Life Cycle: Initiation

Project Initiation for major projects is fundamental but challenging. Fundamental because of the emerging research evidence that shows that the foundations for project failure or poor value (and by extension, for success) on the great majority of projects are laid during initiation. Challenging because the number of uncertainties associated with complex projects delivered over long time periods make decision-making on what to include or exclude or how to govern the project extremely hard.

17th March 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Infrastructure and Projects Authority
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Cost Estimating Guidance

Summary

Overview of the Cost Estimating ProcessThis document sets out a best practice approach to the development of cost estimates for infrastructure projects and programmes. It is targeted at those involved in the sponsorship, leadership and delivery of projects to support better quality project cost estimates and improved decision making.

Applying the IPA’s priorities of principles, people and performance this document covers:

  • Principles for best practice cost estimating outlining the fundamentals that underpin a good cost estimate to get the basics right
    and address common pitfalls
  • Roles and responsibilities in producing, reviewing and owning the cost estimate to make informed decisions
  • Cost estimating process that should be followed to produce a robust, assured and transparent cost estimates which can be used
    with confidence to support successful delivery.

This guidance document is part of a suite of documents, including:

  1. Cost estimating guidance – setting out a best practice approach to cost estimation for all team members
  2. Cost estimating requirements – a technical guide setting out the detailed requirements for cost estimating teams and professionals to produce and assure cost estimates
  3. Training – to support professional development and promote the adoption of consistent method

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February 23rd 2021

Knowledge Type

Audio/Video

Organisation

Oxford Global Projects Academy
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Reference Class Forecasting in 90 Seconds, with Professor Bent Flyvbjerg

Summary

To celebrate the launch of a programme of reference class forecasting courses by Oxford Global Projects Academy, Professor Bent Flyvbjerg introduces the most accurate form of forecasting available to project planners in the world today. For more details of the programme, visit: Reference Class Forecasting Courses (oxfordglobalprojects.com)

17th December 2020

Knowledge Type

Audio/Video Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Institute of Health Equality
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Build Back Fairer – the Covid 19 Marmot Review

Summary

As the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic ‘Build Back Better’ has become the mantra. Important, but we need to Build Back Fairer. The levels of social, environmental and economic inequality in society are damaging health and wellbeing.It was the principles of fairness and the need to do things differently that animated the concrete recommendations we set out in our February 10 Years On Review, just before the pandemic hit with such devastating intensity. Inequalities in mortality from COVID-19 and rising health inequalities as a result of social and economic impacts, have made such action even more important.

The aim of this report is three-fold:

  • To examine inequalities in COVID-19 mortality. Focus is on inequalities in mortality among members of BAME groups and among certain occupations, alongside continued attention to the socioeconomic gradient in health – the more deprived the area, the worse COVID-19 mortality tends to be
  • To show the effects that the pandemic, and the societal response to contain the pandemic, have had on social and economic inequalities, their effects on mental and physical health, and their likely effects on health inequalities in the future
  • To make recommendations on what needs to be done

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19th January 2021

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Copper Consultancy
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Attitudes to Economic Development

Summary

Attitudes to Economic DevelopmentIn the latest in Copper’s series of insights into public attitudes to infrastructure they set out to explore whether the public are playing an active role in shaping the future of places, and what is seen as a priority for investment on the ground. Copper wanted to understand whether there are barriers to engagement which prevent people from getting involved and, if so, how those working in economic development can encourage others to join the conversation.

They also tested the public’s understanding of the government’s levelling up agenda and awareness of existing investment in towns and cities. Finally, they considered the impact of COVID-19 on priorities for investment and the degree of optimism or pessimism about the prospect of it affecting positive change.

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18th October 2020

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Royal Town Planning Institute
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Invest and Prosper: a business case for investing in planning

Summary

RTPI Invest and ProsperThe planning systems in the UK set the context for development and create the enabling conditions for a sustainable and healthy built environment. Planning shapes the environments where people work, live and interact. Through strategic spatial planning, the system can ensure that all residents and businesses have a good level of access to services and infrastructure, resources are appropriately accounted for in development decisions, and that new developments make efficient use of resources and technologies. Planning can also address potential negative impacts of development which can be harmful to human health.

Analysis and research for this report finds that the planning systems across the UK underpin economic, social, environmental and health outcomes. Quality plan-making, and housing delivery in particular, is integral to meeting sustainable development targets. Key benefits the planning system directly provides or supports include:

  • Affordable housing delivered through planning obligations saved the NHS[1] £240 million in 2019;
  • Living in a well-planned neighbourhood can support up to 59% of NHS-recommended weekly activity;
  • Urban greenspaces in Great Britain provide £16.5 billion in environmental, health and amenity value per year;
  • Planning ensures good access to economic opportunities, with 73% of planning housing permissions in England located within 10km of a major employment cluster;
  • Homes developed through planning permission are three times more likely to meet National Space Standards; and,
  • Planning policies prevent excess air pollution, which costs the UK £9-19 billion each year.

Planning plays a key role in delivering these benefits, but they are poorly understood and seldom attributed to the planning system. Without effective planning systems, many of these benefits would not be captured, affecting the quality of life for residents and imposing costs on both the public and private sectors.

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22nd March 2019

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Action Sustainability European Commission
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Accelerating the Transition to the Circular Economy

Summary

Improving Access to Finance for Circular Economy Projects

The transition to a circular economy requires a radical change in the way we produce and consume.

In a circular economy, products are designed for durability, upgradeability, reparability and reusability, with a view to reusing the materials from which they are made after they reach the end of their life. In the use phase, products are managed with a view to maximising their utilisation capacity and extending their useful life, thus maintaining their value for as long as possible. This is made possible by companies that develop new business models generating revenue streams from services rather than products while making a more efficient use of resources and/or giving new value to end-of-life products and materials.

This paper proposes three sets of recommendations that, if implemented, should together provide a framework that significantly improves access to finance for circular economy projects. The actions range from rather technical and short-term measures, e.g. to develop a definition of circular economy projects, to long-term and complex measures involving legislative changes at EU and national level. However, these recommendations should be seen as a whole, addressing the main problem — the risk associated with circular economy projects — from different perspectives and by different actors.

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23rd July 2020

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Public Affairs and Accounts Committee
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‘Levelling up’ risks leaving legacy of white elephants without culture change

Summary

In this report from the influential Public Affairs and Accounts Committee (PACAC), the Committee cautions that the hundreds of billions dedicated by the Government for new infrastructure projects risk being squandered without better co-ordination of local projects, long-term tracking of performance and greater transparency over delivery. The report calls on the Government to clarify its overall aims for major infrastructure spending as soon as possible and provide greater detail on how it will support economic development and regional growth.

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17th May 2020

Knowledge Type

Guidance/Good practice

Organisation

Mott MacDonald
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Street Evolution – Re-imagining streets post lockdown

Summary

Our streets must enable the efficient movement of traffic in all its forms – cars, buses, lorries, vans, bikes and people on foot. In retail areas, they provide ‘front doors’ for shops and other facilities. They’re also places for people to stop, rest and meet others. Whatever the activity, streets must be safe. In the social-distancing world, walking safely has come to mean something new. Pedestrians must not only be safe from traffic they also need to keep at least 2m apart. This has profound implications for how streets are laid out.

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22nd April 2020

Knowledge Type

Case Study

Organisation

National Audit Office

Major Project

Palace of Westminster
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Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal Programme

Summary

Through their wider value for money work National Audit Office have seen how major programmes often face challenges in their early stages. Unclear objectives and rising costs can contribute to poor value for money. There are similar early risks associated with any of the approaches taken to restore the Palace. This report aims to identify the value for money risks relevant to the approach approved by Parliament – doing repair work while it moves elsewhere. It recommends how Parliament and the Sponsor Body can reduce these risks and describes the potential impact of not doing so. It outlines:

– the Programme background (Part One); and
– progress developing the Programme, alongside the relevant value for money risks (Part Two).

This report is based on work carried out between January and March 2020 and draws on the NAO back catalogue of reports. As such, the timeframes included in this report represent the position as at March 2020 – these may change as the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic becomes clearer. Because the Programme is at an early stage, NAO do not seek to conclude on its value for money or whether the best value for money option for the works was selected. They will revisit our understanding of the risks as the Programme develops.

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8th April 2019

Knowledge Type

Learning Legacy

Organisation

Network Rail Ltd

Major Project

Thameslink Programme
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Thameslink Delivery and Execution Strategy

Summary

London Bridge Area Partnership partners worked in a uniquely close collaboration throughout to deliver 128 stages of construction since 2012, a staging plan that took over three years to perfect. This accommodated the re-signalling, track remodelling and construction of London Bridge station, construction of the Bermondsey Dive Under to the east and Borough Viaduct to the west – all while continuing to operate over 80 trains per hour alongside the construction sites. This staging strategy formed the blueprint for delivery; each stage of the programme created the next worksite for the station team, track team, civil engineering team or all three.

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