Case Study
Bouygues UK Manhattan Loft Gardens

Client’s requirements

Bouygues UK, a leading construction player in design, build and infrastructure, chose Turner & Townsend Suiko to help undertake the global roll-out of Lean, on the pilot site at Manhattan Loft Gardens, Stratford.
Described as “Europe’s most ambitious residential tower”, Manhattan Loft Gardens is a challenging project, incorporating a double-cantilevered structure and complex layout. With intricate design requirements and low levels of repeatability, the timely development, submission and sign-off of design information was identified as a key challenge.

Our contribution

Bouygues identified a need to accelerate the process of agreeing and awarding subcontract packages, to ensure that delays to the subsequent fit-out phase of the build were minimised, and associated costs avoided.
Turner & Townsend Suiko was commissioned to undertake a pilot project in design of the residential area, identifying opportunities in the current practices and developing new processes to ensure timely completion of design activities.
In line with Lean methodology, benefits were considered along the wider Value Stream. Opportunities were identified in conjunction with the architectural design consultants to develop a solution that was mutually beneficial, maximising the value provided to the client.

Making the difference

Employees of the relevant organisations were engaged through joint mapping exercises, helping them to visualise their processes and recognise potential areas for improvement.

Key themes for improvement were also identified through tailored interviews, establishing current practices that were impeding progress.

Collaborative planning sessions were held between Bouygues UK and design consultants to cascade the overarching ‘master’ programme into clear weekly, and then daily, activities.

A new daily review process was developed, and implementation has provided the following benefits:

• Clear definition of required activities
• Agreed daily target setting and monitoring of performance to drive the right behaviours
• Visual display of progress vs plan; overall, and constituent parts
• Accountability through recognised roles & responsibilities
• Distinct framework to provide structure to the review, and ensure focus on key issues
• Immediate identification of ‘progress blockers’, with appropriate escalation
• Improved ability to assign required resources based on workload
• Increased predictability of completion dates enabled greatly improved coordination and sequencing of activities

The collaborative nature of the planning sessions has also enabled ‘flexing’ of the programme when appropriate, ensuring that plans could remain responsive to client (customer) needs.

Supporting those involved, through regular coaching and guidance, has ensured that the benefits have been sustained and the process has continued to improve further.

Compliance with planned activities was very positive, with the number of completed  activities closely matching the plan, and with an overall rate of adherence to plan of 100% more than 2 months after implementation

Significant productivity improvements were observed, with the average number of documents issued increasing by an additional 160% upon implementation, with no deterioration in the quality of work.

The quantity of documents issued in the 9 weeks following implementation exceeded the number in the previous six months. Based on this improved rate of submission (and subsequent review), completion of the design programme is considered to have been accelerated by approximately four months in this two-month period.