Julian Hawkes

Said the following about Paul Belle:

“Paul is an enthusiastic individual who makes a difference!

I took Paul on nearly two years ago and thought that a few months in Stratford would give him a good introduction to the S and C Alliance project to ‘help out’ temporarily. Now two years on, Paul as a Contractor’s Engineering Manager, is firmly ensconced with the delivery of high quality GRIPS 1 to 3 designs through a dedicated team of brilliant rail design professionals.

Paul has the ability to get involved when needed and has the ability to ascertain the facts very quickly in order to make the right decisions and provide direction to the teams. When Paul joined there was a need to take control of our survey requirements; Paul drew up a detailed specification so that our sub-contractors knew exactly what they had to deliver and it was to a consistent output; as a result, the quality of deliverables improved which positively impacted the designs. A rolling conveyor belt process of survey, design and approval was the basis for success.

Paul’s enthusiasm and motivation to get things down is a credit to him and the team. Innovating and improving design best practice is always at the forefront of Paul’s objectives. His ability to challenge process in order to make efficiencies has meant recent alignment of deliverables satisfying ‘GRIP’ and ‘GRIP 4 Track’ processes in signalling. Paul has successfully revised the GRIP 1- 3 deliverables and changed the focus of development to deliver single options aligned to the GRIP 4 Approval in Principle Process – this is now improving our ability to save further costs and derive yet more efficiencies.

Paul was also pivotal in improving the quality of the Project Requirements Specifications by researching into the detail earlier on in the project phases so that risk identification is mitigated against earlier on in the project phase.

Paul recognises that there are some unique challenges in the rail industry whilst having to deliver to tight timescales for reduced costs whilst maintaining the highest safety levels. Paul is an advocate of lessons learnt and continuous improvement initiatives which is shared with the teams.

Recent projects include Dartford, Colchester, Orpington and Battersea Pier.

In summary, Paul’s passion for delivering a quality product has brought tangible benefits to the S and C Alliance team through quality, on time delivery and design innovation. Paul can be proud of his achievements to date.“