Case Study: Greenfields

The University of Greenfields would like to expand their civil engineering department and have been seeking a suitable location to construct an integrated administrative and teaching complex. The buildings will have lecture theatre and tutorial rooms, accommodation and administrative facilities and should ideally be within a 3 mile radius of the main university campus. A major design requirement is that BREEAM environmental standards are met.

BREEAM, (Building Research Establishments Ltd Environmental Assessment Method) which helps further education colleges to set environmental targets, is not only important to the University but to Local Government also and will have a major influence in obtaining planning permission.

The local council has proposed a disused factory site, the Car Build Industrial Estate. Although the site is now derelict and will require clearing before any construction can take place it is just  2 miles from the University main buildings providing ease of access between departments.

The site is close to a recently extended main road connecting Greenfields town centre with a large housing development, Newtown, which has a reliable and frequent public transport service. As part of a national conservation initiative, supported by the University, a cycle path has been built along an old drained canal route which runs from the town centre, along the perimeter of the Industrial Estate and onto Newtown.

The expansion of the University has attracted a lot of publicity and strong feeling both for and against the development. The business community sees the increase in student population as very positive whilst residents of Newtown are concerned that the increased traffic will cause excessive congestion.

In addition, a local environmental group have raised the problem of site clearance saying that Car Build Industrial Estate had been used for the disposal of hazardous material. The Group say that although the material is safe if undisturbed, removing it will necessitate quarantining the area and closing the cycle way and half of the adjoining main road for some 3 months.

You are the new risk manager for this project and have been asked to implement a realistic management process. With the project being in a very early stage estimates of time and cost are considered unreliable but guidance on obtaining more accurate estimates is needed.

Section A - Case Study

Question 1 based on the case study

a) List 10 Stakeholders in the project

b) State the main objectives and success criteria for the project

c) Prepare a draft risk management plan, completing all relevant sections with information obtained from the case study.

1. Introduction

2. Project Description

3. Purpose and Scope of Risk Management

4. Risk Management Organisation

5. Risk Management Process

6. Key deliverables

Note that there are no marks to be gained by simply copying from PRAM Guide, marks are only awarded for the candidate demonstrating understanding what should be in the Risk Management Plan for this specific case study.

d) State 10 risks that may occur on this project. Ensure that risks are stated using the format cause – risk event – effect.

e) For 2 (two) of the stated risks

Section B

Choose any 2 questions from the following 4 questions. Questions 2 and 3 relate to the case study, questions 4 and 5 are stand alone questions.

2) a) Explain, by means of specific examples, how the management of 2 negative risk events could help to optimize achievement of project objectives.

b) Explain, by means of specific examples, how the management of 2 positive risk events could help to optimize achievement of project objectives.

c) Explain why it is important for a risk management process to cover both threat and opportunity. Make sure that you justify your reasons.

Please note it is not sufficient for candidates to just repeat sections from the PRAM Guide, but must demonstrate a detailed understanding as to why the management of threat and opportunity is important.

3) a) Explain why the derivation of project specific scales would be an important part of the qualitative risk assessment phase.

b) Derive an appropriate scale for probability. Ensure that you justify each element of the scale.

c) Derive an appropriate scale for one category of impact. Ensure that you justify each element of the scale

Question 4

Explain how 5 different project risk identification techniques can support the achievement of a project’s objectives.

Question 5

Explain how 5 different benefits of project risk management (hard and/or soft) can add value to an organization.