Pictured above: (left to right): Chris Paget, Warwickshire
College; Richard Carter, St. Modwen; Simon Ganley, St. Modwen on
site at Warwickshire College.
St. Modwen, the UK's leading regeneration specialist, has
safeguarded the delivery of the new £35 million Warwickshire
College in Rugby and in the process, has saved many of the jobs on
site that were put at risk as a result of the news that Ashford
Construction had gone into administrative receivership.
St. Modwen has now taken over direct responsibility for the
construction programme for the 150,000 sq ft Warwickshire College,
which is set to welcome its first students in September 2010.
Working closely with the College, St. Modwen moved quickly to
resolve the situation and agree a suitable structure for moving
forward.
The project is being headed up by St. Modwen's construction
director, Steve Burke, with support from construction managers
Simon Ganley and Richard Carter. Works have now recommenced
on site with four members of the former Ashford team will also be
retained to deliver the works as part of St. Modwen's new team; and
as negotiations with all sub contractors now well under way, both
the steelwork and roofing/ cladding contractors have already
returned to site - only a week after it closed.
Simon Ganley, construction manager, St. Modwen, said: "We were
sorry to hear the unfortunate news that Ashford Construction had
gone into administration; however we were determined that this
would not impact on the construction of the College.
"In situations such as these, St. Modwen will always seek to
avoid any disruption on site. In this instance, we acted quickly
and found a solution to ensure we did not lose the momentum already
gained. By taking a proactive view and using the skill and
knowledge of our in house construction team, we have been able to
protect jobs on site as well as the businesses of the
subcontractors. Crucially, we have also avoided any costly delays
to a key project for the region."
Chris Paget, Estates Director for Warwickshire College, said:
"We were extremely sorry to hear that Ashford Construction had gone
into administrative receivership. This clearly affects the lives of
all their employees and sub-contractors, and it could have had a
disastrous effect upon the College building. By working very
proactively, St Modwen has not only been able to get the project
back on site, but also mitigate some of the effects upon the
existing sub-contractors. This is great news for all concerned and
we look forward to the building progressing to a successful
opening".
Mark Smith, Director of Structural Steelwork Company, DA Green
& Son, added: "As a sub-contractor, we were all too aware of
the vulnerability of our position when the news broke that Ashford
Construction had gone into administrative receivership. We
were therefore delighted to hear that St. Modwen had taken to the
helm of the construction programme. Our 12-strong team has
returned to site with renewed confidence in the future of this
project and in DA Green & Son's involvement in the delivery of
the new Warwickshire College."
The new Warwickshire College campus will sit on part of the 82
acre former Alstom Industrial complex which St. Modwen acquired in
2001, of which 400,000 sq ft is currently leased to Converteam, a
supplier of electric power and propulsion packages. On the
remaining 70 acres St. Modwen has secured outline planning to
develop a £120 million urban community - the largest
brownfield development in Rugby.
A 'Power Academy' is among the college's new facilities.
Closely linked to Converteam and Alstom Power, the Power
Academy has been specifically designed as a core training centre to
develop technicians for the new generation of power stations, with
a focus on turbines and carbon friendly power generation.
£6.3 million of funding for the Power Academy has been
secured from Advantage West Midlands.