Rob Burrow Centre for MND Blog: Building from the ground up - the view from on-site

“I’ve been working in construction for nearly 40 years and Harry followed in my footsteps ten years ago. Both of us love being hands-on and doing practical things, so construction is an ideal career for us. It’s really satisfying to see what you’ve created coming to life.

Knowing each other well is definitely an advantage when you’re managing a complex project like the MND Centre. I’m Senior Site Manager and Harry is Site Manager, so it’s important we’re co-ordinated in what we do, as organising contractors, deliveries and different tradespeople needs pinpoint timing if we want to stick to our timescales. We tend to bounce off each other, and we both understand how the other works, so we do get along well (most of the time!).

Read More: Rob Burrow Centre for MND Blog: What the centre means to the MND team

So far on the MND Centre project, we’ve been working on site set-up, making sure everything’s ready to go for the build – putting in new roads for deliveries, making sure any existing trees are protected and diverting drainage. We’ve now started on the foundations, so the shape of the building is going to start to appear, which is exciting. We’ll be using modern methods of construction, which means that panels are manufactured off-site and then put together around a frame. This means once the frame’s up, the building will come together quite quickly.

It’s been an honour to be trusted to be at the helm of building the MND Centre, but it’s a lot of pressure too. It’s such a high-profile project, and we’re really aware of the difference the centre will make to people living with the disease. It makes us more determined than ever to make sure everything goes to plan. We’ve known the pain of having a family member diagnosed with motor neurone disease, and it’s been inspiring to see medical staff and people with the disease fundraising to build the centre. Local people have been so generous – only the other week, we had someone offer to donate bedding plants for the MND Centre’s ground for the next ten years! It’s amazing that we can be a small part of creating a place that will provide the best care for MND patients.

Read More: Ground-breaking moment – first diggers on site for the Rob Burrow Centre for MND

We’re both Leeds lads – born and raised just a couple of miles away from the site of the new centre – and Rob Burrow was a Leeds legend, so it means a lot to us. The groundbreaking ceremony just a couple of days after his death was really emotional, but the start of work on site was a milestone moment, and we can’t wait until the building is up and running.”

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