PRECISION

by Jez Bond

A clandestine meeting with a producer, a posh fish finger sandwich and an energy bar that can only be described as tasting like a combination of marzipan and dog food (the marzipan bit’s not a problem, but I could have done without the insight into the diet of man’s best friend).

Around these key events (!) lots of conversations with the architects about the best way to move forward, given some emerging coordination issues on site. Our project manager, Jordan (of latest video fame), has been doing a sterling job but it’s becoming clear that he’s wearing about five different hats and is overstretched. On a project like this that could mean costly errors – and sometimes having one person doing multiple jobs to save money is actually a false economy. Dave (HJF) has decided that the way for them (the architects) to aid the process is to prepare more detailed drawings than they had first imagined. As he put it, “what’s become evident is that because we’re maximising every millimetre of the building, any tiny error that would, on most projects, be immaterial could be have significant implications”. The reason is that there is no slack anywhere. Take for example any of the theatre walls – they are acoustically built up plasterboard walls that need to house air conditioning ducts, cabling, the new steel structure, acoustic linings and so on. If the steel were a centimetre out it would step out into the corridor looking awkward or into the auditorium cutting does head room, or the air conditioning ducts wouldn’t fit, or we’d have to loose seats in the stalls… you get the picture!

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