Stafford College - BAM reveals the local environmental and economic impacts of the new build
Hemel Hempstead, 22 November 2012 - Just two months after it handed over the new Stafford College its contractor, BAM Construction, has revealed the environmental and economic impact of the scheme. Around 60% of the orders generated by BAM’s work on the £14million development were placed with firms within a 30-mile radius.
Construction manager David Ellis said: ‘Part of our outlook as a business is to benefit local communities and local economies. Obviously, you can do this more easily the bigger an area is. We have done really well in Stafford, and it shows how important construction is to the UK economy that so much of the income our activity generates benefits this local area.’
Examples include Stafford firm ISEC Interior Systems which has delivered plasterboard partitions, Veitchi Flooring in Rugeley, and Cannock firms Avonside Roofing and Chasebuild which did brickwork and blockwork.’
BAM also revealed it diverted over 85% of the waste materials away from landfill sites, and kept the carbon footprint well beneath the company’s national target, marking a strong environmental performance.
About 95% of the College project was new build, and some of the problems BAM has solved along the way include phasing its works carefully to retain disabled access and the re-routing of live services from the highways so that traffic and road systems were not disrupted.
BAM conducted many site visits and exercises for the College’s students in plumbing, electrical and brickwork studies, giving them valuable insights into health and safety, technical and recycling techniques for example.
John Buckley the senior site manager, added: ‘The College was a helpful and constructive partner to build for. We’ve been very engaged with its students on many projects to help their education and with the community around the College throughout. I’d like to think BAM has been a friend to Stafford during the build. The project was a pleasure to work on. Like all schemes, it had challenges. We had a complex negotiation to work out a road scheme for deliveries with the Council, but we were flexible and creative and as a result of a problem solving approach, we found the right answers to keeps traffic moving and the College supplied with local materials, and forged some good relationships with our local partners.’
BAM handed over the new College on 28 September 2012, on time and to its £9 million-plus budget.
Further information: BAM Construct UK Ltd, Mark Slattery, press and media manager, 01442 23 84 15.