Watt family owns the Whitegates House and Whitegates Lodge situated in 35 acres of land on the periphery of the town. After the failure of numerous investment decisions the family was not in a position to maintain the estate for a long time. A consortium of local businessmen called Heriot Developments purchased the entire site from Watt family. The directors of Heriot developers are all experienced in the Hotel and Leisure industry. Developer proposed the following developments keeping the existing buildings:
The hotel and country club would be developed by modifying Main house. The main house shall include main reception, lounge bar, restaurant and function/meeting amenities. Two new buildings were proposed to be constructed one as 100 bedrooms facility and the second as a country club. The country club building shall also include swimming pool, sports hall and gym with related facilities such as reception, changing areas, bar and bistro restaurants.
The White gates Lodge was proposed to be developed as a club house. The developer proposed a golf course by utilizing a part of the ground along with the landscaping retaining the natural beauty to groom the Hotel. The developer provided an excellent briefing due their expertness in the hotel industry. They were really concerned over the lack of experience in managing the design and construction of their proposed project. They were not much aware of the various problems that could occur during the construction and the suitable recommendations to solve the problems. They were keen to utilize the development stage to create a positive image within the vicinity of the community. They wanted this project to be a high quality prestigious project manages within the budget. Time was also being an important factor specially the construction could be completed within the time frame would have generated income from the investment.
Heriot developers approached a local Management consultancy Richard Arton Associates to seek advice addressing their concerns. RAA assigned this task to one of their senior consultants to prepare a detailed report considering the following: D & B provides single point responsibility so that in the event of building failure the contractor is solely responsible. The client knows the total financial commitment early in the projects life. Competition between the contractors proposal provides economical tenders and alternative design proposals. Nature of the contract reduces the variations and the client can save time and cost.
Develop and Construct consultants are initially appointed for the scope design and provide single point responsibility. Competitive tenders are invited from several contractors who can develop and complete the design and then construct. Risk and disputes are more due to the confusion arises in the design how much is completed by the consultant and how much balance remains to be carried out by the D&C contractor. Only advantage is that the client can use contractor’s expertise in buildability and procurement skills can potentially bring economies to both.
Develop and construct is discarded because of the uncertainty in the design. Client employs the contractor for its ability to complete the project, not for its ability to offer design changes which is not acceptable. The client required professionals to review and solve the day to day occurring problems during the construction and D&B and D&C do not have separate management team to advice. Design and built is not applicable because it gives least priority for the aesthetical appeal. Buildability is not a major concern and D&C takes long time for the approval of the design.
Design and Manage combines some of the characteristics of Design and build and the Management. Even though the client appoints a single firm for the design and delivers the project, the construction work is tender for specialist contractors and provides alternative means of selecting the contractor. The appointment of a project manager reduces the involvement of the client with the project team.
The project manager is a professional with the experience of identifying, reviewing and solving the various problems occurring during construction with suitable recommendations, also keeping a proper balance between finance, feasibility, design, time and quality. Over all project planning and control is by the project manager and the consultants. Parallel working reduces the total project duration provides consequential cost reductions as the client is able to utilize the building by obtaining a quicker return without affecting the inflations as per the requirements of Heriot Developers, the senior consultant from the Richard concluded the selection of design and manage as the most suitable procurement path.
