Partnering together to achieve a common goal

How important is it for architects, builders and contractors to work together on a project?

Grant Wigney, Owner of National Waterproofing and Industrial Flooring – the commercial flooring melbourne experts – reflects on this question in an interview about a recent project in Warrigal, Victoria.

Tell me about the current Warrigal project that you are working on.
At the moment the team are working on refurbishing a car park deck surrounding a busy Aldi supermarket. We are in the process of installing a trafficable waterproof membrane (BASF Conipur 2269) which is not without its challenges because we working onsite during trading hours where the safety of both customers and our team is paramount. The area we are working in is both where customers park and where Aldi stock is delivered. In addition, all the work is being undertaken externally so we are very much exposed to the elements as well as dust and dirt from the moving vehicles.

What is working well with the project?
We have adopted a partnership approach with respect to the communication and planning that has taken place both prior and during the duration of the project. The communication in particular between the architect, the builder and the contractor has been great with everyone being responsive and following through on any actions agreed. The primary objective was to get the job done but not impede Aldi’s daily business of serving their customers so we had to come up with a phased approach to the work. The fact that customers are not being adversely affected and Aldi’s daily stock deliveries have not been interrupted suggests that the project is working well. We have also managed to fit our own stock and equipment onsite. The site itself is marked out for 73 standard parking bays plus 2 for disabled parking so there has had to be a phased approach to the work schedule because of minimising disruption to Aldi’s loyal customer base. At any one time there has to be an average of 50 spaces available for customer parking, so we have had to factor this into the 6 stages of our project planning.

Have there been any particular moments that stand out during the work? 
We have had some disruptions to our due to inclement weather. You can plan for most eventualities but we have had an extremely hot summer and there have been minor disruptions due to the rain as well. All the work is external so once the weather turns wet, we cannot carry out any work onsite because we cannot apply a waterproof membrane over a wet or damp surface.

What have you learned whilst doing this project?
We have learnt a lot about how best to work effectively in a busy car parking area! Aldi has been very understanding but they are open 7 days a week and we have had to work around traffic management systems because the store gets busy, particularly on Aldi’s special trading days (Wednesdays and Saturdays( so that has been a learning curve. But probably the main point I have learned is that an architect, builder and contractor can work really effectively together to help minimise delays to the end client. This really has been a team effort with both internal and external staff cooperating and communicating.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about this project? 
I am really pleased to be able to say that Stage 1 and 2 are now complete. This is possible because of the hard work of, and collaboration between our team members and partners. A big thank you to Alan and Ian in particular!

Interview conducted by Sprout Online.