Project Planning

As the first step in initiating a capital project, a project charter is established to confirm scope, objectives, deliverables, schedule, budget and communications. The project charter also identifies respective roles and responsibilities of clients, consultants and Facilities and Campus Development staff in project decision making.

Campus Development initiates projects by reviewing business cases for capital projects to understand client needs. A typical BCIT business case includes:

• detailed description of goals, objectives, deliverables and timelines
• rationale for Institute involvement
• impact and benefit statement for the Institute
• strategic partnerships
• risk assessment
• funding sources

These two stages of the feasibility study process include various project issue assessments. These assessment are used to complete Ministry (CARG) submission requirements such as an Opportunity Assessment, a Concept Plan Report and a Business Case. Although each project has unique issues, project identification and project definition feasibility studies typically address the following issues:

• Education program facility needs and space use
• Building condition and building infrastructure audits
• Seismic risk assessments
• Hazardous materials and geotechnical assessments
• Land-use and siting analysis
• Traffic and parking impacts
• Phasing and education program continuity
• Conceptual and schematic design
• Sustainable design standards
• Financing strategies
• Budget risk analysis and schedule implementation

The project identification and project definition stages are intended to identify design options, assess project risks, develop project budgets and timelines. Although these stages may involve some schematic design to test design options, detail design development does not begin until after a project agreement is reached.

The project agreement is a final statement of scope, objectives, deliverables, funding sources, space allocation, schedule, governance and communications model for a project. This is a formal agreement and must be signed by all partners prior to moving forward to implementation with Project Services.