Your academy needs a new classroom block, or your MAT governing body has decided to upgrade sports halls across its estate. Does your management team have the expertise to deliver on time and to budget while minimising disruption and managing H&S risks to students and staff?

Project management seems to be a black art, with the same mistakes being made repeatedly, even by professionals. A 2015 survey into the construction industry by KPMG estimated that 75% of construction projects failed to meet completion deadlines.

The government seems to be among the worst culprits. The initial estimate for the Scottish parliament building in Edinburgh was £10 million but eventually cost £404 million. The over-spend was blamed on poor management and design changes.

Neither do clients always get what they expect; the monthly maintenance bill for the parliament building is now more than £140,000, five times the estimated cost.

Reasons why capital projects fail

• Failure to set clear targets and parameters and stick to them
• Inaccurate initial cost estimates
• Poor leadership
• Failure to communicate at all levels, especially when problems arise
• Ignoring danger signs

The root cause of most of these problems is inexperience among the planning team and/or project managers.

However, a number of private companies now offer capital project management services specifically to the education sector. Not only is this more likely to deliver but financial risk to your academy can be significantly mitigated.

End-to-end support from Surveyors to Education

Our experienced principal designers project manage any size of construction projects exclusively for the academy and MAT sector, from inception through to completion so that your academy can realise its full potential into the future.

We act as your principal designer, managing all contractors and assisting your academy in meeting cost, quality, time and health and safety targets for the project.

We offer the following project management services:

• Architectural design
• Planning applications
• Feasibility studies
• Mechanical and electrical design
• Structural engineering
• Cost planning
• Compliance with construction design and management (CDM) regulations

For more information please call us on 01530 276 127, email us, or contact us here.