好色先生TV

W hat do people not know about John Armitt? The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) chairman pauses for maybe 15 seconds. Slowly, cautiously, he says: 鈥淚鈥檓 not sure there are many things that people don鈥檛 know about me.鈥�

This response is in character. This is a man who is all about the job. Getting him to talk, comfortably at least, about anything else is almost impossible; all attempts to divert the conversation are switched expertly back to the Olympics and the construction industry.

Time clearly weighs heavily on the chairman鈥檚 mind. His corner office has two clocks in it, one digital and one analogue, alongside photos and editorial cartoons dating back to when he was chief executive of Network Rail. 鈥淲e must finish by 9.30,鈥� he says, tapping his watch. 鈥淚 have another appointment to get to.鈥�

Armitt was brought in to the ODA eight months ago and since then things have begun to stabilise after a turbulent two years. Not only has the authority had to weather the storm over the Olympics鈥� ever-increasing budget 鈥� from 拢3.7bn in 2005 to its current 拢9.3bn 鈥� but it has also seen the departure of its first chairman, Jack Lemley, amid talk of political squabbling and friction with ODA chief executive David Higgins.

Armitt admits that the board has had a little settling down to do since he took up the post, but he is quick to praise the work of interim chairman Sir Roy McNulty. 鈥淩oy undoubtedly brought some stability and structure to the situation,鈥� he says, 鈥渁nd therefore from my point of view it鈥檚 been a relatively straightforward process.鈥�

Lemley鈥檚 departure even had an upside, he says. 鈥淕oing through a difficult period with Jack has helped the board cement its own internal relations and has also helped us to think about what we should do if things are not working as perhaps we had hoped.鈥�

Fortunately, things appear to be going more or less to plan. Armitt says the year鈥檚 targets, or 鈥渕ilestones鈥� in ODA parlance, are being hit, the stadium is due to start construction three months ahead of schedule and the building of the other venues and the park (the 鈥渂ig build鈥�) will be in full swing by the time the Beijing Olympics start in August.

When it comes to how much of this success is due to the man himself, his past achievements have to be taken into consideration. Armitt has repeatedly won plaudits for his strong, no-nonsense leadership. A former colleague at Costain, where Armitt was chief executive from 1997 to 2001, says of him: 鈥淲hen he came to Costain, we needed leadership and we needed a figurehead. He brings authority, he employs detachment where it is needed, and he gave the company tremendous confidence.鈥� Not only that, he turned the group鈥檚 fortunes around. Costain was 拢62m in the red when he arrived, and 拢6m in the black when he left.

The ODA did not need such correction. Armitt鈥檚 first major job there was to ensure contractors were found for the 鈥渂ig four鈥� venues 鈥� the stadium, aquatics centre, media centre and velodrome 鈥� and eight months on the process is on the verge of completion, with Sir Robert McAlpine, Carillion and Balfour Beatty due to take on the work.

As Bovis Lend Lease is expected to build the bulk of the Olympic village, it looks like the Games will be British-built. But Armitt insists that that was not the board鈥檚 intention. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just the way it turned out,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut think about it. If Paris had won the Games, how many British contractors would have decided they鈥檇 go and build the stadium in Paris? Very few, I suspect.鈥�

He does add that if the work had gone to a non-UK group there may have been the danger of another Wembley stadium. 鈥淚 think if you were coming into the UK market for the first time on a job as high profile as this, as an ex-contractor I would say that is pretty high risk.鈥�

I鈥檓 a pretty infrequent churchgoer these days, but being brought up in a Methodist household, going to church two or three times every Sunday has got to have some sort of influence on your attitude to life

With finding the contractors ticked off his to-do list, Armitt鈥檚 next task is the unenviable one of ensuring that a high-quality Olympics gets built on time and budget. He is in no doubt which is the most pressing. 鈥淭ime is the fundamental issue. We cannot be a day late. Many jobs have been described as being completed on time, but more often than not, it has not actually been finished on the day that was specified five years previously. We don鈥檛 have that luxury.

鈥淐an we achieve that completion and keep the cost down and provide something we and the UK construction industry and everybody else involved can be proud of? That is what we are aiming for.鈥�

He adds that the other problem of having such a strict deadline is that there is a risk of contractors asking for any amount of money to meet it. 鈥淰ery often the way that contractors get the client over a barrel is when the client keeps changing its mind,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat means there is a strong discipline on us that when we have specified something, we don鈥檛 come along and say, oh, can you incorporate this or change this.鈥�

The buck stops with the ODA, he says, but it is also in the interests of the contractors to work to an agreed budget. 鈥淚f you were a contractor, what would you want to do?鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檇 want to get in, and get out, build a great building, make some money along the way, and repair some of the damage in people鈥檚 minds as to whether the UK construction industry can perform or not. This will be one of the most public projects that contractors are likely to do for a long time, in a glare of publicity, for as long as they are on site. The contractors are going to be right there in the spotlight with us.鈥�

In spite of this stern warning, Armitt clearly has a great fondness for the industry. The bulk of his career was spent at John Laing. He spent 21 years there, becoming chairman of its civil engineering and international divisions, before leaving in 1987. He knows as much an anyone about how construction works. 鈥淭he way you overcome these things and where you maximise the likelihood of success is in the personal relationships 鈥� between architect and contractor, contractor and subcontractor. In any of those relationships, if one person is constantly trying to get one over on somebody else, then sooner or later it will turn into a hostile relationship. The best thing to do is to say: you鈥檝e got some skills, I鈥檝e got some skills, let鈥檚 respect each other and use them to our mutual benefit.鈥�

He may talk about personal relationships, but it鈥檚 difficult to get a feeling for Armitt鈥檚 personal side. As the former chair of health and safety for the Major Contractors Group and the man in charge of Railtrack at the time of the Potters Bar disaster, you would expect him to reveal a highly personal response to health and safety. But while it鈥檚 clearly something he believes in fervently, the talk is all about 鈥渄emarcating pedestrian and vehicle access鈥� and 鈥渓ine management responsibility鈥�. Important of course; but hardly evidence of a personal crusade.

It鈥檚 fair to say he鈥檒l never be mistaken for one of construction鈥檚 big personalities; not for him the showmanship of a Ray O鈥橰ourke or the charm of a Bennie Kelly. But for Armitt, that doesn鈥檛 matter: 鈥淧eople often say of someone, they鈥檙e a big personality, but more often that not what gets things done is people working together, having mutual respect. If the ODA can foster that, then the teams will deliver. There鈥檚 no doubt about it.鈥�

Finally, however, Armitt reveals a glimpse into his life away from the Olympics 鈥� although only after the longest pause of the interview: 鈥淚鈥檓 a pretty infrequent churchgoer these days, but being brought up in a Methodist household, going to church two or three times every Sunday has got to have some sort of influence on your attitude to life. That certainly shaped my view of the world.鈥�

How? Frustratingly, the shutters come down again. 鈥淥n the other hand, the thing about the construction industry is it has a very strong team approach to it 鈥︹�� he begins. And so we are back to business. Although he won鈥檛 be drawn on it, it鈥檚 not hard to see the dogged Protestantism in Armitt. The hardworking disciplinarian with a strong sense of right and wrong doesn鈥檛 need to open up. All he needs to do is get the job done.