Business case
Our client, a real estate developer, faced significant delays and financial setbacks in building a shopping centre. The project design had been transformed to meet customer expectations post-COVID, against a backdrop of many retailers going bankrupt. We were engaged to analyse the situation and develop a lessons-learned register to avoid similar challenges on future projects.
Shopping centres are unique in that design development continues until late in the project to provide a high-end customer experience and maximise shop sales. In this context, a strong project culture is a prerequisite. One key success factor is the ability to integrate all areas of expertise within a project team with efficient work processes. The “project culture” needs to evolve, gradually moving from a focus on optimising costs (cost-driven project) in order to maximise profitability to a focus on meeting deadlines “at all costs” (planning-driven project) to secure the opening date.
We thoroughly assessed the project to identify and explain the cost and schedule overruns. Our work included on-site visits and interviews with the project team, allowing us to challenge the causes of these slippages and propose an action plan to better control and ensure the delivery of upcoming projects on time and on budget.