PRINCE2 Methodology Application: Building a House Project Plan

This report presents a comprehensive project management plan for the construction of a house, employing the PRINCE2 methodology. It begins with an introduction to project management and the PRINCE2 framework, emphasizing its principles and processes. The report details the project's scope, which includes a basement and five rooms. It then outlines the 'Starting Up a Project' phase, covering the appointment of a project management team, and the development of a detailed business case, including project objectives, research, and funding strategies. The 'Initiating a Project' phase focuses on project scheduling, Gantt charts, critical path analysis, and defining the project's scope, requirements, budget, and stakeholder communication. The 'Directing a Project' phase covers the establishment of human resources, project plans, and key deliverables. The 'Controlling a Stage' phase emphasizes risk management, identifying potential hazards, and implementing corrective strategies. The report provides detailed tables, charts, and diagrams to illustrate each stage of the project, providing a practical application of the PRINCE2 methodology in a real-world construction scenario.

BUILDING A
HOUSE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
PRINCE 2 METHODOLOGY........................................................................................................1
Starting Up a Project (SU)..........................................................................................................1
Initiating a Project (IP)................................................................................................................4
Directing a Project (DP)..............................................................................................................7
Controlling a Stage (CS).............................................................................................................8
Managing a Stage Boundary (SB).............................................................................................11
Managing Product Delivery (MP).............................................................................................12
Closing a Project (CP)...............................................................................................................13
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................14

INTRODUCTION
Project Management refers to a detailed planning, organising and overall managing and
controlling the implementation as well as execution of the overall project. It is a highly essential
activity which is appropriate in context with enhanced and effective accomplishment of set
activities at pre-set standards (Hornstein, 2015). The project below is based on development of a
project management plan in context with building a house. It includes a detailed application
PRINCE 2 Methodology and includes a stepwise development of the overall project of
construction of the house.
PRINCE 2 METHODOLOGY
It is an effective project management framework which means PRojects IN Controlled
Environments. It is inclusive of several principles and processes which must be adopted by
individuals which are associated with developing and executing a construction process.
The project development plan below is about building a house, which would be a
basement, along with 5 rooms. This project requires a keen insight on the implementation of
each resource and technique, which would be contributing in achieving a better as well as
sustainable design of the house. Thus, it is required to essentially apply PRINCE 2 Technique in
order to build an effective house.
Starting Up a Project (SU)
This is the very beginning of the whole project, which requires to set up a work frame for
the construction of house to take place upon. It requires the project manager to lay down certain
appropriate and effective layout of the project to develop a business case on which the
construction would take place (Joslin and Müller, 2015).
There are certain essentials which takes place within this stage in the project
management. These aspects are laid down below:
Appointment of the Project Management Team:
The first step in this stage is to appoint a project management team that would be
undertaking the building of this house.
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Illustration 1: Project Management Team
As showcased above, there are several individuals who would be undertaking the overall
project of building the house. However, below are the key personnels who would be actively
engaged in the construction process.
PERSONNEL ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Project Managers
This entity is the most prime and important member of the overall
project. They are responsible for carrying out the management of
the complete project and regulate each resource for its optimum
utilisation (Kerzner, 2017).
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Contractors
These are the individuals who would be supplying the required raw
materials like cement, electrical equipments, aluminium, etc.,
which would be used by the company in giving a sustainable
design to the house.
Lead Consultants
This individual is responsible for heading up the design and
construction department who would be working on building the
project.
Architects Another essential team members are the architects, who would be
physically working on the sustainability and design of the building.
Development of a Business Case:
Another aspect associated with this step is preparation of a business case. A proper and
effective business case for construction of the house is developed below:
STEPS DESCRIPTION
Summary A project management plan has to be developed concerning building a
new house, with a basement and five rooms.
Objectives
The objective which the construction firm is willing to accomplish
through building this house is to provide a sustainable, effective and
essential design along with long term durability in the structure
(Meredith and et. al., 2017).
Research
The firm would be undertaking both external and internal research for
the construction project. As for secondary research, the engineers and
architects of the company would be undertaking knowledge regarding
the overall construction technique and equipments to construct the
house. As for primary, geothermal analysis would be performed to
understand the condition of the ground fit for construction.
Funding
The plan of this project is to generate funding through bank loans as it
would be a viable option to generate such a high funding for the
project.
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Initiating a Project (IP)
The next step of the overall procedure calls for initiating the whole project. This is a very
important stage which is to be considered by the project management team in order to provide a
pathway for the whole building project (Klein, Biesenthal and Dehlin, 2015). There are several
essential elements which the team would be accomplishing at this stage, which are discussed
below:
Project Scheduling:
To successfully initiate the project, it is very important that a schedule is developed along
with the activities and time required for the company to build the house in a sustainable manner.
Below are the essentials of this stage:
ACTIVITIES TIME
Site Preparation and Grading 3 Weeks
Construction of Foundation 2 Weeks
Framing 2 Weeks
Development of Superstructure 20 Weeks
HVAC, Insulation and Drywall 3 Weeks
Painting and Electrical Finish 2 Weeks
Flooring, Plumbing and Finishing
Installations 1 Week
 Gantt Chart:
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Illustration 2: Gantt Chart
Illustration 3: Gantt Chart
 Critical Path:
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Illustration 4: Critical Path
Defining the Scope:
Another crucial aspect associated with this project is defining the scope of the whole
construction plan (Samset and Volden, 2016). Thus, it is required by the project management
team to define several aspects appropriately within this project that are discussed below:
 Requirements:
There are several requirements which are associated with the overall project and that are
very much needed to be defined at this stage for a smooth and essential execution later on. Some
of the essential requirements of the project are described below:
▪ Construction Documentation: The very first requirement within building the
house is all the associated documentation which are related to executing the
project in a legally bound manner. Some of the essential documentation include
site map, legal description of the project, architect information, legal contracts
binding the project, official government permissions and client agreement form.
▪ Budget Estimates: Another crucial requirement of building the house project is
the requirement of financial assets that would be used within the plan to execute
the construction (Ramazani and Jergeas, 2015). The budget for this plan is
mentioned below:
EXPENSES AMOUNT (£)
Hard Construction Costs
Foundation, Drywall, Framing, Roofing,
Flooring 468000
Plumbing, Security System, Electrical 60000
Furnishings, Equipment and Fixtures 53200
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HVAC 68000
Landscaping 14500
Site Operations 17000
Sub-total Hard Costs 680700
Acquisition of Land 66150
Soft Construction Costs
Engineers and Architects 28000
Salaries and Fees 3900
Sub-total Soft Construction Costs 31900
Contingencies 14000
Total Expenses 792750
 Stakeholders and Communication:
Another essential element related to defining scope of the project is determination of
stakeholders and ways to communicate them (Svejvig and Andersen, 2015). It is again necessary
for the project management team to determine the individuals that are associated with building
the house. Some of these individuals and ways to communicate them are described below:
STAKEHOLDERS COMMUNICATION METHOD
Suppliers and Contractors Letters
Architects Telephones
Client E-Mails
Government Officials Circulars
Directing a Project (DP)
The next stage calls out for directing the project in an effective and essential manner.
This stage requires to set up the human resources and provide them day to day roles and
responsibilities under which they would be performing (Sánchez, 2015). Moreover, this stage
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also undertakes development of a project plan which would be showcasing the key deliverables
from the project. This plan in association with building the house is discussed as under, which
would be appropriately be contributing to the business case developed above:
Cost
The project management team estimates the overall cost to be around
£800,000, which would be including all the activities like purchasing,
hiring equipments, employing human resource and so forth (Walker,
2015). This would coincide with the funding option of Bank Loan
which was mentioned in the case above.
Communication
The company would be adopting all sorts of communication like
lateral, horizontal, vertical as well as linear communication in order to
ensure appropriate and necessary flow of information during the
research carried out by the project team and in the overall construction.
Quality
To ensure effective quality, the firm would be using techniques like
Lean Production and Total Quality Management in the process of
construction of the house. However, this stage also requires monitoring
of standards, for which, Key Performance Indicators and
Benchmarking analysis would be used (Todorović and et. al., 2015).
Scope
The scope at this stage would be quite effective as new technologies
and equipments that would be used to execute the construction.
Moreover, the firm would also be implementing techniques like
Automation which would be reducing errors within construction.
Project Deliverables There are several deliverables which would be provided by this project.
For instance, the engineering reports would be informing about the
current status and required construction aspects of the house.
Moreover, design documentations would be weighing on the kind of
design required by the clients. Another deliverable would be
investigation report, that would be informing about the quality
standards of the overall project, which in this case is building the
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house.
Controlling a Stage (CS)
It is highly essential to appropriately controlling the project and measure as well as
monitor the progress of each stage of the given project. It allows project managers to effectively
and essentially enhance the scope of success and better management of the overall project. At
this stage, controlling the project risks and quality standards is very important. Thus, it is
essential to examine the risks within the overall project and to take corrective actions associated
with the same. Thus, risk management plan within this stage is showcased as under:
RISK SEVERITY RISK OWNER CORRECTIVE
STRATEGY
Safety Hazards HIGH Project Manager One of the most fatal
risks which might be
faced by the project
management team is
the hazards related to
safety. In order to
essentially mitigate the
same, the strategy
which must be
developed would be a
detailed training to the
employees regarding
several type of
technological and fatal
risks associated with
working from different
equipments.
Moreover, a detailed
assessment and
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analysis of the
equipments is another
strategy which must be
adopted.
Ineffective
Technological
Equipments
MEDIUM Project Sponsor
Another prime risk
which might risk the
durability of structure
and finishing of design
is absence of effective
tools and machinery to
work. Thus, the
project sponsor must
formulate contracts
with renowned and
accountable suppliers
which provide the firm
with top quality
equipments and
technologies to work
with (Golini,
Kalchschmidt and
Landoni, 2015).
Labour Shortage LOW Lead Consultant However lower this
threat on severity, it
might cause a serious
delay to the whole
project. Thus, in order
to effectively cope up
with the risk, the lead
consultant must
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