A CRITICAL PROCEDURE

摘要

University College London Hospital is the latest PFI project to open its doors to the public, promising - as they all do - to get the best value from the private sector. So Building sent in an expert to assess just how well the fabric of this £422m building will withstand daily wear and tear over the 35-year PFI contract. Peter caplehorn is an architect with a no-nonsense approach to assessing how well products and materials stand up to use in completed PFI projects. Instead of relying on the maker's claims about its products and the data produced by whole-life cost models, he checks out building performance for himself. As the technical director of Scott Brownrigg, he spends his days trekking around factories and grilling those running them. He then visits completed projects to see how well its components have lasted. Only when he is satisfied that he understands how a product performs will he specify it on his own projects.