For Boston Sports Club’s numerous renovations, Elaine Construction Co., a Newton-based construction firm, engaged all participants and stakeholders in the process through signage and displays throughout the process. Proactively keeping people informed made the renovations less difficult to accomplish and more efficient through completion.
Project management in construction is much like project management in any field. There are four main components: the people involved in the project; the communications process; the schedule; and the budget.
Project managers control and communicate. They manage the flow of information, ensure that all relevant parties have the right information at the right time, predict and monitor budget issues, and manage the schedule, taking into account the many unknowns at the outset and pushing as many of those “unknowns” into the “knowns” category as quickly as possible.
Managing projects in the world of construction assumes an added layer of coordination and risk. However, this is especially true in projects where the space affected is occupied and in a public area.
The greatest risk in projects within occupied spaces is the disruption of normal business operations due to the nearly always invasive nature of construction activities. Construction is generally a noisy, dusty and messy activity. Those subjected to it during the normal course of business operations will attest to the fact that rerouting foot traffic and enduring the odors, dust, dirt and sounds can make it difficult, at best, to conduct business as usual.
Add to this the complication of dealing with the public access to any space under construction. Elaine Construction Co., a Newton-based construction firm, has particular expertise and experience in such spaces as functioning banks, residential lobbies and health clubs. How does one conduct a successful renovation that spans months where the public access to and use of spaces must be maintained?
The first element for success is the project manager. The right onsite management is critical. The project superintendent will make or break the outcome of the situation. A project with these kinds of needs requires a politician of sorts – someone who can not only fulfill the needs of the job, but also can move among the occupants as one of them. Someone who can smile every minute of the day, shake hands and generally help the constituents to see that the long term outcome is worth the pain and suffering of the process.
The second is cross-functional communication among the management team, including the owner, architect and contractor. The general contractor’s project manager is the key to this part of the project. He or she needs to design, implement and control the flow of communications in such a way as to convey the level and type of activity to the occupants and clients on a daily basis. Further, the communications must include hot issues, key daily activities and milestones as they occur. This might include such project management tools as daily schedules, issues logs and signage. All need to be kept current and relevant.
The final element is the subcontractor team. They need to be brought into the project and understand their critical role in the success of the initiative. They are performing the work activity and, as such, need to understand the nuances and business initiatives and adopt them as their own. They need to acknowledge the insight and understanding of the general contractor’s project team and be fully engaged in the active management of the client’s experience and expectations.
For example, at Sovereign Bank’s recent renovation of its Beacon Street branch, the subcontractor team, together with Elaine’s superintendent, Greg Montesano, had to actively engage in routing foot traffic, managing noise and developing the kind of relationships that made the construction process possible in a fully active banking branch. This included developing alternative delivery methods and strategies to include the customers in the process. The customers had to become engaged in the process by understanding that their actions either helped or hindered the construction process. They had to follow instructions and pay attention to daily activities in order to ensure their safety and ability to conduct business. For Sovereign and Elaine, this meant constant communications via signage and personal contact with the field staff. In a small space, Elaine had to carefully stage materials, constantly readjusting for foot traffic patterns and provide two fulltime staff members to supervise.
Similarly, for Boston Sports Club’s numerous renovations, Elaine actively engaged all participants and stakeholders in the process through signage and displays throughout the process. Proactively keeping people informed has made these renovations far less difficult to accomplish, and much more efficient through completion.
It takes a well-informed and tightly coordinated project team to plan, manage and communicate the initiative in occupied, and particularly operational, space under construction. The communication effort takes place at a multitude of levels and is essential to the project’s success.
