Shirebrook Regeneration Project

Shirebrook Regeneration Project

Ethos and Rational Summary

Ethos has to do with credibility. It is persuading an audience by using the credibility of the subject matter. The ethos that influenced the development of the Shirebrook regeneration project was simply to benefit the town’s community. A significant section of the population had lost their jobs and business, and they needed something that would help them get a source of livelihood again. Additionally, the company that had been responsible for their housing and social services had also gone out of business. Therefore, there was a need for another project to step in and offer these services. This need and gap in the economic and social environment was to be filled by the regeneration project. The plan was to make sure that the opportunities for employment that the project would generate would have a direct benefit to the local workforce as well as the town’s new residents. The businesses provided much-needed jobs and offered the traders a place to conduct their transactions. In effect, the project would heighten the town’s economic viability. Such an impact had the aim of luring new investors for the town center’s improvement. It would also improve the services in the area as well as the general environment. Therefore, the purposes of the project gave it credibility to the town and its people.

The rationality behind the development of the project was to provide employment opportunities to the town’s population. Most of the people were unemployed. Notably, the city grew because of mining. The Colliery Company that was involved in coal mining had led to a dramatic increase in the population in Shirebrook because of people coming to look for work. Statistics indicated that the town’s population jumped from 567 to 6,200 between 1891 and 1901. The Colliery Company had started drilling in the area in 1896, and reached coal in 1897. The growing population of mineworkers necessitated the need for more housing, with the demand exceeding the supply of the housing units, leaving some people homeless. The growth of the company made the employer see the need to improve its workers’ social and physical infrastructure. The company accomplished this through a welfare levy. The Colliery had become the community’s pillar for infrastructure and social activities and services. It also gave a social framework that structured the environment. During the company’s peak in performance, it had more than 2,000 workers. This number reduced to 800 by 1993 due to phased staff reduction and the eventual closure of the company. Notably, the company did not just employ people, but it had business partnerships with some of the residents. Some were local suppliers to the company, while others were retail businesses that sourced their stock from the company. Therefore, these individuals also lost their businesses and their source of livelihood.

Notably, the people of Shirebrook did not move away from the town when they lost their jobs and businesses following the closure of the Colliery Company. However, failure to fi a solution to their problems would have forced them to thrift away to other areas in search of better livelihoods. Therefore, there was a need to fill the employment gap left by the closure of Colliery. Most people were now living on the welfare fund benefits that the company had set for its workers. Some of these benefits included providing recreation grounds, pithead baths, health services, institutes, educational activities, and canteens. However, this fund could not sustain them forever. Therefore, the authorities had to do something about the situation.

Notably, the town was already experiencing social problems due to the population growth that was disproportional to the number of available jobs. The closure of the Colliery only worsened the situation. The colliery buildings were leased out to form a business park of low rent to house small and medium businesses, which provided a maximum of 200 jobs at its peak performance. This idea was to be implemented on a larger scale when the English partnerships received the Colliery site, and this is how the Shirebrook regeneration project came about. This project was to provide more jobs and improve the social scene, just as the Colliery Company had done for the community. The Colliery Company had been the primary employer in the town and went further to enhance the town’s social services and provide a social structure. It was only proper that any development that came into the area would fit into these shoes by providing the same benefits that the Colliery Company had been contributing to the community in the various spheres of their lives.  The fact that this project aimed to accomplish these exact objectives rationalized the development of the Shirebrook regeneration project.

Structure and Key Components/Skills of the Project Team

The simplification of the process of implementing the regeneration project is achievable in ten phases. All of these phases entailed carrying out various works. Different kinds of specialists with multiple skill sets would be required to execute these tasks.

Phase one was creating the project team. At the point of the beginning of the project, the land on which Colliery buildings sat had been hand over to English partnerships. Therefore, the English partnerships sought to form alliances with other groups that mainly consisted of local stakeholders. These local stakeholders included the District as well as the County Councils. By so doing, the project heads ensured a clear identification, definition, and understanding of the local aspirations and requirements. This phase required the project managers to execute the partnership formation task, as they were the ones spearheading the development. As such, the skills required would be collaboration and negotiation skills.

Phase two entailed creating a master plan for the project and outlining the design. The partnership that came about in step one went ahead to develop a strategic master plan for the site. The plan’s principle entailed providing land for employment by creating a business park, filling the gap in housing by creating 1,250 new houses, and upgrading the infrastructure. They accomplished this task with the help of other relevant experts, namely the master planners, development planners, and probably the project planners. These individuals are skilled in project planning and design.

Phase three involved sourcing for project funding. The stage required the conducting of an economic appraisal. An economic appraisal justifies the implementation of a project by demonstrating the economic sense in the project. It shows how much the project would benefit the relevant stakeholders relative to how much it has cost in development. This phase would require economic regeneration experts, development surveyors, quantity surveyors, solicitors, and cost managers. These individuals are skilled in ensuring that the funds invested produce the maximum value for the community. They also help in finding the best approaches to conducting various tasks that would be the least costly but still maintain quality while providing the best land use.

Phase four consisted of detailing the design. In this phase, the developers had to outline each section of the design, including the housing area, business-park, employment land, school area, train station, agricultural land, and property for exclusive use. This work would fall under the docket of the project planners, with the help of master planners and development planners. These individuals execute the objective of the master planners.

Phase five was to obtain planning. This phase was to lay out the sequence of events or tasks and their duration. Notably, the stage could include the creation of a project schedule using various project management software, which could e tasked to project managers and computer experts.

Phase six required the appointment of a delivery partner. A delivery partner ensures that all the objectives of the project e met. In this instance, the project required various delivery partners from multiple fields due to the broad scope of the tasks that needed execution to attain the necessary objectives. Some of the functions involved moving material amounting to 2million m³, excavating reinforced concrete in tens of thousands of tonnes, recycling the excavated concrete to create construction material, excavating and processing rocks totaling to 250,000m³ for purposes of road infrastructure, drainage of foul and surface water, and landscaping. These individuals would include civil engineers in various sectors, including geotechnical, infrastructure, environmental, structures, and earthworks. Other individuals would be mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, electrical engineers, computer experts, and process engineers.

Phase seven was remediating the site. This phase was about making everything about the project right by correcting any issues that the project could have brought about. Notably, this site was formerly a mining site. Therefore, there could be some safety and health hazards to the community. These issues could affect the surrounding community and the people working on the project. To this end, various people participated in the phase, including toxicologists, noise consultants, air quality consultants, public health experts, and health and safety specialists. These individuals would ensure that the project would not pose any danger to the surrounding community or the individuals working on the site.

Phase eight encompassed the validation of the project. By validating the project, the project handlers showed that it was not going to cause any harm during its development. Notably, the site had become a breeding site for some great crested newts. Therefore, such species would have to undergo relocation to a new ecology to keep them out of harm’s way. Additionally, there was the Burning Colliery Tip at a 300^oC temperature, which risked slipping onto the railway line for passengers just adjacent to the tip. The humans around and on-site would also have to be reassured of their safety physically and health-wise. Therefore, the people to accomplish these tasks would be the ecologists and the risk managers.

Phase nine involved marketing and disposal. Notably, this project involved making some tough decisions, such as demolishing the then existing business park situated in the old Colliery buildings with low rent to make way for the development of the new business park. Other than this inconvenience of relocation to the local business community, there would also be noise from the project machines and equipment. Therefore, there was a need to sensitize the city on the benefits of the project. This way, the city would be willing to endure the process until its completion. The individuals that would make the project viable to the community included the public relations team, the marketing team, and the teachers.

Phase ten consisted of monitoring developments. This phase ensured that the project was working as expected and delivering value to the community as planned. The individuals to oversee this phase would be the property agents and surveyors. They would be able to determine the businesses that the properties are serving and establish any unexpected occurrences.

Asta Gant chart showing the key project development phases and the timings for each – 30 phases – 5 summary tasks

Project risk schedule with the top 15 project delivery risks

Risk mitigation strategy/register for the top 10 risks

Introduce the mitigated top 10 project delivery risks into the programme