Network Rail Saves £300,000+ on Birmingham New Street Using Gather

£300,000 saved on change of scope and payment applications. That's the documented impact of Gather on Birmingham New Street Station's concrete spalling repair works.

Asset owner Network Rail partnered with principal contractor J. Murphy & Sons to repair platforms seven and eight. A total of 383 site records were captured, reviewed and analysed jointly to ensure clarity on all site activities. Timely insights on productivity enabled quick, data-based optimisation that transformed how both parties managed change and payments.

The challenge

Prior to using Gather, Network Rail's project management team faced multiple challenges in the face of budgetary constraints and tight deadlines:

• Complex schedule translation: The Oracle Primavera programme needed translating into straightforward, actionable daily activities for the site team
• Progress tracking gaps: No reliable way to track daily progress against overall programme and schedule
• Inconsistent records: Lack of consistency, structure and accuracy in site records across different contractors
• Format fragmentation: Contractors submitted site diaries in different formats and levels of detail
• Limited visibility: Office-based project teams had poor visibility on site activities and performance

The solution

With its intuitive mobile interface, Gather addressed all of these challenges by securing maximum buy-in from contractors and their site teams.

Mobile-native app securing adoption

For any technical solution to work, implementation is key. This is especially important for capturing site records, because it depends on the willingness and ability of the site team to input quality, consistent data.

Built natively for mobile devices and tablets, Gather made it easy to report daily progress by entering actual hours worked, materials used, and variances in productivity. The project team could pre-populate up to 60% of the information for each shift, making the workload lighter and transitioning to digital site records smoother.

"I found Gather beneficial for myself, the team and also the project. It assisted us with managing and tracking our planned versus actuals, resource, plant and equipment allocations and user-friendly interface when out in the field."William Grant, Site Manager, J. Murphy & Sons

Collaborate using concrete, accurate data

A major benefit of having a library of consistent, structured insights on site activities was improved collaboration. All stakeholders had access to the same data captured using the same format and to the same level of accuracy and detail.

This single source of truth made it easier to track progress, resolve issues and make informed decisions. If the Network Rail project team saw that a particular task was falling behind schedule, they could easily identify the responsible contractor and work together to get the task back on track. Letting the data do the talking removes emotions and finger-pointing.

Using Gather's Power BI key insights dashboard, all parties have a clearer understanding of the what, when, how and why of project progress. This data-led transparency and accountability fosters long-term trust and confidence between the client and the contractor.

"Gather allows me to assess live project progress against the programme as submitted by the contractor. This has introduced a new level of transparency and improved working relationships between Network Rail and Murphy."Andy Johnson, Scheme Project Manager, Network Rail

From insights to actions

Data is a means to an end. Gather worked closely with Network Rail to translate site insights into concrete, streamlined actions. The rich, structured site data enabled Network Rail and Murphy to take actions on a daily basis through three key touchpoints:

• Daily progress stand-ups: At the start of each day, Network Rail's project team used Gather's key insight dashboards to review progress, identify potential problems, and devise a plan to tackle issues with the contractor
• Weekly progress reviews: Using automated report generation and sharing functions, all stakeholders were updated on progress and invited to collaborate on production issues on a weekly basis
• Ad hoc production meetings: When an issue arose on site, Network Rail's project team used Gather to identify, diagnose, and develop a plan to resolve it, helping minimise disruptions and maximise efficiency

The results: transparency in change and payment applications

Managing change of scope and applications for payments is key to the successful delivery of any project. Without reliable commercial and site data, navigating change and payments can be treacherous. It risks not only imploding the budget but also tarnishing client-contractor relationships.

With a structured single source of truth shared between Network Rail and Murphy, assessing, approving and agreeing on scope change requests and applications for payments became a straightforward process.

£300,000+ saved on change management

With consistent, accurate, searchable data of site activities and planned versus actual production, Network Rail's project team had all the resources to scrutinise labour, plant and time allocation to each of the relevant activities included in change requests. This resulted in total savings of well over £300,000.

Payment applications transformed

Network Rail also leaned on Gather for payment applications. Internal documents indicate that Gather data provided a learning opportunity for both Network Rail and Murphy on the accuracy of payment applications.

At early stages of adopting Gather, there were more changes to applications. Once "double-bubbling" was removed and both parties mastered how to better access actual activities versus applied-for activities, changes in payment applications effectively disappeared. Network Rail and Murphy achieved a more synchronised, accurate and efficient way of processing payments.

This improved transparency and quality of application submission reduced the amount of accruals and variance work to be assessed. It contributed to efficiency in project management, as well as trust between the asset owner Network Rail and its principal contractor Murphy.

Key takeaways

• 383 site records captured, reviewed and analysed jointly
• £300,000+ saved on change of scope and payment applications
• 60% pre-population reducing site team workload
• Single source of truth eliminating format fragmentation and finger-pointing
• Payment accuracy improved with "double-bubbling" eliminated

For asset owners and contractors seeking better commercial outcomes, Birmingham New Street provides a clear blueprint: invest in systems that capture data contemporaneously, share it transparently, and create the evidence base that makes change management and payment applications straightforward.

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