2 Minutes With: Jared, Aqua Project Manager

Born and bred in Yorkshire, Jared spends much of his time patrolling the busy M62 corridor looking after our Northern clients.  With a background in construction contracting and over eleven years in project management, Jared has enjoyed working on some impressive projects.

At Aqua, Jared focuses on collaborating with end user clients, helping them achieve their business goals whilst minimising their energy usage and running costs. Clients comment on his highly meticulous and approachable nature, and he thrives on delivering the very best results. 

“A proactive attitude, team management, communication and problem solving are really important in my role” explains Jared.  “That said, if I could have a superpower, it would be to control time, that would be invaluable in the project world!”

When not working on his Aqua projects, Jared enjoys tinkering around renovating houses, exploring the countryside and jet-setting off on adventures around the world with his wife and two young boys.

If Jared wasn’t in Temperature Control, he would be dealing with temperatures on the opposite end of the scale, fighting fires as a Fire Officer!

Here, in his own words, Jared gives us an insight into the final stages of an installation project for a client who specialises in plumbing, drainage and rainwater solutions for the domestic housing market.  We join him just as the clients’ chillers are about to be despatched:

“There was a tight window of opportunity for the delivery of the chillers on this project. We needed to ensure they arrived on site for the crane lift on the 28^th December which had been planned to coincide with the Christmas shutdown period. 

Everything had to run like clockwork. There were no if’s or but’s, we HAD to co-ordinate things  carefully to deliver to site by 20^th, so that the hauliers’ drivers could do what they needed to do and still get home in time for Christmas.

A global shortage of fan components hadn’t helped with the production schedule.  Neither did a customs delay, but these things happen!  We monitored the manufacturing schedule by the hour, with engineers prioritising the chillers and working overtime to keep to the deadline.  With no time to spare – and a very helpful contact at Customs – the trucks were loaded, and the chillers were on their way to Doncaster. 

We had two HIABs available on site, but last-minute complications and site restrictions make it tricky to offload the chillers in close enough proximity to where the crane would sit.  A quick call to a local crane company and they jumped in and facilitated a safe offload the very next day. Now the chillers were all set and finally in place for the crane lift.

I knew we had about twenty individual lifts to make and setting up the crane alone takes 4 hours.  So, we decided an early start was needed and planned for the crane to arrive bright and early at 5am.

The day before, I had a final site meeting with the client, just to make sure everything was in place and that they were happy with our plans.  A representative from the crane supplier had already been to site, dropping off the ballast for the crane in advance. 

The 28^th was a very cold, wintery morning, but we had an exciting crane lift ahead!  I arrived on site at 4.30am, just to give me time to make sure everything was in place.  Moments like this are always critical points in a project of this size, you have to foresee any potential issues and ensure everything goes to plan.  Also, crane lifts are expensive, so any problems are always costly, as well as the impact they have on the overall project schedule. 

Thain, Aqua’s Head of Projects, had come down from Scotland for the crane lift.  Personally, I think he wanted to set a record for the most Christmases worked on site.  He’d worked on the same site, at the same time, the year before!  That said,  it’s always good to see a friendly face and to have an extra pair of hands.

The crane arrived bang on time at 5am, getting into position to start rigging up ready for the first lift at 9am. The old units are removed first and then a mezzanine level was prepared with new floor grids to take the new chiller units. 

With the mezzanine complete, we had a clean canvas to work with.  The first new chiller was rigged up and lifted across. The location and placement had to be carefully planned, as space was tight and we had two units to fit in.  We measured and laid the TICO pads down and landed the first chiller into position. TICO pads are designed for high performance machinery and minimise vibration and noise. 

The second Chiller was then lifted over into position. This took a bit longer, with Thain demonstrating his incredible eye for detail, trying to get the chillers parallel to within millimetres – and, as always, he succeeded! 

The last, but by no means least lift, was for the pump skid.  This was fabricated to 2m x 2m in size but had to fit through a gap of 2.1m x 2.1m so communication was key!   The crane brought the skid over, slowly lowering it down to its final destination. I guided it, holding the tagline to make sure it was correctly lined up.  We then passed carefully through the gap, bringing the skid into situ. 

The crane lift was completed at 4pm, 11 hours after it first arrived on site. Now, time to start getting everything piped up!

Over the course of the next few weeks, the team worked to  get the chillers piped and lagged. All that then remained was to drain down the system and switch the pumps over from old to new.  The system was then commissioned and handed over to the client so that they can start running their production process on their new equipment.”