Building flagship Hiscox office in city is a challenge

IMAGINE being appointed managing director of a new company with a 14 million budget to handle, 1000 staff to manage and a 59 week operational turnaround to achieve before packing up and starting all over again somewhere else.

Such is the life of a construction site manager, who in the case of Hiscox's new 50,000sq ft office in Hungate, also has a number of additional challenges to overcome.

Work is now underway on the insurance firm's new four-storey flagship office, which will ultimately be home to a team of 500 staff in the city.

BAM Construction has been appointed for the build, marking a return to York for the firm, which worked on Network Rails new Route Operating Centre, as well as the University of Yorks Ron Cooke Hub, and the Melrose Stand at York Racecourse.

BAM Construction director John Phillips is site manager for the Hiscox build, and despite years of experience in the industry, is tackling a number of challenges for the first time on the project.

Mr Phillips said: "They have designed a building that's not a standard building, it's quite a landmark building and is very high spec. It's definitely a unique building.

"It's also a fairly risky building for us, it's not a simple building. Engineering wise and technical wise this is a very challenging building."

The challenges started before building work even got underway as the site for the new office lies above the remains of an early 12th century medieval list.

Construction staff have been working alongside archaeologists with the foundations and pilings of the building designed to miss key areas of archaeological importance.

Mr Phillips said: "The concrete frame of the building is also quite a challenge. The client wanted a clean, crisp finish. What at we cast is what is going to be seen so the finish is massively important.

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Building flagship Hiscox office in city is a challenge