Carillion builds new Library of Birmingham with the help of Asta Powerproject

Work is well underway on a major construction project to build an impressive new Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square in the city centre.

Carillion, one of the UK's leading support services and construction companies, secured the contract with Birmingham City Council in 2008. After working with design teams and architects and overseeing extensive archaeological investigations and the installation of wells for the ground source heat system, the company got the go-ahead to start the construction phase early in 2010.

Carillion aims to ensure successful completion of this multi-task project with the assistance of Asta Powerproject, a leading construction project management software tool from Asta Development. Asta Powerproject is being used for the Library of Birmingham project because the majority of Carillion planners and project managers are familiar with its use and outputs. In addition, Asta Powerproject is so widely used by construction companies that integration of contractors’ project plans is simple, which is important when a project is as multi-faceted as this one.

Birmingham’s flagship building will house the Library’s extensive collection of archives, provide opportunities for public displays, and works will also include a new 300 seat studio theatre for joint use of the Library and the Repertory Theatre. The new Library will have an emphasis on information technology and will include an extensive children’s area and music area, making it a Centre of Learning for Birmingham.All Carillion projects are run tightly. They have a programme in place demonstrating the design, procurement and construction activities. These are always fully logic linked. Progress against planned activity is reported regularly.

The Library of Birmingham project has been let under a NEC Contract which requires that the programmes are rescheduled and updated at least monthly to identify any changes to the completion date. The Carillion team have also taken advantage of the cost/income facilities in Asta Powerproject and the programme forms the basis of the activity schedule against which payments are made.

Bob Davis is Senior Planning Manager with Carillion and has been using Asta Powerproject since 1994. He knows that it is the right software for a construction job of this magnitude and importance: “Asta Powerproject has proved to be an excellent tool for this particular project because of its ability to produce fully integrated, logic linked programmes of several thousand activities that are easily to understand, backed up with cost and resource data as required.”