Services
Six things we do. Most clients start with one of them and end up handing us more of the job.
Project delivery
We sit on the owner’s side. Day to day we run the project and hold designers and contractors to what they signed.
Project management. One person accountable for the job, from business case through to handover. We set the delivery plan, chair the meetings and keep the decision log, and we chase the decisions that are holding other people up.
Owner’s representation. Most owners are running a capital project on top of a day job. We act as your representative on site and at the table: reviewing what the contractor and the consultant put forward, checking it against the contract, and telling you what it means for time and money.
PMO and programme support. Where there is a portfolio of work, we set up the reporting, the stage gates and the templates, so every project is measured the same way.
Project recovery. We are usually brought in once a job is well behind and the parties have stopped agreeing on what the contract says. The first few weeks go on an assessment: what has actually been built, how much work is genuinely outstanding, and what the open commercial positions are worth. After that it is a rebaselined programme, one change register, and a weekly forum that can make decisions.
Construction and contract support
Contract administration happens on site, so that’s where our people work.
Construction administration. Submittals, RFIs, site instructions, progress claims and change orders, turned around on the timelines the contract sets. A good share of the delay we see on site comes from answers that took three weeks when the contract allowed one.
Site services. Field review and inspection, progress and quality records, and a written account of what happened on site each day. When a claim turns up eighteen months later, that record is what settles it.
Construction coordination. Sequencing the trades and staging the site around whatever still has to keep running, whether that is a treatment plant, a station or a road.
Change and claims. We price changes before they are built and keep the change register current, so the final account does not arrive as a surprise.
Project controls and commercial
Controls are only worth having if someone acts on them, so we keep ours short enough that people read them.
Scheduling. A baseline programme that reflects how the work will actually be built, updated against real progress. We run the critical path, review the contractor’s programme against the contract, and flag slippage while there is still float to spend.
Cost management. Budget, commitments, forecast and cash flow in one place. The forecast at completion is updated monthly, and we explain every movement in it.
Change management. A single register covering scope, time and cost, with each item tracked from notice through to instruction, so nothing is built before it has a number against it.
Risk. A live risk register with an owner and a date against every item, reviewed monthly.
Reporting. One monthly report in plain language, with the exceptions and the decisions we need from you at the front of it. Boards and councils have to be able to read it without a briefing.
Design and digital delivery
A fair amount of what goes wrong during construction was already sitting in the drawings.
Design coordination. We run the design team as one group instead of a set of separate disciplines, chasing the interfaces and resolving clashes so the civil, structural, process, mechanical and electrical packages agree with each other before anything is issued.
Constructability review. We read a drawing set the way a contractor will price it. Where something cannot be built in the sequence shown, or cannot be maintained once it is in, we raise it while it is still a drawing change.
CAD and BIM. Model setup and standards, federated model coordination and clash detection, and keeping the model consistent with the drawings that were actually issued.
Document production and control. Drawing registers, revision control and issue records, so there is one current version of every document and a trail of what changed and why.
Commissioning and turnover
Commissioning is usually planned late, and it is where a programme tends to come apart.
Commissioning planning. The commissioning strategy gets set during design: what is tested, in what order, by whom, and what counts as a pass.
Testing and start-up. We coordinate pre-functional checks, functional testing and performance demonstration, and hold the contractor to the witnessed tests the specification asked for.
Operational readiness. Operations staff need training, spares, procedures and a say in the outcome before they sign for an asset. We put that in the programme early instead of adding it at the end.
Closeout. Deficiency lists worked down to zero, as-built drawings and O&M manuals that match what was installed, warranties registered, and the final account settled.
Procurement and pursuits
A good number of the disputes we get called in to sort out were set up during procurement, in the contract terms and the evaluation criteria.
For owners. Choosing a delivery model that suits the risk, writing the RFP and the evaluation criteria, running a process that will stand up to scrutiny, answering bidder questions, evaluating submissions, and supporting award and contract close.
Tender support. Tender documents assembled so they agree with the drawings and the specification, addenda managed properly, and a bid period long enough for the market to price the work properly.
Bid management for contractors and consultants. Bid/no-bid assessment, capture strategy, programme and method statements, and the writing and coordination needed to get a compliant submission out on time.
Contract strategy. Advice on the terms that bite during delivery: payment, change, delay, liquidated damages and dispute resolution.