Case Study Flashcards
What were the dB ratings required for the Mill Studios classrooms?
Ambient noise level was to be at 35dB for all spaces.
What other buildings did you benchmark Mill Studios against?
I benchmarked the project against other education refurbishments as well as refurbishments within listed buildings.
How did you adjust for location on Mill Studios?
A number of projects benchmarked against were outside of the region. So I took the location factor for those region and rebased for the Calderdale region.
Why wasn’t Mill Studios tendered openly (public procurement regs)?
As the project was below the £5.3 million threshold for the public contract regulations and as the college did not have a specific procurement framework in place, the regulations did not apply in this instance.
On Mill Studios, how much funding was required to be spent by the end of March? Could you have used an advanced payment bond? What are risks of this?
£200,000 needed to be spent by the end of March. An advanced payment bond was not feasible as this stage as the design had not been developed enough by this point to determine what materials a bond should cover.
There is always a risk with an advanced payment that the contractor will become insolvent and money for the materials is lost. A bond provides a guarantee should this happen.
The way we negotiated the spending requirement was:
A) Invoicing of Consultant Fees up to the end of March.
B) Agreeing and starting on the demolition works which were simple and thoroughly designed.
C) Onboarding a contractor for the main works through a PCSA.
On Mill Studios, why did you use a two stage D&B route over a single stage where the contractor takes on design responsibility earlier?
It allowed the contractor to be onboarded early through a PCSA and work alongside the design team to help develop the design, provide buildability advice and derisk the project.
A single stage would not allow the contractor to provide buildability advice at the point of tender.
Brief and design was limited so two stage was the best option here.
What are the drawbacks of a two stage?
Less competitive than a single stage, less incentive to price second stage competitively.
Additional cost of a PCSA fee.
Potential for negotiation to fail which would delay works and cost money.
What tender documents did you put together for Mill Studios?
Preliminaries
Employer’s Requirements (Drawings and Specs)
Form of Tender
Instructions to Tenderers
Schedule of PCSA Services
Tender Sum Analysis
Talk through the tender process on Mill Studios?
I approached four fit-out contractors who were local and understood the challenges of the programme.
Contractors confirmed their interest in tendering and an ITT was issued. Tender period was 1 week.
One Contractor pulled out citing lack of project information.
3 Contractors returned.
Produced a like-for-like comparison, plugging items where required. Also reviewed amount of resource contributed to the PCSA.
I put my findings into a tender report and sent to the Client ahead of a meeting to review our recommendation in more detail.
What is value engineering?
A specific exercise that is used to eliminate unnecessary cost and increase value of a specification or product.
Value is subjective and doesn’t necessarily relate to cost, it could be increased efficiency, functionality or appearance.
Why was VAT non-recoverable on Mill Studios?
Higher Education establishments like universities and colleges are not registered charities like primary and secondary schools can be. Therefore, the full VAT rate applies.
Are there different VAT rates?
20% - standard rate
5% - reduced rate for certain goods and services
0% - for exporting of goods
On Mill Studios, when did I advise the Client of scope creep, when did I advise the Client on VAT issue?
I noticed scope creep at RIBA 2 and advised the Client of this, but they were happy with the developments in the design and at this point the design was still within budget.
Following RIBA 3, the design had creeped further and the VAT issue was raised.
Talk through the value engineering options proposed on Mill Studios?
Mech Vent – Nat Vent - £50k
Acoustic Baffles - £85k
Alternative supplier for the Carpet - £20k
On Mill Studios, how did the value engineering exercise affect the programme?
No effect – managed to complete the value engineering exercise within the programmed tender period.
