Background
QA is a UK learning and technology skills business. It needed an Interim Project Manager to lead a major refurbishment of its head office in Slough, and it asked Maxwell Stephens to find someone who could start immediately.
The Challenge
The building was older, three floors and about 14,000 sq ft, and it was going to stay in use. That is the defining difficulty. Moving furniture and teams around while people continue to work means managing disruption and frustration as well as programme and budget, and the manager would be working alongside an architect and a wider project team.
The client was clear that this had to be a facilities project manager who had led a refurbishment of an occupied building personally, rather than coordinated one on behalf of somebody else. Moves experience was essential. The engagement was interim, expected to run for around six to eight months, with typical office hours that would flex to suit early deliveries and the occasional evening or weekend.
That ruled out a long list of candidates immediately. We needed people with the project management track record, the interim mindset and the diplomacy to handle colleagues who were being relocated.
The practical risks are easy to underestimate. Moving people floor by floor, keeping deliveries on schedule and agreeing works with an architect all have to happen while the business carries on working. The client therefore wanted a calm communicator who could explain decisions to colleagues, absorb their frustrations and keep the project team aligned. Hours would flex around the project, with the occasional early start for a delivery and some evening or weekend work.
Our Approach
- We took the brief from QA, including the scale of the building, the project team and the working pattern.
- We searched our interim and project network for facilities project managers with live-occupancy refurbishment and relocation experience.
- We screened hard on who had owned delivery end to end, and on availability to start straight away.
- We presented a short list of candidates with CVs and interview notes, and arranged the appointment.
The Outcome
Maxwell Stephens made the appointment.
If you need interim project leadership for a workplace change, talk to Maxwell Stephens about how we would approach the search.
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