What is Construction Project Management?

Construction Project Management is the process of managing the client´s requirements for a particular building or project (such as infrastructure or capital assets like a boat, ship, car or aeroplane), and interpreting this into briefs or specifications for the respective designers, and constructors who will design, procure and Construction Project Management the building including all its necessary supplies, fittings and furniture, construction project management computer systems etc and test and commission the whole before handing it over into use.

The Client´s Brief

This is a fundamental and vital document which sets down in writing exactly what it is that the Client requires to build. It may be in the form of a Performance Specification and it is the over-arching document which drives the whole design process and beyond it the procurement of suppliers and subcontractors and construction, test and commissioning, fitting out, and the handover process into eventual use by the Client.

The Project Manager

The Project Manager is the lead person or party on the project and it is he or she who manages the whole design, procurement and construction project management process including the fitting out and Test and Commissioning of all systems, to ensure that what is delivered is exactly what the Client requires. He ensures that the Performance Specification is met and that the end product is Fit For Purpose.

Typically the Project Manager is responsible for writing the briefs for the respective designers such as the Architect,Structural Engineer, Mechanical and Electrical and Other specialist consultants who may be required depending on the particular demands of the exact project. For example, certain projects require specialist consultants who deal with Party Wall conditions, that is shared boundaries with other adjoining owners, which need special treatment in accordance with legislation. There may be other specialists involved who deal with Noise Attenuation or Accoustics Design, or Specialist Lighting consultants, who liaise with the main Electrical Designer.

The Architect

The Architect is traditionally the lead designer and coordinator of the design process for any project. The Architect designs the appearance of the building(s) and the space provisions of the building including all its peripheral aspects such as access roads, parking, landscaping of grounds, screening and boundary designations, access for emergency vehicles such as Fire Engines, ambulances, police vehicles. The Architect traditionally coordinates the work of the other designers involved in the construction project management.

The Structural and Civil Engineer

The Structural Engineer is responsible for designing the structure of the building including its foundation system, as well as any other structural requirements such as retaining walls, or making provision for special local ground or groundwater conditions. This may include design for hurricane or earthquake resistence in certain geographical locations, or other special local risks, for example particularly difficult ground conditions, including water levels, possibility of ground movements (for example earthquakes or tremors) and liability for flooding from groundwater, river or flood water, or from seawater such as tidal movements.

The Mechanical and Electrical (M&E) Services Engineer

The M&E Services Engineer is responsible for provision of all necessary services within the building which may include, water supplies (hot and cold water plumbing), drainage (foul water and rainwater systems), fire fighting systems, such as dry risers and fire mains, sprinkler systems, special fire fighting systems for kitchen areas, or undergound garages and parking, also heating and ventilating systems for the building. Also the M&E Engineer is responisble for the electrical supplies for the operation of the building, as well as all its necessary M&E services systems including computers and specialist equipment. This may also include the step down transformers which provide the electricity supply from the electricity grid. In modern buildings systems the M&E Services may include provisions for connection of solar heating panels to the electrical system, and a means of passing generated electricity back to the main electrical grid. Alternatively there may be a requirement for heat pumps, and re-circulation of water, or even connection with other alternative energy forms such as wind power from turbines which generate electricity.

Specialist Consultants

Specialist consultants may be required for particular applications where the above design consultants may not have the necessary expertize. Examples of specialist consultants are.

Soil Investigation and Geotechnical Analysis Companies – these are usually appointed as soon as access to a site may be available and their job is to carry out bore holes and other site ground investigations (trial pits possibly) in order to ascertain the physical characteristics of the soil and rock on the site, and any standing or flowing water. They will carry out soil and rock pressure testing to determine the load bearing capacity of the soils and rock on the site, and also chemical analysis of the soil conditions and provide this information to the Structural Engineer who needs this information on which to base his Civil and Structural Engineering design calculations.

Noise and Accoustics Consultants – These specialist consultants are increasing used where there are particular noise problems to be attenuated. Such moise problems may be as a result of the location of the site, near an airport, or near a major highway. Or alternatively the noise problems may be as a result of particular equipments within plant or machinery rooms and from which sound attenuation needs to be provided to avoid disturbance to users on site, or adjoining neighbouring sites.

Specialist Lighting Consultants.

Specialist lighting consultants may be used to advise on available lighting systems, because of the wide range of products available in the marketplace and the need for specialist advice on such aspects as economy of use, automatic timing and light sensors to optimize the economy of the system over its life cycle.

Facade Consultants

With modern facade materials being extremely specialized, facade consultants with the necessary expertize may be needed in order to advise on the integration of specialist systems into, and fixings to the structure and other architectural building elements.

Landscaping consultants

Landscaping consultants may be used to supplement the Architect´s own resources, because landscaping is another area of design requiring specialist knowledge and expertise regarding types of plants and soils for planting as well as water for irrigation, drainage of planting beds, and specialist landscape lighting which may be chosen to be used.

Test and Commissioning (T&C) Consultants

T&C consultants are specialists in the Test and Commissioning of all the systems of a building or buildings, and they will get involved from the outset in setting testing and commissioning standards, procedures and requirements which are built in to the specifications of the building and its M&E services, and into the procurement process to ensure that the necessary engineering and quality testing obligations are placed on contractors to properly and satisfactorily complete the Test and Commissioning process before Handover of the building into use.

The Procurement Process

The construction project management and the Client need to decide on the most appropriate method of procurement of the building and all its peripheral assets, using design consultants, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers.

The Procurement Strategy sets out the way in which the design and construction, test and commissioning will be contracted.

Traditionally the design is prepared by the design construction project management, led and coordinated by the Architect as Lead Designer. The building or infrastructure is traditionally procured by the Quantity Surveyor or Cost construction project management, who measures the building and all its systems, and outside works such as walls, gates, boundary fences, landscaping, planting etc, and prepares a Bill of Quantiities which is used as  the basis for a competitive tender process, following which a Main construction project management is selected from the Tenderers and is appointed and contracted to the Client and who will manage all the works on site, making use of specialist subcontractors wherever necessary.

Alternatively the Client may decide to appoint a Construction Project Management who will take the designs from the design consultants, and tender these on a package basis, so that instead of a Main Contractor and Specialist Subcontractors contracted to him, as found traditionally, there are a series of trade package  contractors appointed who will carry out their own specialist works. The Construction Manager manages and supervizes the trade package contractors, and manages the design and construction interfaces between the respective trade contractors. Each Trade Package Contractor has a contract directly between himself and the Client, in which the Construction Manager is acknowedged as the Manager or Representative of the Client.

Another alternative procurement strategy is the execution of the work via a Design and Build Contract, so the work is bid on the basis of a preliminary design prepared by the design consultants, via an Employer´s Requirements document and there are offers received from bidding contractors, known as Contractor´s Proposals.  The Client may consider each of the Bidder´s Contractor´s Proposals in relation to his Employer´s Requirements.

In this case the detailed design is carried out by the Design and Build contractor, who is totally responsible for procuring the whole building(s) and or infrastructure in exact accordance with the Employer´s Requirements, and in accordance with his accepted Contractor´s Proposal. If there are certain items which the Design and Build Contractor may not be able to provide in accordance with the Employer´s Requirements, then a negotiation takes place and the Contractor´s Alternative proposal may be accepted by the Client, and confirmed and agreed as the Contractual Requirement.

Fitting Out Contractor

In some cases, the building shell and envelope is procured under one Construction Contract, possibly Design and Build, and later when the necessary designs have been developed for the ultimate users of the building (who may be different from the Client, for example the lessees of the building), a separate fitting out package is procured and this is instaled into the building shell upon handover.