Scenario 2: Louistown City Council Louistown is a historical town which is home to over 40,000 residents and attracts over 20,000 visitors per year. The city council has been criticized for the lack of investment and modernization of the town centre. They have recently decided to improve the vibrancy of the area and offer increased opportunities for business by approving the funds for the ‘Louistown is Open for Business’ (LOB) portfolio. This is an ambitious portfolio of projects covering the next five-year plan cycle. A new shopping centre, provisionally named ‘LouisShopping’, is seen as a key project within this portfolio. This is a complex infrastructure project due to the: location of the building and historical nature of the surrounding buildings requirement for the design to be consistent with the environment while offering modern facilities supported by the latest technology need to include underground parking space importance of minimizing disruption to residents and businesses during the construction works recent award of ‘green town’ status to Louistown, and the sustainability requirements this will impose on the development. Due to the nature of the work, in which just the construction element is likely to span over two financial years, the council has approved the strategic business case, the initial high-level project plan and has appointed BuildyBrick as the main contractor. They have established a requirement for a traditional delivery approach in line with their standard approach to projects. The general view is that this project is long overdue, and the council would like ‘LouisShopping’ to be open to the public by the end of financial year three. The project has just completed the initiation stage and commenced the first delivery stage (stage 2). The high-level project plan is as follows: Stage 1 (initiation) strategic business case and high-level project plan approval appoint contractor Stage 2 - design Stage 3 - site preparation utilities and systems construction Stage 4 - testing inspections Stage 5 - demobilization. The main output from the project is a shopping centre constructed and ready to open to the public. Additional Information - The Mayor of Louistown has worked at the city council for 20 years. She was elected mayor one year ago as she is a firm believer in the need for modernization, while preserving the city’s historic buildings. She is very busy with commitments to the city’s 40,000 residents. The Heritage Director has worked at several historical sites and he has been brought in to the City Council to ensure a focus on preserving the city’s history and tourist revenue from the 20,000 annual visitors to its historic sites. The Heritage Manager reports to the Heritage Director and is responsible for monitoring whether the City is retaining its important historic buildings and any impacts modernization is having on this. The Business Opportunities Director has recently been promoted to provide a focus on improving business opportunities in Louistown. She has worked on several modernization projects at a senior level and understands the need to improve the vibrancy of the area, while meeting sustainability targets. She is keen to be involved in the LouisShopping Project in support of her role in promoting business opportunities. The members of the City Council, which has made the major planning decision to improve the vibrancy of the area and to offer increased opportunities for businesses by approving funds for the ‘Louistown is Open for Business’ (LOB) portfolio. The City Planning Officer will need to approve the design of the new LouisShopping, shopping centre. She is uncertain whether it will be possible for this major construction project to achieve its diverse goals relating to sustainability, developing business opportunities. The Regeneration Manager has led several regeneration projects in Louistown and has proved their ability to manage major construction projects. They are PRINCE2 qualified. The Regeneration Officer provides administrative services to the Regeneration Manager including maintaining a list of the department’s key stakeholders and maintaining the risk register for the department. The Sustainability Officer assisted the Sustainability Manager in collecting data to support the development of the City’s sustainability targets. She collects performance data to identify whether the City is on track to meet its sustainability targets. The Sustainability Manager has been on several courses on city modernization and has helped develop the City’s sustainability targets. They have managed several sustainability projects and are keen for the LouisShopping Project to be managed in a way that does not risk the City losing its ‘green town’ award. The Chief Technology Officer is responsible for the City’s IT strategy. Her department will be providing the specialists to ensure that the latest technology is used in the LouisShopping centre to promote shoppers as well as visitors to the centre’s restaurants and bars in the evenings. The CEO of BuildyBrick, the major contractor who will be doing much of the demolition and construction work for the LouisShopping Project. The Inspector employed by the City Council to provide an independent view that the BuildyBrick is complying with environmental and sustainability targets as well as City building regulations. The Portfolio Director for the Louistown is Open for Business (LOB) portfolio sees the LouisShopping Project as a key project in the portfolio. They believe that the success of the entire portfolio is dependent on the on-time delivery of this project, while achieving its sustainability targets. The Head of the Portfolio Office reports to the Portfolio Director and is responsible for reviewing the business cases and project plans of all projects in the Louistown is Open for Business (LOB) portfolio. The project is in stage 3 and the site preparation is underway. BuildyBrick has employed some apprentices on the project and these apprentices will do some of the work on the foundations. So that they gain the required skills quickly, BuildyBrick has created an online course which explains how to prepare the site and foundations. This is outside the scope of the project and, therefore, funded by BuildyBrick. All the apprentices have been told they must complete the online course before starting work on their own. Is this an appropriate application of the ‘learn from experience’ principle, and why?
Select an option, then click Submit answer.
- ○ Yes, because the online course should allow the apprentices to have the required skills before they start work on the foundations.
- ○ Yes, because the online course should mean that the apprentices gain the required skills quickly, and is funded by BuildyBrick.
- ○ No, because it is the project manager’s responsibility to train the project team members in the skills required to deliver the foundations.
- ○ No, because BuildyBrick should consider that some apprentices would learn better by practicing how to prepare the foundations.