Hi welcome back to my blog – life seems to have taken on a pace of its own these days, kids are growing faster and the weeks seem to go by faster and faster. It’s much the same with the projects we, at Firesafe Sprinkler Systems, deliver. We need to be faster, cheaper and better. By utilising a robust project delivery strategy we significantly affect the success of any construction or infrastructure project we are involved with.
So how do we effectively manage our project deliverables?
Lets start with the definition of project delivery. Project delivery is about getting a quality project done — on time and on budget — and, often, taking an approach to make sure that the built asset is maintained over the long-term.
Selecting the most appropriate project delivery strategy is only one of the many activities and decisions a project owner faces over the course of a major project. It is, however, one of the most important and affects the project outcome, the owner’s internal management, the support structure and the health of the relationship with all the other project stakeholders.
Currently more than 50% of all buildings constructed are completed using a team-based approach to project delivery but team based delivery has changed – and continues to change.
The traditional method of project delivery assumes that the project owner has completely and accurately defined the scope of the work and that a qualified contractor will be hired to construct the work. The project owner chooses a designer to develop the project requirements and to produce the drawings and specifications, which are intended to guide the contractor in executing the work.
The main contractor is responsible for construction, however, the traditional model breaks down if a design is incomplete or contains excessive errors. If the project owner is indecisive and makes numerous changes to the work scope the main contractor’s ability to manage the construction phase becomes more difficult.
In recent times we have seen a more collaborative model involving construction professionals in the early planning and design phases of the project, this eases the barriers to communication between the project owner and the main contractor.
One of the most well-known collaborative project delivery approaches — design- and-build —involves the design consultant and the main contractor joining forces. By joining forces, the two parties can offer a “one-stop shop” to the project owner for delivering a large capital project under a single contractual agreement.
Again with the ever-present pressure to reduce cost and deliver faster we are now looking at a more fully integrated method of project management, this type of project management requires the organisation of a team, sharing the risks and rewards early on in a project in order to be effective long term.
The project team agrees the goals that include:
- Cost efficiency
- Speed of delivery
- Agreed upon quality level/sustainability objectives.
These three components make up the “three legged stool” upon which the success of the project is judged.
……….. ‘Til the next time Greg