500 Zero Carbon Residential Housing Project - Case Study Example

500 Units of zero-carbon residential housing project Introduction Melbourne, just like other large cities within Australia and across the world, is grappling with the issue of housing following the increase in population among city dwellers (City of Whitehouse, 2012). The rise in population growth rate in Melbourne can be linked to population growth and more significantly, more adult children leaving their family homes, immigration of expatriates and students from abroad (City of Whitehouse, 2012). As a result, it is estimated that more than one million people will be living in Melbourne by the year 2030. Unmet housing needs are more likely to lead to a rise in the price of houses, rise in the rate of taking mortgages, a rise in the amount of house rents, and more gravely, a significant increase in incidences of homelessness as a result of expensive housing (City of Whitehouse, 2012). Therefore, more housing is required. The growing demand for housing in Melbourne forms the basis of this report that seeks to develop a project plan of 500 Units of zero-carbon residential housing project in Melbourne. Project Plan The inescapable variable of risk in projects and project uncertainties indicate that undertakings leading to the completion of projects cannot be predicted in certainty and accuracy and as a result, project planning is required as noted by Wysocki, et al. (1995). According to TSO (2009), project plans highlight planning decisions, project assumptions, communication strategy and it records project components such as project scope, budget, project risks, timeline, stakeholders and project resources. 1. The project purpose There is a growing demand for housing in Australia specifically in Melbourne given the increase in the population as a result of immigration of foreign expatriates and international students studying and seeking employment in Melbourne and in wider Australia (City of Whitehouse, 2012). The purpose of the project is to construct 500 zero carbon residential housing project that are safe, secure and affordable in order to meet rising housing needs in Melbourne. The increasing pressure to protect the environment and to improve energy efficiency in modern housing as a way of increasing environment sustainability is the main organizational drive that has informed the need to make the housing units zero-carbon emitting houses as supported by Cooper, et al. (2009). It is the goal of the project to construct residential homes that are eco-friendly and support local and international efforts to protect the environment. The 500 zero carbon residential housing project will not only address the housing needs in Melbourne but also show that it is economically feasible and environmentally possible for all Australians to live and operate in eco-friendly living and working spaces. Authorization will be required at varied stages of the project from not only the project manager, Mr. Abdul, project steering committee and the project sponsor who is the Australian Federal government, but also from the project experts who include project engineer, project architecture and environment sustainability experts and project designer. 2. Project Scope Project Stakeholders The major stakeholders to the 500 zero-carbon residential housing project encompass the project sponsor, who is the Australian Federal government through the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. The project sponsor will be the ultimate decision maker and will be the tiebreaker in settling contentious issues. Moreover, the project sponsor shall oversee the project progress, provide guidance on important issues and decisions affecting the project and evaluating and consenting components recommended for the project (Heldman, 2011). The project steering committee shall form part of the project stakeholders and will be liable to the acquisition and allocation of all the project resources required, approving funds and establishing suitable means of distributing them, facilitating conflict management, providing project direction to project manager and evaluating the project deliverables as highlighted by Morris and Sember (2008). Other than that, the project steering committee shall identify suitable participants to the project, who will be charged with being consumer advocates in their areas of specialty, assessing project deliverables and approving project deliverables. Additionally, give project recommendations, identify project risks and ascertain the quality of resources, which will allow the achievement of the set goals, aims and objectives of the project (TSO 2009). The project manager is the other project stakeholder. As earlier indicated, the project manager for the project will be Mr. Abdul, who shall be accountable for the management of the project as set out in the project plan. Mr. Abdul as the project manager shall be expected to manage the project based on the standards stipulated by the PMBOK Guide. According to PMI (2008), the PMBOK Guide suggests that a project manager should oversee and manage the project process that includes I. Initiation II. Planning III. Execution IV. Monitoring and Control V. Project closure. Other than carrying out the project process using the above highlighted process of project development, Mr. Abdul shall be expected to ensure that all the main aspects and variables of the project are incorporated efficiently and effectively and in so doing, facilitate smooth progress of the project. Among the main aspects and variables of the project includes management of costs, time management, human resource management, managing communication, quality management, assessment of risks, risk management, managing project scope and procurement management (Saladis & Kerzner, 2011). In addition, Mr. Abdul will be charged with acting as the point of connection to the project steering committee, project suppliers, project consultants and project sponsor. Mr. Abdul shall carry out managerial functions of conflict management, offering project direction by engaging the project team in meeting the set project goals, aims and objectives, project organization, budget management and overseeing the project progress as highlighted by Maylor (2008). The 500 units of zero carbon residential housing project shall seek the expertise, opinions and contributions of professionals in the sectors of architecture, engineering, project designing, landscaping and environmental sustainability who will be charged with offering guidance during project progress and offering approvals in various stages of the project. The project steering committee shall be responsible for identifying and defining the group of professionals. Project Deliverables In order to address the housing needs in Melbourne and counter the rising demand for more housing and to ensure the established residential houses are not only affordable, safe and secure but also eco-friendly and energy efficient, the project upon completion shall construct fully functioning 500 units of zero carbon residential houses. These units shall help cater to a certain degree the housing needs in Melbourne and help develop eco-friendly living places. The project can be used as a project test to be applied in other Australian cities about the ability for all Australians to live in affordable, environmentally-conscious housing. Project Benefits As emphasized in this project, the project benefits include reducing the housing needs in Melbourne and countering the high rent prices and risk of homelessness that comes with increased demand for housing that overtakes housing supply. Other than that, the housing project is meant to ensure city dwellers in Melbourne are more energy efficient and are living in affordable, safe, secure and more importantly, eco-friendly living spaces. This will help contribute to the local and international efforts to reduce harm to the environment. The benchmark of success is the total use of recycled building materials, 0% water wastage and 100% energy efficiency by use of alternative sources of energy within the housing project. The latter will be achieved through total reliance on use of solar energy. Project Constraints All projects have project constraints that are inevitable and understanding them is important in allowing sufficient planning to help prepare and safeguard against them (Maylor, 2008). This project is faced by financial constraints which relates to lack of a stable source of funding particularly if the Australian Federal government fails to fund the entire project singly thus affecting project timelines and achievement of project goals and objectives. There are obstacles that are hard to deal with that have the ability to harm the success of the project and in this case include withdrawal of funding by the project sponsor, natural events such as hurricanes and flooding that can damage the housing project and rising cases of terror attacks that can destroy the project during and after completion, resulting in project failure and waste of resources used in the project. The scope of the project is construction of zero carbon residential houses that meets current and future housing needs, taking into account the environment and ensuring that the houses are safe, secure, and affordable and contain elements of flexibility, aestheticism and ease needed in modern living spaces. The project must ensure the houses are constructed using energy-efficient, recycled and eco-friendly building materials. The project expects that the houses do offer ideal living spaces for the occupants where their energy, waste disposal, ventilation, thermal and safetyneeds are effectively met and are not compromised in any way. It is expected that every aspect during construction of the houses shall improve the sustainability credentials of the housing project upon completion. The expectations are that the housing project will be built using systems with increased insulating and airtight abilities to enhance daylight levels, incorporated with highly effective cooling and ventilation systems. Outside the scope of the project is the use of this project as a baseline to design eco-friendly commercial houses. Project Assumptions The project assumption is that the 500 units of zero carbon residential housing project will act as a test to show that modern living spaces and places can be eco-friendly and energy efficient notwithstanding the use, size and cost of houses built as echoed by Cooper, et al. (2009). Another assumption is that the project manager will ensure that all project stakeholders are easily accessible and available when needed to carry out their mandate and the project steering committee will help execute the project plan effectively by making themselves available for all project meetings and speed up consensus on important issues and approving project decisions thus, saving time. It is the assumption of this project that failing to implement suitable modifications to project deliverables within the time specified in the set timeline will result in delaying project initiation and implementation. In addition, all parties to the project will keep in line with the communication plan, the project sponsor will offer required sustainable infrastructures to support the project, all stakeholders shall comply with project standards and the project plan is open to any changes that may develop as new information is generated and new challenges emerge. Another project assumption is that environmental sustainability is an important variable in modern housing projects especially in Australia and as a result, the Australian Federal government shall be eager and prepared to sponsor the zero carbon residential housing project. Project Objectives The project objectives are I. To enhance energy efficiency in modern housing in Melbourne II. To increase housing supply to counter rising housing demand in Melbourne III. To improve water efficiency among city dwellers in Melbourne and in so doing reduce wastage of water IV. To facilitate efficient disposal of refuse and discharge of wastes in Melbourne V. To improve access to affordable, safe, secure and eco-friendly living spaces in Melbourne VI. To illustrate that modern housing can be affordable, secure and at the same time eco-friendly VII. To promote healthy living among city dwellers in Melbourne without compromising on their safety, security, comfort, privacy and flexibility VIII. To ascertain satisfaction of every practical housing needs of people within Melbourne without compromising the environment Moreover, the project pursues I. To ensure potential housing occupants are engaged in the project design process II. ascertain the project goals and objectives are met within set budget III. ascertain the project goals and objectives are met within set time IV. ensure the project progress is within the project scope Scope Management Plan Managing the project scope is crucial in ensuring that the project runs within set time frames and more importantly it is ensures that the project operates within set budget and safeguard against the risks of budget overruns that comprises the ability to complete the project(Morris & Sember, 2008). According to PMI (2008), effective management of a project entails balancing competing project constraints that are and not limited to project scope, project quality, project risks, project resources and project budget. As indicated by Heldman (2011), changes during project progress are inevitable and responding and managing these changes are critical to operating within the project scope, since they greatly impact on critical success factors of the project such as time, human resources, financial resources and quality of project.Project changes arise as new information is revealed and is generated and new issues emerge in the course of the project development. Therefore, recommendations to review and introduce changes to the housing project shall be managed and overseen by firstly, Mr. Abdul as the project manager documenting the issues when changes affecting project scope, project timeline and project resources are established. Secondly, Mr. Abdul shall assess the established changes and identify the related impact to the housing project and later, presenting the issue attached with suitable recommendations to the project steering committee to assess and make the ultimate decision. Thirdly, the project steering committee shall discuss and review the issue and the forwarded recommendations and agree on a mutual decision if the applications made can be consented or improved on based on Mr. Abdul’s insights and committee’s know-how as supported by Morris and Sember (2008). The inability by the committee to develop a clear consensus on if to accept or deny the recommendations will result in the committee referring the matter to the project sponsor for the final decree using a written summation of the identified issues. Fourthly, the project sponsor, Australian Federal government shall assess the issues and give final decree on if to consent or reject the recommendations forwarded (Morris & Sember, 2008). Based on the final decree from the project sponsor, Mr. Abdul shall notify the relevant project parties on the most suitable step to make. There are no appeals. The decisions arrived at by the project steering committee and project sponsor are final. Project People Resources The stakeholders mentioned in the section of project stakeholder shall make up theinternal FTE (full-time equivalent) people of the project. Other project team members such as suppliers, construction contractors andconstruction workers shall be given a one year contract, which is the duration of the project. Support team for instance legal, design and IT support shall be called in whenever necessary. Activities contracted to suppliers includes different forms of building materials, electrical systems, piping systems and thermal systems Project Milestones I. The first milestone is furnishing the project team with the project plan II. The second milestone is preliminaries which includes making project financial arrangement and organizing the housing design III. The third milestone is awarding suitable contracts to effective and efficient project builders, contractors and suppliers IV. The fourth milestone is obtaining approvals for the housing project and obtaining resource approval from project sponsor V. The fifth milestone is project initiation VI. The sixth milestone is ensuring quality of the project and carrying out regular evaluation of the project progress VII. The seventh milestone is project completion Project Gantt chart Project Milestones 2012 Nov 2012 Dec 2013 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 1.furnishing the project team with the project plan 2.preliminaries 3.awarding suitable contracts 4.obtaining approvals 5.project initiation 6.ensuring quality of the project and carrying out regular evaluation 7.project completion 3. Project Quality Deliverables The final product of the project is 500 units of zero carbon residential housing project located in Melbourne that are built using renewable and recycled raw materials. The 500 units zero carbon residential houses are expected to be energy efficient, water efficient, have efficient waste and refuse disposal system, be comfortable, safe, secure, affordable, and aesthetic to live and they are expected to fully meet the practical housing needs of the occupants. Quality of the project will be determined in terms of flexibility, efficiency, maintainability, reliability, presentability, usability, affordability, safety, security and more importantly sustainability of the housing project. To ensure expectations are met, experts’ opinions and building approvals shall be obtained in every stage of the project. In addition, quality assurance assessment shall be carried out every three months until project completion. Objectives Quality objectives of the project are I. To ensure all building materials have met required standards II. To ensure only qualified and vetted suppliers, builders, experts and contractors are awarded contracts of service III. To ensure the housing project is based on environmental and management standards and best practices IV. To ensure documentation of every project detail V. To ensure each member of the project team is accountable in their roles Standards The project shall comply with national construction code of Australia and the international environmental standards. The experts shall be expected to adhere to their professional code of ethics Levels The level of quality will defined and measured by performance, that is, the ability of the housing project to achieve the set project goal and objectives. Criteria I. The efficiency of the housing project shall be evaluated on the criteria of effectiveness which shall be measured by the ability to use minimal resources to build and maintain the project II. The correctness of the project shall be evaluated on the criteria of completeness, which shall be measured by the ability of the project to function as expected. III. The project maintainability and usability shall be assessed on the criteria of simplicity, measured by the level at which the project defines and execute its functions in the most simple, clear and understandable way. Quality Assurance Quality of the project shall be ensured throughout the project process using quality planning during the planning phase, quality assurance during project execution and quality control during project evaluation, monitoring and control. Tools Continuous process improvement shall be used to ensure quality throughout the project life. Monitoring The project team shall compile daily quality status reports, which shall be audited monthly by the internal auditor. Every six months, an external auditor shall be contracted to audit the project. Regular project inspections shall be carried out by the city council department. Rectification Any changes and quality problems shall be analyzed and resolved as highlighted in the Scope Management Plan. Communication The daily quality status reports complied by the project team shall be made available to the project steering committee in every project meeting they hold to ensure they are duly informed of quality progress All stakeholders shall be furnished with quality issues and progress twice a month and they shall be given copies of the quality status reports. They will be expected to actively engage in identifying quality issues, identifying viable solutions to quality issues and more importantly, ensuring they are accountable and committed to project quality. All communication shall be carried out through internal memos, the official project website, through emails and through face to face communication. Quality Improvement To review the effectiveness of quality management procedures, to identify and implement process and quality improvements, and to share lessons learnt, monthly internal audits and semi-annual external audits shall be carried out while quality management system reviews shall be carried out every four months from the commencement of the project. 4. Project Schedule Time constraints Factors affecting time includes legislation, poor weather conditions such as storms that may stall work progress and lack of smooth flow of funding as approvals for resources are sort Estimated start & finish All these factors are flexible and sufficient time has been given each project milestone to offset any time constraints Key Milestones They are as highlighted in project milestones under project scope Work plan As highlighted in project milestones under project scope Monitoring The daily status reports shall be used to track project progress and completion of project milestones Issues All scheduling issues shall be identified by relevant project team members, documented, presented to project manager and rectified accordingly as highlighted in the scope management plan. Changes Schedule changes shall be dealt with as highlighted in the scope management plan Time management improvement Time management and quality management reviews shall be carried out regularly to ensure progress is monitored and detect and address time delays as supported by Morris &Sember, (2008). 5. Project Budget Project costs The overall costs of the housing project is 300,000,000 AUD, with each house out of the five hundred costing 300,000 AUD with contingency funds amounting to 50,000,000 which are refundable to the project sponsor upon project completion. The budget is not yet approved and sponsorship from the government is expected to offset the entire budget costs Resources Financial resources shall dictate the amount of technology, human, material, capital and information resources used. The inputs of the project sponsor, project manager, experts, and steering committee shall be obtained. Estimating Costs estimates shall be obtained using supplier product catalogues and fifty million Australian dollars has been set aside for contingency and to absorb any budgetary changes Cost Control All activities that require money shall be documented and all receipts obtained Monthly internal financial audits and semi-annual external financial audits shall be carried out to monitor project costs(Morris &Sember, 2008) All costs issues shall be dealt with as highlighted in the scope management plan Completion A comprehensive external financial audit and financial management review shall be done at project completion to assess effectiveness of cost management procedures. Process improvements shall be captured in the daily status reports and dealt with as highlighted in the scope management plan. 6. Project Risk The project risks for this project are primarily human factors that include lack of adequate skills and knowledge among user group participants, imprecise consultant project deliverables, poor working relations among project stakeholders, unfeasible costing, poor timeline estimates and lack of commitment from project team.Since the risks are human factors, when they occur, they will be managed using effective leadership, effective communication and through teamwork (Wysocki, et al., 1995). To prevent the risks from occurring, all conflicts shall be resolved whenever they arise. Spare time shall be allocated in every meeting held to identify new risks, establish appropriate risk mitigation procedures based on the impact of risk, capacity of the project to accept risk and viability of risk mitigation(Wysocki, et al., 1995). 7. Procurement and Contract Management All financial resources shall be sourced by the project sponsor while other resources shall be outsourced. All suppliers shall be received on the first come, first serve basis and they shall be awarded contracts based on tender bidding. Contracts shall be used to inform transactions and breach of the contracts shall attract appropriate actions. To establish relationships, all accepted suppliers shall be offered a one year contract although the terms and conditions of the contracts apply. Determine Requirements All the building materials shall be procured through tenders and outsourced. The inputs of all project stakeholders shall be obtained during the procurement process. The procurement management plan shall entail the project steering committee in conjunction with project manager deciding which types of contracts to give, preparing project estimates, standardizing procurement documents, establishing procurement constraints and assumptions and identifying suitable suppliers. Procurement processes All required resources shall be agreed upon by the project team and duly advertised on the official project website. All the applications from interested suppliers shall be received on first come first serve basis and they shall be assessed on their quality management, OHS standards and compliance with industry standards. Tenders will be used to ensure selection of right suppliers. Communication methods The specifications and selection criteria to stakeholders and prospective contractors to ensure fair competition will be facilitated through the official project website. All applications shall be received through the official project website and successful applicants duly informed. Contracting All contract issues shall be handled by the contracted legal team supported by the Project manager. Written contracts shall be created and all details verified by the project manager and the legal team. The project sponsor shall negotiate contract terms and conditions and oversee the selection process. Contract Management All contract communication and management shall be carried out by the project manager and the legal team, who will also be accountable for managing contractor issues, changes, disputes and remedial actions. Monthly audits shall be carried out to manage progress to attain objective within the legal mechanism of the contract. Finalization Product verification and monthly procurement audits shall be done monthly to ensure contract deliverables are as expected and to assess effectiveness of procurement and contract management procedures respectively. 8. Human resources Plan stakeholder management The plan stakeholder management is as highlighted in the project stakeholder section Plan HR management The project team members include project sponsor, project manager, Mr. Abdul, project steering committee, various experts and contracted legal and IT team. All project team members must have a five year minimum working experience in the project position they are appointed, they must have basic academic degree at their area of expertise, they must have great interpersonal skills and they must be able to qualify the recruitment and selection process. Matrix HR structure shall be applied while best resources shall be availed and allocated through enhanced stakeholder engagement. All project roles shall be defined and each project member shall be compensated as set out in the employment contracts. Each month, each stakeholder shall be appraised and high performers duly awarded with monthly bonuses. Any training needs and development shall be determined through the monthly performance appraisals(Wysocki, et al., 1995). Training & Development Any training needs shall be treated as project changes and dealt with under the scope management plan Team Management All team management issues, performance issues, rewards, conflict management, remedial actions shall be carried out by the project manager, supported by the project steering committee. Project Communications All communications shall be carried out using a matrix structure and top-down and down-up communication shall be encouraged. Other than internal memos and telephone, reports, emails, meetings and postings in the official project website shall be used as project media. As highlighted earlier PMBOK and MS excel shall be used as project information system. Information Management All project information shall be collected and disseminated through the official project website. Sensitive and official information shall only be accessed by authorized persons with assigned codes. The official project website shall be used to communicate to community and contractors. Information management controls shall be set up to help detect problems. Reporting All project details shall be documented and daily status reports prepared. All project members shall seek approval from project manager to access data and shall report to him all project outcomes. Finalization All project information shall be forwarded to the project sponsor and copies left with the project manager. All learnt lessons shall be communicated regularly during monthly stakeholder meetings and recorded in project reports. The project manager and project sponsor shall take ownership and accountability of collected data. References City of Whitehouse. (2012). Future Housing Needs. Melbourne: City of Whitehouse. Cooper, R., Evans, G., & Boyko, C. (2009). Designing Sustainable Cities. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Heldman, K. (2011). Project Management JumpStart. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Maylor, H. (2008). Project Management 3rd ed. London: Prentice Hall. Morris, R.A. & Sember, B.M. (2008). Project management that works: real-world advice on communicating, problem solving, and everything else you need to know to get the job done. Washington DC: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. P.M.I. (2008). A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge- PMBOK Guide 4th ed. Project Management Institute. Saladis, F.P. & Kerzner, H. (2011). Bringing the PMBOK Guide to Life: A Companion for the Practicing Project Manager. New York: John Wiley & Sons. TSO. (2009). Managing Successful Projects with Prince2.London: The Stationery Office. Wysocki, K.R., Beck, R.J., Crane, D.B.(1995). Effective Project management.How to Plan, Manage and Deliver Projects on Time and within Budget. Canada: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Read More