With significant structural risks , out-of-the-box techniques and the restrictions of a live hotel to contend with , a lot could have gone wrong with the construction of Claridge ’ s Hotel mega basement . But meticulous planning and execution through Asta Powerproject ensured that McGee delivered the fivestorey extension on time and to an exceptionally high standard .
In fact , McGee delivered the agreed programme six months early , so Claridge ’ s Hotel could expand the brief to add further elements .
This incredibly ambitious project quickly captured the construction industry ’ s attention : Fleming Award in 2018 , with judges saying , “ it really did stand out in terms of rigour , technical complexity and innovation that ran through the project from start to finish ”.
It was also highly commended at the Ground Engineering Award in 2019 , with one judge remarking that “ the project was undertaken within extraordinary operational constraints and with exceptional human endeavour .”
Most importantly , the new mega basement has been very well received by Claridge ’ s Hotel customers , who continue to leave five-star reviews .
Making confident customer promises Before embarking on the Claridge ’ s Hotel project , Michelle described herself as a “ nervous ” Asta Powerproject user , but her confidence and expertise have grown since then .
She has just completed an 800-line programme for a new engineering project , and the development of her Asta Powerproject skills ( and her colleagues ’ skills ) have helped shape the way McGee plans and executes construction work .
“ When we were working directly below the existing building , the noise would reverberate up through the hotel , but we were able to sequence work in Asta Powerproject to ensure we met noise schedules .”
While initially , staff would block out whole days for important events , this impacted the progress of extension works . To avoid delays , the front-of-house team worked with McGee to determine times when work could continue ( for example , during drinks receptions with a lot of background noise ) versus critical silent points ( such as wedding speeches ).
Asta Powerproject ’ s detailed timelines meant Michelle and her team could work tasks around hotel activities to continue as effectively as possible while minimising the inconvenience to paying guests .
A five-star finish , delivered ahead of schedule
“ Rather than creating an initial high-level programme and trying to figure out how long a project will take , we can now look at how long each task takes , and Asta Powerproject will give us the overall length of the programme . It ’ s made us more confident in our promises to our clients .”
Moreover , Michelle sees the value programme management software can bring to site operations – particularly in cities , where lack of space makes logistics challenging .
“ Project management software isn ’ t used enough at site level . We ’ re not waiting for a planner who doesn ’ t know the ins and outs of a project to do a weekly site visit . Because we have Asta Powerproject , we can share data and discuss the effect of doing one thing versus another in real-time . I think that ’ s invaluable .”
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