Steve Hardy Consulting Ltd

September 2022
Tender reviews for Tilbury Douglas Construction
Really pleased to pick up an assignment with the Tilbury Douglas Infrastructure Division to carry out tender reviews, advice and recommendations for three of their current bids. Whether it's for traditional two-stage tenders, or where for whatever other reason there is a complex conversion process from 'preferred bidder' to construction contract, it's sometimes exciting and refreshing to use my skills and expertise in a pro-active, risk prevention manner as opposed to trying to find solutions where things have already gone wrong!

August 2022
Commercial advisory service for new customer Recom Solutions
Very grateful to Chronos Consult for recommending the services of Steve Hardy Consulting to Recom Solutions who i have been helping over the past couple of months by providing commercial and contractual advice on a range of matters. Recom are a small to medium size organisation based in Manchester and carry out general construction, project consultancy and passive fire solutions. They are a great bunch of people, with high values and standards, striving to 'do the right things' and grow a sustainable business. Hope i can continue to help them on the journey.

April 2022
Resolution of significant account dispute for Croydon Council
In March 2020 Chronos Consult and Steve Hardy Consulting Ltd were appointed by Brick By Brick (an 'arms length' developer for Croydon Council) to advise and help resolve a major final account dispute with a tier 1 contractor. The process involved an entire review and re-appraisal of in excess of 1,000 variation claims and several loss and expense claims, and significant dialogue with the contractor . For some time matters seemed destined for an expensive and time consuming formal dispute process, however through a combination of diligent and robust change evaluation together with close and committed communication with both the customer and the contractor i am extremely pleased to have eventually facilitated a negotiated solution to the satisfaction of all parties.

September 2021
Kier Construction calling again
So pleased to be helping my good friends at Kier again at HMP Wellingborough prison. They are mostly only small and discrete advisory assignments but they are very welcome nonetheless and i think this is the 8th time i have been asked to help so i must be doing something right. It's amazing the satisfaction that comes with being able to draw on all the experience i have gained and use it in a positive way to help others in the industry. The project looks great too....even for a prison!

July 2021
Steve Hardy Consulting retained for 4th year to provide guest lecturing for UCSA's Construction Management Degree

Luckily this year i was able to deliver face to face lectures although with some students needing to participate online and others in the classroom it proved to be quite a challenge! This year we focussed on large construction projects, modern methods of construction, CVR's, forecasting and risk and health and safety plans. However, by adopting a case study approach using real projects i have been involved with, it enabled me to keep the sessions flowing with plenty of in-class exercises for the students to have a go at.

March 2021
Another Interim Assignment for Galliford Try
I was delighted to be asked by Galliford Try to step in once again to provide Commercial Director services on an interim, part time consultancy basis, this time helping out in their newly re-structured West Midlands & South West region. It's an exciting opportunity and i hope the experience and know-how i will bring, helps MD Simon Courtney and his new regional leadership team to build the foundations for a great new business.

October 2020
Old dogs can still learn new tricks
You can find me now on Twitter at @SHardyConsult. I have no idea yet what i'm going to tweet about but i'm putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of my good friend and Construo founder Tom Spilsted who has shamed me into joining the feathered social masses because he is now a master tweeter and is a couple of years older even than me! Apologies in advance if i get drawn into commenting on any non business related passions such as history, motorcycling, rugby, football and pretty much any other sporting activity.

September 2020
Construo Update
Considerable work is ongoing in the background in collaboration with my colleagues at www.construo.io to help build content and user connections for this unique, construction dedicated web platform. Look out in the coming months for new content including a series of 'spotlight on....' video debates on interesting and topical subjects which will involve a selection of experienced industry experts as well as members of the Construo team. Don't forget to sign up and get involved, claim your business page for free and follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/construo/ and Twitter @construonetwork

June & July 2020
Steve Hardy Consulting retained for 3rd successive year of guest lecturing for UCSA
Many thanks to Stephen Fox and his colleagues at UCSA, a joint venture between University of Hertfordshire and Oaklands College, for asking me once again to provide guest lecturing for their Construction Management Degree. This year required some pretty quick and agile up-skilling on my part, firstly as i was asked to create and present a lecture on Modern Methods of Construction and Off-site Manufacturing and secondly to discover that due to Covid i had to deliver the lectures online by video conference. This was not as easy as it may sound, particularly when my natural style is to try to make the sessions engaging and interactive.

February 2020
CONSTRUO - THE HOME FOR CONSTRUCTION DEDICATED NETWORKING AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING
This month saw the launch of Construo, an exciting new web platform dedicated to construction knowledge sharing, best practice and lessons learnt. It is open to both individuals and businesses to join, share information and participate in the wikibuild Q&A.

I'm incredibly excited to be one of a small team of experienced construction professionals working in a Non Exec Director capacity with founder and CEO Tom Spilsted in the creation and development of what is set to become a fantastic resource for all sectors and disciplines within the construction industry.

December 2019
Exciting New Alliance formed with Chronos Consult

Led by experienced forensic programming experts Tim Marlow and Matt Lindsay, Chronos Consult is a new business providing Delay Analysis, Expert Witness and Project Planning services. I'm really pleased to be linking up with Tim, Matt and their team to add a complementary commercial consultancy capability. This new alliance arrangement will provide a stronger offering from both Chronos Consult and Steve Hardy Consulting to our customers.

September 2019
Southampton New Arts Center Final Account successfully negotiated on behalf of Galliford Try

After several months guiding the project team in the preparation and validation of the account and commercial claims it was great to then turn my mind to the crucial and infinitely more exciting matter of reaching an agreement and getting paid. The hard work eventually paid off and the account was finally negotiated without the need for a formal and costly dispute.

July 2019
University College St Albans - Giving something back !

I was very happy once again this year to be helping Stephen Fox and his team deliver three guest lecturing days for the Commercial Management Module of the BSc Construction Management Degree.

It's a rewarding experience and great to be passing on some 'know-how' to such a bright group of students......makes me feel good about the future of our industry.

Never, however underestimate the amount of preparation work needed to deliver a full day of lecturing....it certainly opened my eyes, so hats off to all you full time lecturers and teachers out there!

April 2019

Imtech Engineering Services - a reminder of just how tough subcontracting can be !

Really pleased that my good acquaintances at Imtech came to Steve Hardy Consulting Ltd to provide strategy, leadership and commercial guidance for one of their flagship London projects. Being able to deal with the sensitive, demanding and sometimes polar opposite challenges of works progress pressures, contractual security and stakeholder relationships at various levels is something you only really acquire with experience.

January 2019

Commercial Risk Management advice for Kier Group

SHC Ltd successfully completed the tender risk advice assignment for Kier. This was a UK Government sponsored project under a PPC2000 form of contract and which was in places heavily amended, which consequently changed the risk profile. The PPC2000 form was founded on the principles of early risk identification, agreement of fair and appropriate risk allocation between the parties and transparent and sensible risk mitigation processes being followed. If used as originally intended it encourages a refreshing and collaborative approach rather than the all too familiar one of passing risk successively down the supply chain to the point of least resistance and sometimes the least capability to properly deal with it. The latter approach usually leads to project risks not being dealt with at an early enough stage, if indeed at all, and is often a major contributor to failed or poorly performing projects.

December 2018
Galliford Try Legacy Final Account

I just love it when somebody who once worked for me calls up and asks if i can help them with something, so i jumped at the chance to get stuck into an awkward public sector legacy final account for Galliford Try. There are not many contractors without at least one or two of these tricky outstanding accounts blemishing their internal management books and i was able to draw on my extensive corporate contracting experience to provide the leadership, advice and hands-on support most appropriate in this case.

May to July 2018
Guest lecturing at University of Herts / Oaklands
I'm pleased for the opportunity to give a little back to an industry which has served me well and hopefully to pass on some of the extensive experience and know-how i have acquired along the way. I provided four days of guest lecturing support to a small but cracking bunch of young guys and girls eager to learn more about how things work out there in the 'real world'. A slightly daunting experience but well worthwhile!
See button below for link to a great course offering a 'learn while you work' approach.

April 2018
Final Account Resolved with Network Rail
On behalf of Balfour Beatty, Steve Hardy Consulting Ltd secured a final account agreement with Network Rail for work carried out Euston Station. This involved a lengthy process to demonstrate and negotiate fair compensation entitlements and was achieved without resorting to formal third party dispute resolution, saving both Balfour Beatty and Network Rail considerable time and expense and helping to maintain good ongoing working relationships.