Project Management and Employers Agent

Understanding our Clients Needs

Our starting point is an appreciation of our Clients needs, requirements and aspirations for the project. At our initial meeting with the Client, we would establish the role, duties and areas of responsibility of the Project Manager.

We appreciate that some Clients may wish to take an active role in the project whilst others are, apart from making key decisions, happy to fully delegate the responsibility to their Project Manager.  

We are professionals who understand what each part of the team needs to do within the whole, and at each stage of a project, to ensure the successful delivery of a project.

We undertake the role of Project Manager and Contract Administrator under traditional forms of procurement or as an Employers Agent under the Design and Build form of procurement.

At the same time we are specialists in management - skilled in keeping a team moving forward, whatever the obstacles, through the four main stages of a project. 

At the inception stage, we establish and communicate clarity of purpose about the client’s business strategy and desired outcomes. In tandem, we may oversee the masterplans, planning consents, site acquisitions and funding requirements.

We manage the project strategy and design development stage, enabling clients to make informed choices in balancing their objectives within the project’s constraints and risk management regime. All procurement options are explored. Design proposals and programmes are tied to the desired outcomes and budget, and translated into a project execution plan and detailed master programme.

At the project control and delivery stage we ensure that the agreed solution will deliver the business need. We check that the contractor’s method statements are viable and that our plans for risk management are sound. Robust team management and change control processes are communicated across the supply chain and maintained throughout construction.

In the final stages we oversee commissioning, agree completion, settle final accounts and ensure a smooth transition of the asset through to ongoing management.

Value Management

Value Management is about being aware of options and making decisions that add “real value” to a project. Value is the relationship between the satisfaction of many different needs and the resources used in doing so. The fewer the resources used or the greater the satisfaction of needs, the greater the value.

As experienced professionals, we encourage and apply the principles of value management to a project on a day to day basis through the development of a project. However for some projects a more formal Value Management forum would be more appropriate. We are able to arrange and provide a Facilitator for such a forum, who would organize participants in projects are be able to clearly define and then align their respective requirements by using Value Management techniques. As a result better business decisions will be made by providing decision makers with a sound basis for their choices.

Planning and programming

We offer construction planning, time and risk analysis, buildability and methodology advice. We plan the methods and logistics of a project, construct method statements to accompany programmes, monitor all stages of project progress and value completed works against predicted cashflows.

Risk Management

Risk Management is the process of assessing risks and taking steps to either eliminate or to reduce them, as far as is reasonably practical, by introducing control measures.  A clear understanding of risk, and of its active management, is key to project success.

Our main focus is on helping the team to manage the risks effectively. Where required, we will involve the whole design team in preparing a Risk Register to identify and own risks that relate to their particular discipline. The risk may be one that would have an impact on project time or cost or a risk to Health & Safety. Depending on the likely probability and impact, decision will be made to manage those risks by either risk avoidance or mitigation. Risk Management is a continuous process throughout a project.

Plans to minimise risk will be undermined if teams cannot work constructively together and take due account of stakeholders' needs.

Development Consulting

As an independent advisor we can assist with the provision of timely and professional advice, pulling together the required commercial, design and planning inputs to ensure the development proceeds.

We aim to make sure the Client selects the right development opportunity for their organisation, by determining the right product for the market and developing a sound and sustainable business case.

We can bring together a range of specialist advice, from development strategy, impact analysis, layout mix and specification, to concept and masterplanning, marketing, and implementation planning.