What makes a smooth construction phase?
APRIL 2025
By its nature construction is unpredictable, especially when dealing with the adaptation and refurbishment of an existing site. If it's not materials held up by a ship blocking the Suez Canal, its a structural engineer in hospital whilst sagging railway tracks used as RSJ's are uncovered on site, delayed planning decisions, asbestos in the ceiling void, suppliers going into liquidation, items broken in transit and the discovery of a mosaic floor! Those delays can have a huge impact on the construction programme along with cost implications.
Many of these things are outside of a your direct control, but what is in your control to control those costs as the client?
Where does accountability truly lie? Or, is it the responsibility of all to take ownership of a project?
How can you deliver a successful hospitality project that provides value for everyone during the project life cycle?
Lets look at how we deliver successful spaces that align with our clients’ aims and expectations whilst accounting for these external factors and their impact on the construction process, ensuring profitable delivery and sustained success for all involved in the project lifecycle.
Are there opportunities for improvement across the front-end stages of the development or project lifecycle?
Get the right people on board
If you need a designer, architect, engineer, contractor and other specialists, get them involved right from the start to save cost and avoid pain further down the line. This will avoid extra revisions to accommodate new information and insights they bring.
Choose Local
Supporting local businesses both as service and materials reduces the risk of delays, they're more likely to be familiar with local planning, businesses, history, culture, and its the sustainable choice environmentally, socially and economically.
Build a Buffer
Add extra time into the start of a programme to conduct thorough due diligence and again at the design development stage to save time later on in the development. Get those surveys and feasibility plans as it can make all the difference between a project that should and shouldn't progress, avoiding escalating costs when on site. This time will allow reflection, refinement and clarity to create the best solution, not the first option or the loudest option. Whilst some time pressure can be good, it's often in the pause and the question "why's that like that?" that we all notice a different opportunity, a way to innovate rather than rinse and repeat.
Be Clear
Identifying risks upfront and being clear about who has responsibility over what elements of the project is so important to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
Build a Team
Strong team relationships matter from the start and create the safety to bring mistakes, oversights without finger pointing. Unite the team under one vision. This will enable more honest conversations when challenges arise.
We all hope that everything goes smoothly and to plan on site, but it doesn't happen by chance, it happens by design.
WRITTEN BY CHLOE