29 July 2010

A trainee Quantity Surveyor with Costain has put in place a valuable addition to the Company's knowledge base.

Adam Golden has created a database that identifies the key representatives responsible for innovation in Costain's top 100 supply chain partners. This allows staff to search for external expertise to help solve clients' problems.

Golden joined the Costain student sponsorship programme in 2007 from Northumbria University in Newcastle and is now finishing his year in industry on the Greater Manchester Waste project.

To develop the database he created a questionnaire for supply chain members, collated all the necessary data, then developed a computer tool allowing the information to be viewed, filtered and used within the Group. The information sits on iCosNet, the Group's internal knowledge base.

During his final year, Adam intends to develop a dissertation on his project. When complete, it will provide Costain with a greater insight into the relationships with innovation that exist within the supply chain. The intention is to refresh the data annually to ensure the database is kept up-to-date.

"This initiative is another example of Costain's objective to encourage open and honest relationships with its supply chain and further demonstrates that Costain is fully committed to meeting clients' needs through innovation," commented Greater Manchester Waste Director, John Boyd.

Golden's work, done mainly in his own time over a four-month period last year, so impressed the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) that when he returns to university in October for his final year of study he will do so with a £1,500 CIOB bursary.

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