business matters
june/july 2019 business April/May2022 businessedge edge
The critical path to a successful fit-out or refurbishment Delivering a commercial fit out, refurbishment, relocation or upgrade of facilities is a major investment in both time and resources. At Phoenix Systems we have narrowed down the critical path to ensure maximum returns when investing in the future of your business. Julian Ridley Contracts Manager Pheonix Systems
Planning Where do I start? Fit out or refurbishment projects are challenging. They require various expertise and skillsets to collaborate at the right time to be delivered successfully. We believe, the start of this process can be split into two areas of thinking. One, defining the requirements of your business. Two, reviewing the ways you can improve the way you work, promote productivity, or inspire success. Once you’ve identified the needs of your business space, you can create a project brief. A successful project brief includes defined goals, a project scope, an allocated or estimated budget, and a realistic timeframe. If you struggle to complete this, we recommend asking a specialist to provide an idea of timeframes and costs of similar works.
Consult / Design The right team will be essential to your project’s success. Selecting the right team within your business is of the utmost importance. In our experience it’s best to select a project lead with the right personality to engage with your team internally and liaise with your fit out specialist and other external project contacts. When to seek professional advice / consultation? In our opinion, it’s best to engage with your chosen Fit-Out partner as soon as you have a comprehensive project brief and an internal project team. Early engagement will allow a company like us to evaluate your project brief. Choosing a fit-out partner who can consult, design and deliver your project, will not only be making your life easier, but will allow you to make the right choices at the right times, avoiding any wasted time or resources.
The project brief should be developed into a draft design. This will include an initial site survey, meeting and discussion to develop a budgetary costing and draft design. This process may take between 1-2 weeks. For fast track fit out or refurbishment projects the budget costing stage may be negated and moved straight to the comprehensive quotation stage.
Specify / Appoint This stage should begin with a fact-finding mission. From detailed site surveys to design led discussions, the aim should be to fill in gaps and test the draft proposals. Your new work environment will now start to take shape. Provided your team has gathered the information required, your fit-out partner will likely need a 2-4 week window to provide an ‘initial proposal’. This will include a developed design, key design features, schedule of works and detailed costings. Taking your draft designs from conception to accurate reflection of the works involved. The initial proposal can then be reviewed. We encourage our clients to ask questions and provide as much feedback at this stage as possible. We recommend your project lead spend some time involving all parties in the design. Upon further discussion changes are likely to take place and a final proposal created. It’s now time to appoint and progress. This is where the fun takes place; samples and site visits of similar works in your
area are a great way to develop your understanding of the final proposal.
Manage / Deliver With the aid of your fit-out specialists you should now gain the necessary permissions from landlords and building control, etc. In the background your fit-out partner will be compiling a construction phase plan. Once received the build process can begin, likely to take between 6-18 weeks dependant on your projects’ complexity or scale. We recommend weekly or fortnightly site meetings to ensure your team stay engaged with the project through this process.
The Move / Support Project handover will now be immanent. Furniture should be fitted, and your Fitout specialist should be given the time needed to finish the works and ensure its completion is tested and setup for your business needs. We advise that an induction meeting take place to ensure the setup of your new facility is fully understood and maximised. Part of this process will include an O&M manual providing your project team with the necessary test certificates, warranty details and cleaning / maintenance information. Finally, your project should be complete with a support system in place for any defects or future alterations. A full staff review may allow a final check that the space includes all items required.
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