Level 2 questions - NHM Flashcards
Explain the process of cost planning on the Natural History Museum?
Establish team & get a plan together, ensure we meet the timescales set in the project programme
Review design – begin to collate design queries to be sent to the MEP engineers
Begin market testing & benchmarking
Begin measurement and take off of quantities
Transfer measures and costs to cost plan template
Issue draft to design team / client for comment
Finalise and formally issue to the client and project team
Present to client team
Value engineering & reconciliation as final process
What was the overall m2 rate for the Urban Nature Project from stage 2 to stage 4?
The total estimated project cost was £9,400/m2
What was the value of the MEP packages of work against the overall project costs?
MEP services equated to £1,400/m2 (15% of total project costs)
What was included in your cost plans for NHM?
- Cost Plan Summary
- Assumptions, clarifications and exclusions
- Information used
What were the exclusions from your cost plans?
- VAT
- Inflation
- Professional fees
- Statutory fees
- Capital allowances
- Client direct costs
- FF&E
- Whitegoods
Why did you exclude inflation? How could you apply inflation if the client requested this?
I explained to the client that we could include inflation however…
The client had their own budget for inflation which was managed internally
I requested that the client confirmed this in writing in order to keep record of this request
How did you calculate the risk allowances as you developed through the design stages? How did the risk allowance change?
I produced the risk allowances based on the quantified risk register which was maintained, reviewed and updated as the project progressed through the design stages
In general the risk allowances began to reduce as we developed through to stage 4
Able to firm up / close out certain risks that were present in the early design stages
You said you produced your cost plans on NHM in accordance with NRM1; what were the main headings?
- List out headings in accordance with NRM1
Why did you produce your cost plans in accordance with NRM1? What was the benefits of doing so?
By producing the cost plans in accordance with NRM1, I was able to understand the client’s cost limit and how this was split in to cost targets for each element
Structured methodology, industry standard
I applied this consistent approach throughout the design stages so I was able to reconcile the cost plans and control the development of design
Consistency with other projects which I used as a benchmark
You mentioned that you used benchmark data to validate the overall project costs at stage 2; how did you carry out this process?
Once I had completed my quantification and costing and the cost plan was in draft version, I compared this to similar schemes to the museum
I had to ensure that tender price indices and location indices had been applied if required
I reviewed the elemental cost targets in the cost plan to benchmark data to see where this compared
Produced a commentary against each element
Identified any areas which seemed noticeably low or high and would use this information to advise the client when presenting the cost plan
Were there any abnormals on the NHM project?
Specialist MEP requirements due to the sustainability – GSHP
Size of the project itself – small scale with high specification = higher area rates in general
High security requirements
How many projects did you benchmark the project against? What were these projects?
I benchmarked this project against at least 5 other projects to ensure I could validate my costs against a broad range of cost data
Once you validated the overall project costs as well as elemental costs against benchmark data, what did you advise the client? Did you identify any areas which were particularly high or low? Why was this?
In regards to the MEP installations, I advised that:
o Heat source was significantly high due to GSHP installation
o Electrical installations was high primarily due to the lighting spec
o Communications was high due to high security and access control specification
Due to the size of the building in that it was fairly small, the m2 rates would typically be higher due to a lack of economies of scale
What was the process of market testing? How many market tests did you carry out?
Reviewed MEP schedules to understand what manufacturers / suppliers had been listed
Liaised with the design team to discuss any alternative suppliers as well as other items which hadn’t had a supplier specified (some items I went out to 1 supplier as they were recommended by the design team, other items I was able to market test with 2 or 3 other suppliers to get a range of rates)
Engaged with the supply chain and issued relevant information to price
Updated market testing schedule
Built up the rates by first principles to include in cost plan
What is value engineering? What is the difference to value management?
Value management
o A broader process to explore how value could be provided for a project at a strategic level by helping to develop the right project brief
Value Engineering
o Assessing alternative materials and designs that achieve the same outcome, perform better and at a lower cost
o A focus in eliminating unnecessary cost
