We provide both Project Management and Design Co-ordiation Services

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

In an ideal world, all projects should have independent project management looking after the clients interests and ensuring the contractors adherence to the designs and good contract management procedures are adhered to. The presence of good project management does not stop things from going wrong on site but can avoid many of the foreseeable problems and ensure that where problems do arise they are adequately and fully resolved with the minimum of fuss and implication to the project budget/timescales.

Every client has a different approach to what they want in the way of Project Management. Clients building their own home extensions rarely take on any independent project management which can leave them open to potentially serious problems. However we recommend that at the very least home owners do have a proper building contract in place between them and their builder such as the JCT Home Owner Contract. Self Builders constructing their own home on the other hand may want only an occasional visit, or perhaps regular monthly inspections just to keep an eye on their project. Commercial clients may require a more in-depth service, perhaps even co-ordinating or overseeing the various consultants/contractors etc.

Rather than giving you a one size fits all service, we will tailor our Project Management services to suit your requirements and budget:

• Full Project Management
  Providing a regular daily/weekly service covering a broad spectrum of roles.
• Consultancy Project Management
  Adding a Project Manager to your overall design team, to act as co-ordinator between the various parties/team members.
• Staged Inspections
  Having a Project Manager carry out staged inspections at specific times throughout the project programme.
• As and When Service
  Call us out when you need something inspected or needing advice.
• Trouble-shooter Service
  Most clients building their project who decide not to have any independent project management successfully complete their projects without any problems. However the occasional project does hit a snag and this is invariably when the client and builder have stopped talking to one another usually over what should have been foreseeable issues that could have been avoided at the very least by having just a formal building contract. Regrettably, this service tends to be more of a damage limitation exercise resolving problems and aiming to get things back on track but when brought in at an early stage things can be brought back on track successfully.

In addition, larger projects now involve so many consultants/designers, sub-contractors and specialists all producing their own drawings there is a potential risk in one team member not working from the latest designs from another member, resulting in expensive and time consuming co-ordination problems on site. The Billington Consultancy provides a Design Manager/Co-ordination service where we work alongside your architects and other designers/consultants etc co-ordinating the various packages with some superbly successful projects in our portfolio.

Design Management/Co-ordination

Due to the complexity of commercial projects today invariably involves a large cast of architects, consultants, sub contractors and specialists of one type or another, all producing their own drawings with the great risk of these being unco-ordinated, particularly if one team is not using the latest drawing from one of the other members. This can result in time consuming and costly rectification works on site.

One famous and perhaps extreme example was a large commercial project where the concrete cores which were to house the lifts, staircases and service risers had already been built when we were called in as Design Managers/Co-ordinatorss. Our immediate first job was to review the drawings of the various teams, overlaying them and in a matter of hours we had established that no one had thought to previously overlay the structural steelwork or staircase drawings onto the Engineers Concrete Core drawings with the result that the steel staircases and huge steel beams that were yet to be fitted would obstruct all the openings already cast in the cores preventing access! Sadly we were brought in to late to avoid the time consuming and expensive rectification work resolving this.

So why didn’t the Architect pick this up you ask. What is not commonly understood by many clients is that this may not actually be within the remit of the Architects brief and as a result this is where Design Managers/Co-ordinatorss such as The Billington Consultancy provide an essential service assisting in both co-ordinating and helping the design team members to ensure all are co-ordinated enabling site works to progress as efficiently and cost effectively as possible.