State Of The Art

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Procurement & Administration Coursework

The University of Salford and especially the department of Built and Environment desire to create a new state of the art development on the existing campus by replacing an older building with a new one. As a subsequent of that the existing structures on the proposed area must be demolish. This action should take place before the construction set in motion. The new structure will contain lecture theatres, meeting rooms, extensive classroom and studio facilities, office accommodation, laboratory accommodation and finally learning resource units. Following the completion of the structure it will be also necessary for some external works to take place to the surround area. Revising all the above must be recommend the most suitable procurement method and strategy for design and the construction including main forms of contract.

As the main consultant to the Client I have to take into consideration and rank the priorities about the quality, cost and time needs. The Client emphasises on sustainability and requires the building to be carbon neutral with the highest visual and qualitative standards. Furthermore the budget for the whole project is also estimate to be £20 million and at last, 1st of August 2012 is the essential date of achievement because of the University necessitate to accommodate the new academic year. Taking into account the above information we can visualise the 3 parameters in a chart as you can see bellow. This is a theoretical approach of the most far-fetched acceptable solution. The completion time is the most undeniable factor for the success of the project also the quality of design and structure must be high as possible, always compared with the available budget. If acceptable quality reached with less cost than the estimate 20 million is fine, but is unacceptable if the opposite situation occurs.

Moreover considering the analysis of the 3 basic parameters it should be proper to familiarize with the five main methods of procurement: price in advance, design and build, management, cost reimbursement and partnering /alliancing /framework agreements. Initially the "price in advance" (traditional) method is ordinary use when the employer, has all ready in mind how the structure will be and assumes the responsibility of the building contract. The design team must be experienced enough to organize, lead and manage the design and production procedures. Usually the design needs to be almost complete to select the contractor. The reason is the competitive procedure of the selection based on specifications and bills of quantities statements of an independent quantity surveyor.

Secondarily "design and build" method focuses on the combination of design and construction schedules in order to make more efficient the traditional background. The structure based on requirements provided by the employer. The method doesn't cut down any required time of the actual works. The characteristic of a project based on this method is that one organization (contractor or design firm) is responsible for both design and construction. Their goal is to bring together professionals in design and construction to complete these tasks in an overlapping. Furthermore in "construction management" method the client has an essential role in the procurement system by applying separate contracts to all the involved parties. The employer acts as a contractor. The construction or project manager manages the separate trade contracts, and make sure that everything work fine together. This method is often used to speed up the processes. It gives the opportunity to the employer to be flexible in design and also can appoint individual work contractors with separate contractual responsibility on each individual throughout contract to provide larger client control.

Also another type of procurement is "cost reimbursement". It is usually chosen for emergency works or cases were the work is unpredictable as repairs and refurbishment or general maintenance. The employer separates the responsibilities for management, design and construction process by suitable contracts. The developing of the structure can start immediately while inspections and design procedures are in progress. Although the final cost is uncertain. One of the most crucial reasons is the tender documentation that set down considering the outline design aspects and rates schedules. Finally "Partnering" is a method which allows associates to determine or reduce conflict when they are committed in a complex project. It is a procedure to connect all the parties of a project into a team. This system divides in three categories. 1st generation where the system based on a project, 2nd generation where series of projects are developing for one client and 3rd generation where the system goal is to build a virtual organisation.