Residential team at The Cube
Despite news that construction professionals are now at the top of the dole queue hitting the headlines, the construction arm of Birmingham Development Company, BuildAbility Ltd, has recruited seven members of the 10-man team needed to build out the apartment element of the landmark development The Cube.
Owing to the current stage of the fast moving construction programme, David Lane and Shaun Lyons have joined the already 20-strong team at BuildAbility as residential section managers, and Bill Morris, Kevin Alviti, Gary Crick, Allun O’Brien and Simon Penny have also joined the ambitious team as residential finishing foremen.
As one of the only live construction sites in the city, The Cube is well on track to complete in spring 2010 when across 23 storeys it will provide a boutique hotel, waterside cafés, designer retail stores, offices and the 244 luxury apartments – well over half of which have already been sold, with the remainder being launched to market nearer the completion of the scheme next year.
Like most of the pioneering techniques used throughout the project’s build programme, in early summer the newly formed residential team will undertake a unique construction process to build out of the nine floors of apartments.
Neil Edginton, director at Birmingham Development Company and BuildAbility, explains: “As a company we have never done ‘ordinary’. To create the most special building in the city we are constantly pushing the boundaries in the construction and design stakes to carry this through to fruition, so it’s no surprise that we need an ambitious and skilled team behind us.
“As with most elements of the scheme, we have chosen to do things differently with the residential to create flexibility and a sense of community within the scheme. The nine floors of residential apartments will be split in half on each floor so that one side is designated to investors and the other to owner occupiers. Owing to the split nature of the apartments and the complex build programme, the newly appointed residential team will be required to work in a unique way, with two separate teams each dedicated to each side of the building, to achieve the quality of specification that is required within the challenging timeframe.
“With this in mind, when recruiting the team we made it clear that they would each be required to think very differently from how they may have previously worked before. BuildAbility is not like a regular contractor, so as such we expect that all preconceived ideas and techniques are challenged. We are always searching for the best ways to get the job done on time and within budget, and continually push the boundaries to deliver this special project.”
The Cube is well underway both from a construction and a lettings point of view, with the rooftop restaurant let to D&D London, formerly Conran, and over half of the office space pre-let to Highways Agency. With this in mind, BuildAbility will continue to recruit across its construction team as the build programme requires.
As well as completing The Cube, the current team and any new recruits will also come together to build out BDC’s future construction projects, which includes a recent instruction to build out 6,000 sq ft of bespoke office space for Associated Architects (AA) at The Mailbox – a project that will complete in early summer this year.
BuildAbility’s new approach to construction techniques is also reflected in its benefit structure. Uniquely the firm offers a guaranteed share of 60 per cent of the company’s profits to every employee, which is a clear incentive for those in the industry that are ambitious and committed enough to take on the complex projects offered by the forward thinking firm.
The construction and development industry is undoubtedly experiencing uncertain times but ‘in-house’ firms such as BuildAbility provide a safe alternative to many construction professionals, as well as aiding the retention of regional professionals who may otherwise be tempted in this economy by the larger public projects further a field in London or overseas.
