With our annual Summer Works programme now fully behind us, we’ve been reflecting on a year like no other and reminding ourselves of some of the great things our team has achieved during that time.
The Summer Works schedule is always an intense and busy period for IPSL, where our teams, suppliers and sub-contractors across the UK come together to deliver a range of services in a tight time frame. The school summer holidays offer a very short window of opportunity for maintenance and improvements and given the disruption to education over the past 12 months, it was more important than ever that our projects were delivered quickly and efficiently.
On top of the Summer Works, we have also had 161 construction sites in operation across the UK throughout 2021. The challenges of COVID, various lockdowns and social distancing measures presented us with some completely different scenarios that we needed to manage carefully with the best interests of our people in mind.
Supporting our stakeholders in healthcare
As we all know, there was a point in this pandemic where construction stopped completely. Following some reflection and analysis, people believed we could still do what was needed safely, and the industry was able to get moving again.
Ensuring our team felt comfortable and were operating in safe working conditions was our number one priority. Things like PPE, risk assessments and so many other factors had to be considered and agreed. New processes were put in place and slowly but surely, work started to resume at the sites we were working on.
From a service level perspective, we saw a surge in demand for construction work at the start of the pandemic. This ranged from capacity requirements to change of use projects – both of which continue to be huge priorities for the healthcare service. Converting existing wards, making alterations, creating COVID-compliant ward and arranging for oxygen tanks are just some of the key responsibilities we took on and successfully delivered to support those working on the front line through COVID.
This demand presented us with a significant increase in workload in a short amount of time. Across our teams we needed to programme a series of projects in a really tight time frame, including managing contract negotiations and costs for stakeholders.
Joe Tingle, one of our SPC Managers at Semperian Asset Management, had this to say about our work over the past 18 months:
“IPSL has managed a number of complex mechanical and electrical projects, managing fixed delivery programmes on a number of education projects, with the inevitable challenges and pressures they bring. The disruption and challenges faced over the last 18 months as a result of COVID, supply chain and tightening of the labour market have only added to the complexity and stressed tested project delivery.
“The IPSL team has provided an end to end solution, encompassing lifecycle planning, design management, procurement, cost management, delivery, client relationship management and risk mitigation and management. Collectively the IPSL team have provided confidence, through strong leadership and communication, robust management, expertise and experience including the foresight to horizon scan for risks and develop clear mitigation plans.
“The relationships IPSL has nurtured over a number of years with Consultants, Contractors, FM Providers and Clients have provided the strong foundations to respond and deliver in an ever-changing environment.”
For us, the key to doing things effectively is always communication, and all of our teams went above and beyond to ensure they sustained regular contact with all stakeholders on our sites. It was important they felt reassured and knew that we had things under control, and from our side it was vital that our people felt comfortable too.
There’s no question that it was hard work for our people on site but also for those in the offices. Wellbeing was a real priority for us at the start of 2021, something that was compounded by the subsequent lockdowns in January and February.
Maintaining the team ethos has been really important, and there was a real sense of all being in it together; with senior leaders and directors being on hand to support and oversee where required. It’s been great to see how our team spirit has evolved over the past eighteen months, and I believe it was instrumental in getting all of us through that period. A huge focus on wellbeing has played a big part in that too, with a dedicated steering group helping to ensure the best interests of our team were always a top priority.
The demand on services at IPSL
There has been significant support from the government to help increase readiness for the challenges of COVID. As a result, supporting clients building resilience and rapidly completing variation projects in PPP contracts has been a huge area of focus, and it continues to be as the UK looks to ensure it is ready should we experience another COVID wave this winter. We know that winter pressures have always been tricky for the healthcare sector to manage, but news that 40 super hospitals will be built to ensure future resilience is encouraging – although of course, they are still a long time away from completion.
In terms of our Lifecycle department, our usual services continue to be important, but we also know that many stakeholders are continuing to look at energy efficiency as a key element. Reducing their carbon footprint is a strategic priority in line with the UK’s wider Net Zero ambitions, so despite the pressing issue of the pandemic, our designers are looking at sustainability as a key priority and exploring how we can support our clients with achieving key targets. Energy saving – particularly within new build facilities – is imperative and is at the heart of all new designs moving forward.
We continue to be extremely busy, but we also have a huge appreciation for all of our stakeholders who continue to play a crucial part in the response to the pandemic. From our internal teams to our supply chain partners and our contractors who in many instances have been right there at hospitals every day, working hard to improve services and facilities. Just seeing how individuals at every level have worked together has been incredible.
Managing our teams and stakeholders throughout these challenges has been something I already look back on with a lot of pride. I sincerely hope we don’t have to go back to those early days of uncertainty, but I know that whatever comes our way, we’ll be ready to face it.
