Projects up to £12m
07971 603104
Projects over £12m
07970 298549
Corporate partnerships + higher education
07814 668353
77 Newman Street London W1T 3EW
0207 307 9000
17 Gresse St London W1T 1QL
020 7307 4400
Managing Director, Southern
07973 157869
Southern
07970 114890
Maxis 1 Western Road Bracknell RG12 1RT
01344 386 600
Managing Director, Central
07976 937069
Business Development Manager
07814 067974
Central
07712 870914
Fort Dunlop 207 Fort Parkway Birmingham B24 9FD
0121 748 8600
Managing Director, Northern
07581 472506
Director - Northern
07964 627025
Business Development Manager, Leeds
07976 609066
13th Floor Chancery Place 50 Brown Street Manchester M2 2JT
0161 829 3400
First Floor 6 East Parade Leeds LS1 2AD
0113 241 2000
Scotland Lead
07583 694411
North + Scotland
07813 056023
Trilogy One 11 Woodhall Eurocentral Motherwell ML1 4YT
0141 248 8688
Insight
Home Insights A day in the life of an office fit out design manager
We speak to site-based design manager, Nicola Tomkins, to understand how she works with architects and construction teams to deliver fit out projects.
I started my career in interior architecture, as I always wanted to work in design. Although I really liked the creative process as a designer, I also found a lot of satisfaction from seeing projects literally grow from the drawing through to completion.
I love the process in construction — finding solutions to problems and resolving them in a creative way.
Fundamentally, the role of a design manager is sleeves rolled up on site supporting the whole team to deliver the project. It’s much more than that for me.
I feel my role is pivotal to the construction face of a project. I have an interaction with the designers, a relationship with the project managers and client team whilst supporting my own construction team. It’s a multifaceted enabling and coordinating role.
At the preconstruction procurement phase, I help scope the packages and plug any gaps by working closely with the commercial team to build a robust procurement package and ascertain interfaces between different packages and subcontractors. Potential issues are identified and de-risked at an early stage to try to mitigate issues on site during construction.
For the architects and designers, I become an additional resource — their onsite eyes and ears. I support them with guidance and advice and maintain the integrity of the design by relaying it to the construction team and subcontractors. I bring together the lead designer, the services designers, structural engineers, and specialist designers to ensure a coordinated scheme is prepared and ready to build to.
With the construction team on site, I have to plug in the information they need and support them where necessary, discussing sequencing, buildability and quality. Our construction teams know how to build a great quality project, but not necessarily how to make it elegant. My principle is to ‘build what’s right, not what’s easy’.
I like the creativity of getting stuck in. Designing the site set up and having an early involvement in that side of the project is really rewarding and where I can add value. A well thought-through set up can mean better facilities for people on site. Thinking about branding, the location of the site deliberately rather than just ticking boxes can make a big difference to the comfort of the workforce, strength of the brand and image we portray.
One of the things I love about Overbury is our desire to do something better than everyone else. We want to stand out and be recognised for our commitment to the best we can, and clients and consultants see that too.
The ability to build relationships and adapt, chameleon-like, your approach in a very short space of time is definitely a skill a design manager needs. You need to be able to instil confidence in the consultants, so they know where you’re coming from and trust you.
It’s not just about populating a schedule, organising meetings and having a chat, it’s the emotional intelligence of consciously building relationships. Sometimes it works but everyone is different so it’s always good to take the time to read them and adopt the relevant approach.
I care about people, so I make a conscious effort to speak to everyone from the security team to the site secretary and the delivery driver. I like making that contribution to a relationship and then using it to bring everyone together as a team.
NEWS