Property & Construction Project Management Consultancy

As we have already identified, establishing good lines of communication with both the client and contractors involved is an important part of a project manager’s role. By assuming employer’s agent responsibilities, the project manager acts on behalf of the client – this could include carrying out the following tasks:

• Ensuring adherence to contracts and timeframes
• Issuing instructions
• Reviewing the progress and status of tasks
• Implementing changes to procedures and processes
• Verifying completion of works
• Identifying defects to the contractor’s attention and overseeing their resolution
• Arranging handover once the work has been finalised

Although all due diligence procedures have been followed, tendering processes completed and no stone left unturned in the planning of a construction or infrastructure project, issues can arise. Whether it’s a disagreement between the client and contractor or your main contractor has gone into insolvency.

An experienced project manager will understand that the main concern is recovering the project and minimising any financial impact.

Strategic and meticulous planning at every stage is the backbone of a successful project, from planning to delivery. Each stakeholder benefits from effective project control and coordination, from the construction workers on site who understand their tasks and what’s expected of them, to investors who require progress reports and want to ensure value for money.

Project control and coordination involve the day-to-day construction management of tasks and assigning responsibilities to relevant people – allowing areas of importance or priority to be focused on while streamlining processes and communication.

Utilising previous experiences and sector knowledge, construction and infrastructure project managers can offer strategic support relating to funding applications, while carrying out their duties on-site.

Construction and infrastructure programming and planning involves the following:

• Gathering information
• Prioritising activities
• Creating a timeline and setting reasonable deadlines
• Executing plans
• Conducting regular reviews

Programming and planning are essential segments of a project manager’s role as it qualifies forward-planning practices and contributes to projects being delivered on time and within budget.

An experienced construction and infrastructure project manager will use their programming and planning skills to identify tasks that can be carried out simultaneously and those that rely on other jobs being completed first. This mitigates the risk of losing time and money between phases of the project.

Under The Construction (Design Management) Regulations 2015, project managers can protect and preserve health and safety during construction and infrastructure projects by…

• Sensibly planning work to manage risks from start to finish
• Employing the right people for the right job at the right time
• Cooperating and coordinating work with others
• Having the right information about risks and how they’re being managed
• Communicating information effectively to those who need to know it
• Consulting and engaging with workers about risks and how they’re being managed

All construction projects, regardless of their size, require thorough risk assessment from the outset and these practices should continue until the project is completed and handed over to the client.

An effective project manager will understand this and allocate time to ensuring stringent risk management procedures and policies are in place, and that regular health checks are undertaken to ascertain the status of the works. The areas a typical project health check will cover include:

• Budgets and resource construction management
• Risk management, including risk assessments
• Quality control
• Communication
• Roles and responsibilities

By using the latest technologies and software, and by overseeing regular site inspections, the project manager will be able to carry out comprehensive project health checks and manage risks competently.

Effective and consistent communication is a big part of everything a project manager does and oversees.

The client representative has delegated the responsibility of overseeing the various aspects of project management services and, where necessary, acting as a consultant to the client.

As the project manager will likely be included in the planning and overseeing construction. This involvement means the project manager is best placed to monitor progress and spending.

Project monitoring takes place throughout the construction process, from an initial review that investigates whether the project can be delivered and that designs are appropriate, to a final review once the project is finished.

Before building work starts, stringent due diligence procedures must be followed. Conducting due diligence means you assess the risks associated with the site – this could be anything from carrying out soil tests to making sure existing buildings aren’t listed. As part of a Construction and infrastructure service, project managers should ensure that the necessary due diligence is undertaken as soon as they are assigned to a project to mitigate the risk of work being delayed or having to stop altogether.

In construction projects, particularly large-scale ones, even the smallest of issues can affect the running of the operation.

Effective project management in construction and infrastructure projects helps to mitigate the risk of delays and overspending, and can improve the overall quality of work through accountability.

The role of the project manager is to keep the project moving in the right direction and report back to key stakeholders, i.e. management teams and the client. This makes it crucial that the person responsible for managing a construction or infrastructure project has an intricate knowledge of the work and success criteria attached to it – enabling them to report to stakeholders and effectively identify areas for improvement.

As well as technical advice such as reporting to stakeholders, the project manager must maintain a good overview of the project and the challenges faced; making recommendations and arrangements for measures to be established should any problems arise.

To ensure a construction or infrastructure project is successful, the project manager must play a key role in these five areas:

1. Planning – having oversight on a project from the start and being able to offer insight from previous experiences will help to guarantee the best outcomes.
2. Execution – working with contractors and sub-contractors, the project manager will communicate the aims of the project and keep people accountable for their work.
3. Monitoring – by monitoring workstreams and budgets, the project manager will be able to keep the project on course for completion.
4. Control – by controlling the inner workings, e.g. scheduling and risk management, of a construction or infrastructure project, the manager can identify and maintain successful streams of work.
5. Completion – in handling the completion of a construction or infrastructure project, the project manager will retain accountability and remain a point of contact once control of the completed project is handed to the client. The project manager’s insight into the project will help the client to understand the challenges that were faced and how these were overcome.

Additionally, the project manager takes an important role in communicating with both the client and the contractors. By acting as the point of contact for both of these stakeholders, the project manager assumes responsibility for reporting updates to the client and quickly communicating any changes to the contractor.

By overseeing almost every aspect of a construction and infrastructure project, the project manager is intrinsic to its success. In working with an experienced project manager, you are utilising their knowledge and lessons they have learnt from past projects – this awareness can help to identify and mitigate risks and achieve success.