Posted: September 13th, 2017

Aim/objectives: The aim of this assignment is to enable students to demonstrate their understanding of an aspect of project management.

Aim/objectives:
The aim of this assignment is to enable students to demonstrate their understanding of an aspect of project management.
The objectives are to enable the students:
•    to demonstrate their ability to apply principles to a ‘practical’ scenario
•    to appraise and recommend a solution to a particular problem
•    to produce project planning information
Scenario:
St George’s College is an Academy school in Newtown, a large metropolitan area in the north of England. The Governors of St George’s College have decided to alter and extend the existing sports pavilion in order to provide ‘A caretaker’s self-contained flat and committee room’. The flat accommodation must accommodate:
•    Two bedrooms
•    A lounge/ dining area
•    Kitchen and bathroom along with adequate storage facilities
The new committee room should be able to accommodate a maximum of 80 members for meeting purposes. When not in use for Club meetings the room should have the flexibility to be used for training sessions and seminars. This involves building works that need to take place over the summer holidays when the school is closed. Mrs Sharma is the client and Chair of Governors. She is dealing directly with the architect who has drawn up some outline plans.
This is her first school development project. The head teacher of St George’s College, Mrs Smith, is not very happy with the amount of consultation that has taken place on the design and feels that the ideas of staff have not been taken into account enough.
The college is in a densely populated inner city area and there are houses right next door which will be affected by the works and the owners have already expressed concern about the noise and disruption. The neighbours either side of the school (Mr and Mrs Marshall on one side and Mr Callaghan on the other) are particularly vocal and have petitioned the council.
It is December and the works need to be completed and furnished ready for occupationn by the end of August of the following year.

The Task
You have been commissioned to provide that advice, and you are required to prepare a referenced report in which you provide Mrs Sharma with the following:
•    Part 1. A reasoned discussion about the approach to risk management on this project. You should identify 5 key risks that you think that the client will have to manage and you should advise the client which risk management process would be best to adopt and why.
•    Part 2. Your proposals on how the project should be organised & managed from here on in, discussing the major tasks/activities that should be undertaken. These proposals should include an evaluation of the most appropriate form of procurement route for this particular project. (NB – You should consider the three most common forms of procurement in coming to your decision, but you do not need to provide a detailed explanation of each one.)
•    Part 3. A linked bar chart project plan, prepared using MS Project, Primavera or similar, showing the main activities/tasks that will have to be undertaken in order to execute your above-mentioned proposals for designing and constructing this development. (You should focus on the pre-construction period rather than the construction period.) This programme should show critical activities and free float. You will need to ensure that the project plan can be easily read in electronic format and that it is usable for the client.
– If you haven’t got any tasks available, use the ones listed below.

1.    Select & appoint client advisor
2.    Identify & appraise various options
3.    Carry out initial feasibility studies
4.    Finalise business case
5.    Appoint client project manager
6.    Select & acquire the site
7.    Carry out site investigation
8.    Decide on a suitable procurement route
9.    Appoint design team
10.    Prepare outline design
11.    Submit for planning approval
12.    Prepare detailed design
13.    Prepare Bills of Quantities
14.    Select contractor
15.    Enabling works
16.    Substructure
17.    Superstructure
18.    External claddings
19.    Internal finishings, including services
20.    Commissioning
21.    External works