CIBSE AWARDS | UCL Refining the guidelines The development of the guidelines happened relatively quickly, says Stevens, with Buro live POE on 22 Gordon Street. The team then focused on ensuring consistency of delivery, working with external providers, consultants the guidelines. At the time of writing, there have been eight iterations of the PPR the most recent in August 2020 as they have new regulatory requirements and guidance. The PPR guidelines are prescriptive in terms of minimum requirements, to help standardise the process, but they are also designed to be implemented across a variety of building typologies and applied to a full range of UCLs projects, and demand an appropriate level of detail depending on the scale and implications of the project. That way, the real issues surrounding a project can be captured, without the process overburdening those involved and becoming a box-ticking exercise. It applies to every project, but there is a lot of nuance within that, explains Stubbs. A project based around, say, mechanical life-cycle replacement is very different from a new-build construction project, or the delivery of a teaching space or a containment level-3 laboratory. So, it is scaled in a way to address that, so that it remains relevant. A relatively minor project of up to 25,000, for instance may require a Survey Monkey questionnaire, with other smaller projects needing a slightly different questionnaire sent to relevant people involved in it. Larger projects require more detailed PIR feedback and/or POE processes, Stevens explains but that also depends on a range of other factors. Its based risk and impact, he says. So, a low-cost, 25,000 project with higher risk criticality in its performance such as in a research- KEY STATS: TRANSFORMING UCL PROGRAMME (2014-20) 1.25bn investment in UCLs estate 182 Transforming UCL projects completed 97 major projects completed 22 projects recognised with sustainability awards 180 laboratories refurbished or created 168,776m2 space refurbished or created 92 teaching spaces refurbished or created UCLs database of lessons learned is available to all framework consultants and contractors lab environment would require a much higher level of PPR. The guidelines describe how it should happen, but it requires a conversation between the project manager, the assistant director that looks after mobilisation, and the head of built environment sustainability, where we agree what level of post-project review should happen on each project. Lessons learned database Through the adoption of the PPR guidelines, UCL now has a database of lessons learned which are captured at every stage of the project, from inception (RIBA Stage 0) through to completion, post-occupancy review and in use (RIBA Stage 7) and it is available to all framework consultants and contractors. The UCL project mobilisation and transitions team has one staff member who maintains the lessons learned database, which can be searched by contractor, consultant, RIBA stage, building, project type, and so on. Every time we do a POE or a PPR, all those lessons learned and action points get uploaded onto the database and we have a requirement in our stage gates and governance procedures that our contractors and consultants must view these at the relevant stages, says Stevens. Its ensuring the lessons learned processes are built in. In addition, the mobilisation and transition team checks and ensures seasonal commissioning is taking place after handover, because thats one area of performance on which organisations or contractors can often fall down. That, in itself, has had a massive impact on reducing the performance gap at UCL. Mark Dowson, associate director in the sustainability team at Buro Happold, led and person responsible for the lessons learned database is an innovative step Capturing lessons learned shouldnt be a new thing. It is often part of the process evaluation stage of the POE, but those lessons learned dont always get passed on in a systematic, formalised way, he says. And its quite rare for outcomes of those sessions to be centrally related, and for someone within the organisation to be responsible for looking after that database to ensure insights are incorporated into future projects. 36 April 2021 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE April 21 pp34-37 UCL learning award Supp.indd 36 26/03/2021 17:29