Project Initiation Document (PID).

Project Initiation Document (PID).

Part 1.

Introduction.

This project initiation document builds on the planning and development of the HS2 Curzon Street Birmingham project. It sets out how the implementation phase should proceed, the individuals involved, and their roles and their impact on the successful completion of the project. It will also provide a project management baseline that will be used in the final evaluation of the project’s success.

The regeneration of the 141 hectares HS2 Curzon Street station in Birmingham city center has been an opportunity to better use of the area in addition to the multi-million investment of the surrounding area. While there has been much progress in the area, there are significant opportunities to regenerate the area. It has been identified that the project will create 36,000 new jobs, 4,000 new homes, and 600,000 square meters of commercial development. The project budget is estimated to be £2.1 million and should take a year and a half to complete the project.

Project Scope.

Outputs

• Private sector investment that will include acquisition costs.
• Purchase of private properties that may hinder the implementation of the project.
• Successful regeneration and improvement of the existing facilities.
• Partnering with other development partners surrounding the area.
• Creation of new jobs.
• Protection of existing investments.
• Giving back to the community through funding of specification health facilities.
• Return on Investment for any funding provided in the project.
• Interventions that are beneficial to the public realm. It may include improving the transport system in the areas touching the project area. Also, the appearance of the townscape.

A corporate Plan related to infrastructure, creation of new jobs, and unlocking of the area.

Increased growth in the current economic success in the area.

Through the contribution to the community, the project will ensure that every opportunity is seized. Also, direct involvement in marketing will create new employment opportunities that are not directly linked to the project. Creative industries will also emerge as the regenerated area will be a new attraction and a hub for community development.

In scope.

The project scope will include:

1. Submission of a requirements document that defines the information on the ongoing work and future progress.
2. An evaluation of strategies, business plans, and policies produced that may lead to a better understanding of the planned priorities.
3. Identification of any possible improvements that could increase the sustainability of the project.
4. Analyses and reviews of the appropriateness of the project activities.
5. Addressing the possibility of inequalities with community activities.
6. Understanding the aspirations of the local people to align the project objectives with the short and long term future change.
7. Looking at the effectiveness of links to make recommendations on how they can be enhanced and strengthened.
8. Identifying the process of involving the local community on the expected project results. The local community can be a source of information in the consultation process as they will give insights on the future of the residents in establishing the mechanisms of engagement. It also is easier to understand the groups to involve, and the extent to which they should get involved as the form of consultation and a means to provide continuous feedback.

Out of Scope

The project will not include:

• Associated master planning – the assumption is the HS2 has already signed off this dependency.
• Regulatory processes and acquisition of legal permits and consents. The developer and the system engineer are responsible for this procedure.
• Management and documentation of the construction contract.

Project schedule.

Source: Author.

Milestones.

Project stakeholder assessment.

Project team.

Stakeholder management.

1. Team working challenges.

In the current economic situations, organizations operating at a global level consist of individuals who have a different view of ideas (Lee and Peterson, 2000). Everyone perceives a different human behavior about the nature of the universe. Thus, incorporating the different worldviews is a fundamental activity in marinating the nature of humankind. The project manager will ensure that every view is accounted for to build team working and understanding.

2. Dealing with conflicts.

In some instances, there may exist conflicts between intercultural members. If the project team is to deliver the expected results, all possible means must be put in place to overcome conflicts. Navigation of the conflicts will require diversity that will enable the team to eliminate the complexity in problem-solving. Moreover, increased communication and coordination will help prevent unnecessary conflicts.

3. The Project Manager will maintain a stakeholder’s shortlist.

The adaptation to the corporate culture will have a great impact on the effectiveness of the stakeholders. Moreover, if the adaptation is fostered, the team members will develop internal satisfaction with the client organization. Thus, the project manager will require a shortlist of the stakeholders who are well adept with the organization’s culture. This will help in determining the following:

• Stakeholders who can make a decision that will not go against the organization’s culture.
• Stakeholders responsible for the approval of the project documentation.
• The values and criteria that the stakeholders will follow before making approvals.
• The type and medium of communication that will be used among the stakeholders.
• Language should be avoided around the project area.

Risk management- threats and opportunities assessment.

Part 2.

Effects of contemporary project management trends and drivers.

1. Digital Construction and Project Complexity.

The world is quickly introducing megatrends in the construction industry. Companies are increasingly identifying the areas for regeneration, and the places are quickly turning into urban areas with huge populations. However, construction and development are aimed at promoting affordable housing as well as contributing to the growth of the social realm. Despite there being many challenges, the construction industry is determined to transform the lives of the people by creating a wider society. In the face of the new growth, there are many product innovations in the Engineering and Construction that have increased the complexity of construction projects. Despite these challenges, development projects need to embrace these upcoming technological opportunities to increase productivity fully. This has become a major internal and external challenge, like the difficulties in recruiting a talented workforce to work with the new machinery. Also, the lack of technical knowhow to transfer the deliverables form one project to the other project is a huge challenge. The project has a huge potential for improving efficiency due to the increasing digitalization and new construction techniques.

The adoption of new technologies will boost the project’s productivity. It will also enhance safety as the procedures will be captured in a more convenient means. Capturing these bursting trends will require a commitment to all aspects of the organization. This is a trend that HS2 Curzon should be keen on adopting through concerted efforts in their current technologies, strategies, and personnel regulation. The world is changing faster, and the regeneration of Birmingham Street will mean that many people will want to settle in the area. Thus, the client organization should attribute several fragmentations of the project to incorporate future complexity. Many more trends will appear, and they should seek to remain relevant over the years.

Diversity of workforce.

From the past, construction projects have been seen to lack diversity.  However, the current state is changing as the projects are beginning to recruit a more diverse and inclusive workforce. This is a major trend that will affect the HS2 Curzon project in the future. Diversity in the business case demonstrates that there three primary concerns when engaging with the employees. These are employee engagement, job satisfaction, and performance. That said, the project planners need to have a clear direction that will be taken if new workforce demands arise in the future.

In a report compiled by McKinsey in 2018 on “Delivering through Diversity,” McKinsey demonstrated that an organization that hires diverse executive teams are 33 percent more likely to outperform their competitors (Hunt, Prince, Dixon-Fyle and Yee, 2018).

Diversity also contributes to the growth of the organization as the individuals are likely to introduce new and creative problem-solving techniques. “As diversity increases in our industry, we will see increases in productivity because we will see new ideas being brought forward,” says Jennifer Suerth, vice president of technical services at Pepper Construction Company ((FitT et al., 2020). The company will need to create a working environment that upholds diversity with the change in consumer demands. Diversity helps in creating a positive work environment by developing a broad candidate pool. Considering that construction projects are growing in complexity, the companies may sometimes fail to deliver on time. The companies will, therefore, need to hire talented workers who can contribute a remarkable increase in a company’s performance. The contractors must widen their candidate pools for the project to get a gifted workforce. That said, promoting diversity will open new opportunities for business innovation and performance. Such would be a sustainable solution for increasing future success.

2. Automation and Human-Machine Collaboration.

The practitioners and technologists in the construction industry have introduced dramatic visions about how the industry might look in the future. They have overseen the probability of introducing robotic workers who will be responsible for the building of complex structures. It will get done using dynamic devices such as drones. The supervision of the work will also get done using the drones that will fly around inspecting the construction work. The data collected using the artificial technology will also enhance problem-solving as it will be easier to identify and eliminate problems before they worsen. The labor cost will also get reduced as the site will only require few humans to mechanically and digitally integrate the workflows. During the time, human involvement will only be needed in the back office, to remotely manage the progress of the projects, and synthesizing of the data to ensure the project is going on according to specifications.

Traditionally, it was not easy to team up and capture the construction due to the long checklists. However, the invention of new technologies has simplified the process as machine learning technology requires data entry, and everything else will be solved using algorithms. It is also possible that in the future, the workers will only be needed to take a photograph, and the machine will automatically extract the required information from it, and the machines will generate the checklist (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014). Technologies like the “Internet of Things” (IoT) will unlock more visions in the construction industry. One of the most important future trends in capturing and inspecting the project progress from the site and identifying the underlying issues using technological models. There is a huge possibility that innovation smart enough to extract data from high-resolution photographs will be used in checks for deviations, scheduling, and planning for costs.

References.

Brynjolfsson, E., and McAfee, A., 2014. The second machine age: Work, progress, and prosperity in a time of brilliant technologies—WW Norton & Company.

FitT, J., Member, B., ICT, C., and FitT, A. (2020). How Workforce Diversity in Construction Improves Productivity and Profits – by Autodesk. [online] Fitt.org.au. Available at: https://www.fitt.org.au/how-workforce-diversity-in-construction-improves-productivity-and-profits-by-autodesk/ [Accessed 1 Mar. 2020].

Hunt, V., Prince, S., Dixon-Fyle, S., and Yee, L., 2018. Delivering through diversity. McKinsey & Company Report. Retrieved April 3, p.2018.

Lee, S.M., and Peterson, S.J., 2000. Culture, entrepreneurial orientation, and global competitiveness. Journal of world business, 35(4), pp.401-416.