A few years ago, I worked on a fast-track refurbishment and remodelling project that remains one of the best examples of what’s possible when the whole team pulls in the same direction.
The brief? Deliver a £1.9m workplace refurbishment for a client taking space on a five-year sublease — with just 16 weeks from initial design to handover.
The Challenge
- Compressed programme
- Partially fitted space
- Fixed move-in deadline
- Orders needed placing before design completion
Early Strategy & Smart Resourcing
We brought an architect and building services engineer on board early to support test fits and technical due diligence. The brief included:
- Refurbishing an existing meeting suite
- Creating a café, town hall and breakout zones
- Selective modifications to existing infrastructure and layout
We quickly produced a high-level budget to shape early decisions and give the client commercial visibility before progressing too far.
A Flexible Procurement Approach
With the clock ticking, a traditional single-stage tender was out of the question. The client couldn’t wait for a full design and pricing cycle before placing material orders.
Instead, we appointed a contractor via a two-stage tender under a JCT Design & Build contract. The first stage was agreed on:
- Preliminaries
- Overheads and profit
- Defined working arrangements and responsibilities
This allowed mobilisation to begin while the design and scope continued to evolve.
Co-Developing the Budget and Scope
What set this project apart was the collaborative, open-book approach to building the target cost.
There was no time for the usual “design → price → value engineer” loop. Instead, we worked directly with key trade contractors to:
- Develop and agree scopes of work
- Review live material pricing and lead times
- Negotiate rates using benchmark data and market insight
- Co-design solutions in real time to resolve constraints and stay within budget
As cost consultants, we sat across the process – verifying pricing, managing scope, and holding the commercial framework together. The result was a clear target cost that became the reference point for the remainder of the project.
Involving Client Stakeholders
A key success factor was the integration of the client’s own team into the project environment. The building and FM manager were co-located with the delivery team, actively involved in day-to-day decisions and ensuring that operational needs were fully considered.
This helped to:
- Streamline decision-making during the build phase
- Prepare for handover and early operations
- Coordinate IT, logistics, and move planning effectively
We allowed a one-week soft landing to set up IT and ensure systems were live. The final box move was completed over three days, enabling the client to walk into a fully operational space.
Designing, Ordering and Building in Parallel
While the approach had its challenges, the co-located team setup allowed us to design, procure and build in parallel, resolving issues as they arose. Where inevitable unknowns cropped up – as they often do on refurbishments – we relied on contingency allowances and robust governance to keep the programme on track.
The project was ultimately delivered on time, on budget, and with a high level of client satisfaction.
What Made It Work
- Trust and collaboration across the team
- A clear but flexible budget from day one
- Two-stage procurement with clearly defined roles
- Open-book negotiation with the trades
- Real-time cost oversight to maintain commercial control
- Integration of client stakeholders to support soft landing and early operations
Final Thought
Fast-track delivery doesn’t mean cutting corners. It means creating the right environment -with strategy, structure, and collaboration – to make things happen at pace without compromising quality or value.
This project is proof that when clients, consultants, contractors and trades work in sync, tight timeframes don’t have to mean trade-offs.
