Academic Year 2021/2022 Semester 2 Assessment Project Management:EBB-6-020

Assessment No 1: Individual assignment: 50% of unit mark

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

A client organisation, Hi-Rize Development, plans to extend their property portfolio by constructing their first major office development.

HRD has identified, but not yet acquired, a possible site upon which they plan to construct a prestigious office development. It is located in a major Midlands city, and they have commissioned an architect, WNP Partners, to produce an outline proposal; that proposal has been submitted for outline planning permission on the basis of the enclosed drawings.

The site drops approximately 6m along its length in Main Street down to Ascot road, which is relatively level. No vehicle access is possible except from Ascot Road.

A borehole from a neighbouring site investigation indicated a sloping profile of approximately 10m of sandy soil, overlaying 8m of clay, which is on top of carboniferous limestone bedrock. The water table is relatively deep in the sandy soil.

The initial design is for a multi-storey block providing under-building parking and approximately 10,000 square metres of lettable office space in accordance with the drawings.

No final decisions have been made on the structural frame type, envelope design or the service level, other than that they should be compatible with a prestigious office development.

HRD have prepared a set of their ‘client’s requirements’ which should be taken into account when preparing the below report.

Assignment

HRD have now realised that they need some additional specialist advice in order to continue with this scheme.

You have been commissioned to provide that advice, and you are required to prepare a

referenced report in which you provide HRD with the following:

• Part 1. A reasoned discussion about the approach to risk management. You should recommend the process and approach to risk management for your client.

• Part 2. Your proposals on how the project should be organised & managed from hereon 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.

(The weightings for parts 1, 2 & 3 are 30%, 50% & 20% respectively.

NB. If you need any additional information, or have any questions, over and above the ‘client’s requirements’ already issued, you should contact the client at jinr@lsbu.ac.uk (For Monday Session) or chukwujm@lsbu.ac.uk (For Friday Session)

General:

The completed report should be submitted via Moodle on or before Monday 18^th April 2022 no later than 6pm.

The report should be formally structured and be approximately 3000 words long. It will be marked in accordance with the marking scheme detailed below.

Marking scheme:

The criteria for marking this assessment will be as detailed below.

• Introduction:                                                                                                          5 marks

(Does it set the scene? Has a rationale been established? Has the approach to the report been set out?)

• Evidence of research/referencing/bibliography:                                                    10 marks

(Does the material appear to come from a variety of sources, demonstrating a range of research? Are the references properly incorporated into the text? Is the bibliography set out in an appropriate way?)

• Technical content:                                                                                                 70 marks

(Parts 1, 2 & 3 are 21, 35& 14 marks respectively.)

(Is the material relevant? Is the material presented in a logical way with well-reasoned arguments and a coherent arrangement? Has additional material such as charts etc been provided to reinforce the text where appropriate? Are such charts properly cross-referenced in to the text?

Is the linked bar chart appropriate? Does it contain the critical path and the float?)

• Conclusion:                                                                                                           5 marks

(Does the report reach a sensible conclusion that takes into account all aspects of the topic? Is the conclusion substantiated?)

• Presentation & structure:                                                                                      10 marks

(Is the document neatly presented? Is it word-processed & with title sheet, contents page, page numbering, paragraph headings, 1½ line spacing etc? Does it have a logical structure? Are there any grammatical &/or spelling errors? Has use of 1st person been avoided?)

Time penalties:

Work that is handed in late will be penalised in accordance with the University’s Academic Regulations: –

• Work handed in within 2 weeks of the due date will be marked, but will only receive a maximum mark of 40%.
• Work handed in more than 2 weeks late will not be marked; it will be graded ‘zero’.
• If you are unable to meet the hand-in date due to circumstances beyond your control, you must notify the Faculty on or before the hand-in date in accordance with the “Late Submission Guidelines”; these are available on the Student Gateway or at: – http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/current.student/downloads/LateSubmissionGuidelines.doc
• If your delayed hand-in is due to extenuating circumstances, you may submit a claim, which if supported, would mean your mark will not be capped.

Client’s requirements (1)

HRD are a new development company, but two of their directors do have some development experience because they have been constructed two single storey steel frame retail units, using the Design & Build procurement route.

HRD want to develop a prestigious office building that will be suitable as a Head Office for a UK based global company. They want the building to be ‘high spec’, technically advanced with highly specialized building services.

They want to be able to introduce new technologies into the building if such technologies are developed during the construction phase of the building.

With respect to the traditional triangle of time, cost quality, their priorities are quality first, cost second and time third.

However, with respect to each of the above priorities, they have the following requirements: –

The building is to be completed on time. The building is to be completed to budget. The ‘quality level’ is to be ‘prestige’.

HRD want all the project team to be selected by price competition; they have no views on single-point responsibility, or direct professional responsibility from the designers and cost consultants.

However, they don’t want to retain any of the risks associated with such a project.

NB – please put a copy of these client’s requirements in an appendix to your report.

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