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Prepare

The prepare stage is when clients have the most control and influence over their building projects, so is the focus of this guide. As you develop your initial vision into a detailed brief, you will need to build your team, check feasibility, plan your budget, assess life cycle costs and develop the business case.

Preparation is vital. Time and again, clients who deliver successful projects do the following:

  • Prepare well by speaking to other partners about available land and buildings, do the surveys do the initial costs, base decisions on measurable data about your building type, not hunches of what might work.
  • Know what you want by setting out requirements not desires, ensuring the building will help improve efficiency of service, Deal with complexities in advance, so if the building is to be capable of providing multiple services with multiple partners have this fully agreed.
  • Know what you want the private sector to do for publically funded buildings, this could be a range of activities, from designing, building, managing the building, or all of these.

By doing the above you are likely to significantly de-risk the project before it goes to market through procurement.

Testing the need for a project

Before you commit to the time and expense involved in a construction project, you should ensure that it is the right option for you.

Developing a vision statement

A clear and agreed vision statement will ensure that everyone involved in your building project understands its goals.

Building the in-house team

The in-house team brings together all the skills and experience you will need to deliver a successful project.

Doing a feasibility study

A feasibility study tests the time, funding, organisational and technical aspects of your project, and enables you to decide whether or not to go ahead.

Planning your budget

Your budget is a crucial component of your business case. Setting an unrealistic budget can mean your project fails, is ill fitting or inefficient. You need to ensure you manage your costs carefully.

Assessing life cycle costs

Life cycle costing is an economic evaluation method that measures the cost of a building over its whole life. It answers the question “if I build this building, what future costs will I be letting myself in for?”

Understanding the physical surroundings

Every project takes place within a unique physical context, and its location and orientation is the single most important aspect.

Managing risk

You need to identify the likely risks that might happen to your project, assess their potential impact, and take actions to proactively minimise and mitigate them.

Preparing the business case

The business case should express the main purpose of your project, the reasons for it, the revenue sources, and how it will be funded.

Defining the outline brief

Getting the brief for your project right is one of your main tasks as a client. It will be an essential guide for your delivery team throughout your project. Here we explain why a good brief matters and how to produce one.

Developing the detailed brief

The detailed brief is the document setting out the final version of the client’s needs and expectations.

Understanding the project delivery team

Your project delivery team will reflect the skills you need to help you deliver a high quality project.

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