FM Conway - Going the Extra Mile

Going the Extra Mile

W What we needed now, urgently, was a fully operational IT system. And there were moments when it seemed that this would never happen.

hen it was announced that we had won the LoHAC tender, the pressure was on once again. I had already identified a site for the new CONWAY AECOM offices,

which had to be within a forty-five-minute commute, on public transport, of TfL’s headquarters. The site in North Acton Lane, which we had agreed to lease, was right on the cusp of this. When I went to the landlord to sign the lease, he had some bad news for me. We could have the lease but only on three months’ notice to quit, and only for a year or two, because he was now intending to sell. So, there was nothing else for it but to start negotiating with him to buy the site outright. That gave us a pretty anxious Christmas; we exchanged contracts on Christmas Eve. And then it turned out – when TfL visited to inspect the place – that the site was only half the size that it needed to be. Fortunately for us, there was an adjoining site that was also for sale, which we were able to buy. So, TfL were happy, and we … well, we were mightily relieved. What we needed now, urgently, was a fully operational IT system. And there were moments when it seemed that this would never happen. I remember Ed calling me, at a low moment during one of the dips in the project, and asking what my success criteria for the project were. ‘April 1 st ,’ I told him. ‘TfL. LoHAC. Forget everything else.’ And – to cut a long and painful story short – Ed and the team delivered. On April 1 st 2013, i-CON went live, not in a perfect environment for TfL, but with many areas working really well. And for about four or five months, we were the only contractor on the LoHAC agreement who was able to satisfy the TfL requirements for EDI communication. The other contractors just couldn’t achieve that. That was a big feather in our cap.

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