Project partnering arrangement for delivery of a tight scheduled project

The paper reports a case study of a construction management company dealing with a major national retail organisation for repetitive contracts for supermarkets on a partnering arrangement. In particular, the paper examines the issue of a handover date, and the subsequent increase in productivity leading up to that date. Most supermarket contracts are of considerable complexity and involve many different subcontractors and activities in parallel throughout the contract period. In this case study, the construction management company and the client arrange a pre handover assessment meeting at the site, normally eight weeks before completion. At this meeting, a joint assessment is made for both parties to achieve the target, and the final handover date is agreed. For the client, this agreement allows arrangements to be made for stocking, funding, staffing and so on. The impact of this agreement on site is also considerable. From the case study it is clear that an overall acceleration takes place, with the construction management company and all the subcontractors involved 'gearing up' to meet the date. This represents a considerable increase in the resources allocated to the project, and a very intensive period of activity, which leads up to the handover date itself. The paper discusses the theoretical position of productivity and resources balanced throughout the contract period, and compares this to the experience as reported for this specific case.