Royal Courts of Justice

I walked into what I thought was a meeting room at the Royal Courts of Justice. It was a court. Full of judges.

We had been called to brief them on the works programme - how we would manage access, security, and specialist works while they remained in occupation. I went as PM with my Project Director and a specialist subcontractor. We walked through the door expecting a table and chairs.

The judges were sitting up high the way they do when court is in session. Below them - other judges, their teams, heads of department. The room was full. We were standing in front of all of them.

Judges ask questions differently to clients. The language is precise. The logic is forensic. You cannot be vague. You cannot say probably. You have to know exactly what you are talking about and say it clearly.

We answered everything. We left. Works approved.

The project was the Thomas More Building in the Royal Courts of Justice compound. Strip out and refurbishment across eleven floors. Almost a year on site. We could not get office space inside the building. We hired cabins. A standard 20ft site cabin squeezed into the courtyard - that was my office for almost a year. Desk, laptop, printer, first aid kit, kettle, and a chair for visitors. I managed the whole project from that cabin.

Strict security throughout. Daily passes. Checks for every contractor and every delivery. A building that had been standing for over a century, occupied and operational throughout.

When it was finished the judges moved back in. The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales - The Right Honourable Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd - attended the opening ceremony on 22 May 2014 and unveiled the plaque. We had supplied the plaque. We had supplied the drape. I was in the room alongside my Project Director and the PMs from Turner & Townsend. We were invited to the celebration afterwards. Champagne in the main hall of the Royal Courts of Justice.

I arrived in the UK in 2005 knowing almost nobody. One contact who picked me up from the station. Three weeks looking for work. Eventually ended up joining the company he was working for, learning on the job from day one. Nine years later I was holding that plaque in the main hall of the Royal Courts of Justice.

I had not planned any of it. Nine years of showing up, learning on site, and taking on more than was comfortable.

The price of that pace was something I only understood later, when my body made it impossible to ignore. That is the next post.

Did this resonate? I read every comment.