was similar to the conductor of an orchestra, or a puppeteer, coordinating things at weekly, or bi-weekly, design and construction meetings.

How did you motivate three teams?
With such a tight deadline you can’t afford to have people locking horns in disputes, so I adopted a partnering approach to ensure everybody embraced the project and understood they were equal stakeholders. We set targets and key performance indicators so that everybody knew exactly who had to achieve what over the year, so everyone was watching each other’s backs throughout.

What factors do you think swayed the judges in your favour?
It was a unique project, there’s never likely to be something similar again. They also praised my efforts to manage the client’s expectations and assemble and manage all the project stakeholders over the 12 months. There was also the sheer effort involved, we were up at 5am and working as late as 10pm some nights to ensure the various elements fell into place.

So is it time for a holiday?
Not likely, I’m still involved with the same client taking the project into the next phase, which might involve more substations. However, I do get some weekends off to indulge in my pastime as an engineering officer with Ireland’s reserve defence forces. It’s great fun to don a uniform and drive around in armoured cars, I’ve been doing it for 35 years.

Thomas O’Connor (left) won Ireland’s CMYA