QUT PMN610: Affordable Homes Construction Project Feasibility Study

This report presents a feasibility study for an affordable homes and recreational facilities construction project. It begins with an executive summary outlining the project's purpose, options considered, and recommendations. The report then details the project need, including service delivery requirements and alignment with the program plan. It analyzes different construction and recreation options based on various criteria such as cost-effectiveness, stakeholder needs, and safety. The recommended option involves constructing affordable homes with specific features and recreational facilities. The project definition outlines the scope, constraints, and deliverables, while the project approach covers management, procurement, and communication strategies. The report also addresses budget, risk analysis, and a benefits realization plan, along with appendices containing project schedules, cost plans, risk registers, and stakeholder assessments. The study aims to determine the project's feasibility in terms of economic, social, and project outcomes, providing a comprehensive analysis to guide decision-making.

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Business Case
Feasibility Study of Affordable
Homes Construction Project
Student Name: S
Student Number: 1
Team/Group: G
Course: CS
Unit Coordinator/
Lecturer: Grant Axman-Friend ([e-mail])
Institution: Queensland University of Technology
Teaching Period: [enter semester and year]
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This feasibility plan has been prepared for the project on the construction of the
affordable homes and recreational facilities. The report contains the details of the project
requirements, project scope, critical success factors, options analysis, project management
approaches, budget management, risk management, and benefits realization plan. The
feasibility study would reveal if the project suggested is feasible enough to be carried out
in terms of economic, social, and project outcomes.
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CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
1 PROJECT NEED.....................................................................................................................5
1.1 SERVICE DELIVERY REQUIREMENTS.....................................................................5
1.2 ALIGNMENT WITH PROGRAM PLAN.......................................................................5
1.3 PROJECT OBJECTIVES.................................................................................................5
1.4 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (CSF’S)....................................................................5
1.5 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE.....................................................................................5
2 OPTIONS ANALYSIS............................................................................................................6
2.1 OPTIONS CONSIDERED...............................................................................................6
2.2 OPTIONS EVALUATION CRITERIA...........................................................................6
2.3 OPTIONS DEVELOPMENT...........................................................................................6
2.4 OPTIONS EVALUATION...............................................................................................6
2.5 RECOMMENDED OPTION............................................................................................7
3 PROJECT DEFINITION.........................................................................................................8
3.1 SCOPE DESCRIPTION...................................................................................................8
3.2 CONSTRAINTS AND DEPENDENCIES.......................................................................8
3.3 SCOPE MANAGEMENT................................................................................................8
3.4 PROJECT DELIVERABLES...........................................................................................8
3.5 PROJECT KPI’S...............................................................................................................8
4 PROJECT APPROACH..........................................................................................................9
4.1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY......................................................................9
4.1.1 PROJECT STRUCTURE..........................................................................................9
4.1.2 PROJECT GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK...........................................................9
4.1.3 PROJECT REPORTING STRUCTURE...................................................................9
4.2 PROCUREMENT STRATEGY.......................................................................................9
4.3 COMMUNICATION AND STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY............9
5 BUDGET, PROGRAM AND RISK.....................................................................................10
5.1 TIMING / PROJECT READINESS...............................................................................10
5.2 BUDGET/COST ANALYSIS AND FUNDING STRATEGY......................................10
5.3 RISK ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGY.............................................10
5.4 PROJECT QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGY.................................................10
5.5 PROJECT COMPLETION STRATEGY.......................................................................10
5.6 BENEFITS REALISATION PLAN...............................................................................10
6 REFERENCES......................................................................................................................11
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APPENDIX A................................................................................................................................12
A.1 PROJECT SCHEDULE..................................................................................................12
A.2 PROJECT COST PLAN.................................................................................................12
A.3 PROJECT RISK REGISTER.........................................................................................12
A.4 BENEFITS REALISATION PLAN...............................................................................12
A.5 FINANCIAL ANALYSIS on OPTIONS.......................................................................12
A.6 STAKEHOLDER ASSESSMENT MATRIX................................................................12
A.7 **********.....................................................................................................................12
A.8 **********.....................................................................................................................12
A.9 **********.....................................................................................................................12
LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1 | Project options...............................................................................................................7
Table 2-2 | Table 2 footer example – linked to contents.................................................................7
LIST OF FIGURES
No table of figures entries found.
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1 PROJECT NEED
1.1 PROJECT NEED
The population of people living in Williamstown is increasing every year. Many of them do not
yet own their houses or are struggling to get one because of increasing real estate prices. There is
a need to build affordable housing schemes that people in the town can afford. The city needs a
new infrastructure consisting of residential complexes that can be afford by the middle class and
upper middle class people living in the city. For this a site needs to be purchased and built into
residential places. Wylde Properties is a 10 years old residential construction organization that
has identified a site near Bridges pond in the town that has greater potential for the construction
of affordable recreational houses. Thus, this project would aim to build a recreational affordable
housing scheme in the selected location which would serve the following needs:
 Build residential homes that can be afford by middle class and upper middle class
population of the city
 Ensure that the project site chosen is right for the construction of the desired project and
it would get the construction firm desired profits from the project.
1.2 PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The aim of this project is to construct a residential area with affordable recreational homes that
can be made available to the middle class and upper middle class population of the same. The
objectives of the project would be:
 Make the choice of site which is most feasible for the construction project
 Ensure that the housing constructed are affordable through minimizing the cost of
development
 Ensure provision of all the facilities and amenities including recreational areas in the
residential property planned.
1.3 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS (CSF’S)
Critical success factors of a project are the factors that determine the possibilities success in
terms of the achievement of the goals of a project. These goals can be related to economic
success and social success. The critical success factors that would determine the possibilities f
the success of the affordable housing project include:
 Affordability of the homes have to be maintained with provision of the houses through
purchase, mortgage or rent at low costs as compared to other housing schemes
 Residential houses must meet the associated regulations and thus, it is important to have a
good governance established on the project
 The project should have adequate funds needed for construction in order for the project to
be a success by ensuring that all needed facilities and amenities have been constructed
 The resources used on the project must be efficient and should be used with minimum
wastage
 Efficient management with low cost of construction and higher benefits to stakeholders is
needed (Bakar, 2010)
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 The project must involve planning for the provision of infrastructure services to support
the scheme including roads, energy, and water
 Effective use of legal frameworks and policies is needed so that the provisions of the
construction can be regulated through activities like contracts and procurements.
 Social housing must provide for social cohesion by having mixed development that takes
care of needs of people from different culture, having different economic status, and level
of education
 Stakeholder involvement and participation is important in different stages of project
development so that it can be ensured that their needs are sufficiently met and their buy-
in is achieved (Oyebanji, Liyanage, & Akintoyec, 2017)
 The security of the people who are working on the project and the security of the people
who are living nearby or would be living in the housing scheme has to be taken care of
while planning and constructing the housing scheme
1.4 ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE
The organization would need to make some changes in order to be able to successfully execute
the affordable housing structure construction. These changes include:
o Changes in the reporting structure would be needed based on the project needs to
make the coordination better.
o The project would consumer resources and would take investments that would need
adjustments to be made in the already employed resources and if they cannot be freed
then new resources have to be hired
o The company would need to work with other entities including contractors that would
have different ways of working and thus, organization would need to adjust its
processes to make them suitable to the project.
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2 OPTIONS ANALYSIS
2.1 OPTIONS CONSIDERED
Different options were available for the construction project to build affordable housing, eac
offering unique incentives that need to be evaluate in order the select the most appropriate option
for the project. These options for the affordable housing included:
 Use of the most efficient land use plan and construction of three buildings with two floors
each. The housing properties would have 72 parking units including those for
residentials and visitors.
 Use of a less developed space but with more buffer available between the surrounding
lots with 10 buildings constructed having 2 floors each. The properties would have 50
parking units for residentials and visitors.
The options for the recreation include:
 Most cost -effective construction with walker friendly joggers park, track, waterfront
park, gravel, parking spaces, and gravel access road
 APA Approved composite trail material used for construction with biker and walker
friendly joggers park, playground, rest areas, waterfront for boating, staking, and fishing,
parking spaces, and paved access road.
 ADA approved material used for trail with walker and biker friendly joggers park,
playground, picnic area, rest areas, and areas for bird watching, boardwalk flyover,
warming shelter for waterfront, parking spaces, wetland education facilities, and paved
access road.
2.2 OPTIONS EVALUATION CRITERIA
The evaluation of the options for the construction of affordable homes and recreational facilities
have to be based on the ability of the construction company to produce a cost-effective project
and at the same time ensure that all the recreation needed is provided in the scheme. The
evaluation of the schemes would be based on the following criteria:
o The option should be able to help achieve all the objectives of the project
o It should meet most requirements of the stakeholders
o The scheme should provide safety for people and the environment in the long run
o The project should be able to provide the maximum housing facilities
o The project should provide maximum space for recreation
2.3 OPTIONS EVALUATION
The first option for the construction of affordable housing provide cost effective way of
construction with the use of below par material but for the long run, this would not give desired
results in the area of other objectives that are needed to be fulfilled such as safety of the people
living in the schemes. Thus, instead of using a sub-par material to reduce expenses, the second
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option can be chosen with reduced additional facilities like parking considering that not all the
middle-class families would have cars needing parking. Among the options for recreation, the
facilities would be provided at the maintenance cost added which means that the operational
expenses would be taken care of. Moreover, more the facilities, more would be the options to
maintain the recreation facilities through earning. Thus, most desired facilities need to be
provided. Thus, the chosen option for recreation facility construction is the third option with
most recreational facilities made available.
.
2.4 RECOMMENDED OPTION
Thus, the selected option would have the following construction on the project:
Affordable Houses: Use of a less developed space but with more buffer available between the
surrounding lots with 10 buildings constructed having 2 floors each. The properties would have
50 parking units for residentials and visitors.
Recreational Facilities: ADA approved material used for trail with walker and biker friendly
joggers park, playground, picnic area, rest areas, and areas for bird watching, boardwalk flyover,
warming shelter for waterfront, parking spaces, wetland education facilities, and paved access
road
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3 PROJECT DEFINITION
3.1 SCOPE DESCRIPTION
The construction project scope involves the following deliverables:
 Feasibility study of the site where the construction is to begin
 Inspection and planning for the site for the development of the project
 Identification of options for the construction of the affordable homes and recreational
facilities to select the best suit
 Construction of the affordable homes ensuring safety and adherence to quality standards
needed
 Construction of recreational facilities as needed by the communities and residentials who
would be living in the apartments constructed.
The activities that would be excluded from the scope are:
 Marketing and selling of the constructed buildings
 Hiring staff for operation of the constructed apartments
 Maintenance of the affordable homes and recreational facilities
3.2 CONSTRAINTS AND DEPENDENCIES
The construction project needs to address needs of the physical conditions of the site that
includes wetland encroachments and soil conditions that are supportive to the environment.
Moreover, the project needs to have approval from the communities and the people surrounding
to be able to succeed and thus, efforts have to be made to get the buy-in from them. Also, the
project needs to ensure that it meets the environmental regulatory requirements defined in
Community Preservation Act
3.3 SCOPE MANAGEMENT
Scope management plan defines the way scope is defined, validated and controlled on a project.
There would be some primary inputs that would be used along with the tools and techniques that
would deliver the output desired for controlling and managing the project scope. The primary
inputs would include a project scope statement, project charter, and project management plan.
These inputs would be prepared by the project manager, would be communicated to the
managers through meetings, and evaluated by the expert judges. The output of this judgement
would be requirements management plan and scope management plans that would be followed
by the project team (USDOE, 2010).
3.4 PROJECT DELIVERABLES
The deliverables of the construction project include the following:
 Project management plans including plans for quality management, human resource
management, risks management, scope management and time management
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 Construction plan for the affordable homes and recreational facilities
3.5 PROJECT KPI’S
Project would be monitored and the progress would be recorded against the plan with the
recording of some key performance indicators which would help the project manager identity
any discrepancies from the plan. These include:
 Budgeted cost of work schedule would present the planned value of the cost of the
project calculated by multiplying hourly rate of workers and the hours workers are
scheduled for work.
 Actual cost of project would record the actual expenditure on the project and it would be
compare with the budget to identify any variations.
 Cost variance would be calculated based on the comparison between he planed budget
and the actual cost of the project activities
 Planned and actual hours of work would be plotted for comparison between he two to
find any deviations.
 Overdue project tasks would be recorded including the list pf project tasks that cold not
be completed on time as planned in the project schedule
 Schedule performance index and the cost performance index would reflect upon the
performance of the actual project as per the schedule and the budget
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4 PROJECT APPROACH
4.1 PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
4.1.1 PROJECT STRUCTURE
The project would be managed by a project manager who would be having contracts established
with two construction contractors who would each be taking care of the construction work for
the affordable houses and for the recreational facilities. Each of these contractors would be
providing workers for construction. A quality officer would be deployed to take care of the
quality requirements and compliances for the project and would be reported by the contracts. A
finance management would be working with the project manager ensuring the project get funds
as and when needed as per the plan and approval from the project sponsor who is also the owner
of the project (Creedy, 2006).
4.1.2 PROJECT GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK
A governance framework defines the roles of project entities and people on controlling the
project. Key people who would be involved in the governance of the construction project
include:
 Project sponsor who would be approving the budget of the project only if the project is
financially and technical viable.
 The project board would approve the project based on the charter submitted by the
project manager and would keep a close watch on the project activities to ensure that they
are adhering the defined standards and working within constraints defined
 Project manager would be initiating, managing, monitoring and controlling project by
ensuring that project goes as per schedule and is competed within allotted budget
 Project stakeholders would be definition project requirements and their expectations
would form the base for ensuring quality and deliverables of the project (Merwe, 2016)
4.1.3 PROJECT REPORTING STRUCTURE
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Project
Owner/Sponsor
Project Manager Quality Officer Finance Manager
Contractor -
Homes
Contractor -
Recreation