Operations and Project Management - Nottingham Rugby Club Stadium

Introduction

West Construction is planning to prepare a bid for the construction of a new 15,000 seat stadium for Nottingham Rugby Football Club.

Andrew West, the Managing Director of West Construction, is very positive that the company will get the bid for the project as his company has completed the construction of a smaller stadium for Leicester Tigers RFC. He also estimated the company would make a net profit of 2 million pounds from the project if the company succeeded in getting the contract.

West Construction's involvement in the construction of the stadium for Nottingham Rugby Football Club is important to the company as the success in the project will boost its reputation in the construction of such mega building. In addition, the company will also benefits from the reputation as it will enhance future opportunities in similar projects.

Question 1

a) Construct a network diagram or a Gantt chart to represent the project. Identify the critical path, project duration and milestones.

Task Task Name Dependant Work Days Actual Days Start Finish

1 Clear Site Nil 60 82 04/06/12, Mon 24/08/12,Fri

2 Demolisih Building 1 35 47 27/08/12, Mon 12/10/12, Fri

3 Setup Construction Site 2 30 40 15/10/12, Mon 23/11/12, Fri

4 Drive support piles 1 120 169 27/08/12, Tues 11/02/13, Mon

5 Pour lower concrete base 4 120 170 12/02/13, Wed 31/07/13, Wed

6 Pour main concourse 3, 5 120 170 01/08/13, Thurs 17/01/14, Fri

7 Lay/install playing field 3, 5 80 112 01/08/13, Thurs 20/11/13, Wed

8 Construct upper steel bowl 3, 5 120 170 01/08/13, Thurs 17/01/14, Fri

9 Install seats 6, 8 120 170 20/01/14, Mon 08/07/14, Mon

10 Build boxes 6, 8 90 128 20/01/14, Mon 27/05/14, Tues

11 Install scoreboard 6, 8 40 54 20/01/14, Mon 14/03/14, Fri

12 Stadium infrastracture 6, 8 120 170 20/01/14, Mon 07/07/14, Tues

13 Construct steel canopy 9 60 84 09/07/14, Wed 30/09/14, Tues

14 Light installation 13 30 45 01/10/14, Wed 11/11/14, Tues

15 Build roof supports 5 90 126 01/08/13, Thurs 04/12/13, Wed

16 Construct roof 15 180 259 05/12/13, Thurs 20/08/14, Wed

17 Install roof tracks 15 90 128 05/12/13, Thurs 11/04/14, Fri

18 Install roof 16, 17 90 126 21/08/14, Thurs 24/12/14, Wed

19 Inspection All 20 29 26/12/14, Fri 23/01/15, Fri

Critical Path

The critical path is the longest sequence of activities in a project plan which must be completed on time in order for the construction to meet the deadline of the project. An activity on the critical path cannot be started until its predecessor activity is complete; if it is delayed for a day, the entire project will be delayed for a day unless the activity following the delayed activity is completed a day earlier.

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/defination/critical-path.html

Critical Path for this project is 1→4→5→15→16→18→19→END

The critical path for the construction of Nottingham Rugby Football Club stadium is as follow:

Task 1- Clear site

Task 4- Drive support piles

Task 5- pour lower concrete base

Task 15- Build roof supports

Task 16- Construct roof

Task 18- Install roof and;

Task 19- Inspection

Project Duration

Total project work day (include weekends and holidays) is,

60 days + 120 days + 120 days + 90 days + 180 days + 90 days + 20 days = 680 days, this is 1.86 years.

Total Project Timeline (include weekends and holidays) is,

Total Project Timeline is from 4th June 2012 to 31st January 2013. This is 2 years, 7 months, 28days.

Milestones

A milestone is a significant event in the project, usually completion of a major deliverable. It enables the progress of the project to be easier measured and controlled. A milestone, by definition, has duration of zero and no effort. Milestones are essential to manage and control a project. Usually a milestone is used as a project checkpoint to validate how a project is progressing and revalidate the work.

Source: http://hubpages.com/topics/business-and-employment/employment-and-job

The milestones are illustrated in the network diagram. These are the key tasks at which the project team should assess its progress.

1st Milestone

The first milestone is clearing the site. This is the first activity of the project and hence it would be wise to check that the project is still on course after this and to make sure the site is completely cleared because future task of the project depends on how well the site is cleared of obstruction.

2nd Milestone

The second milestone is forming concrete base, which largely involves pouring filling the base with cement. This is an important milestone in the project as it lays the foundation of the entire construction and a lot of future activities depend on the timely completion of this milestone. For example, future activities such as pouring the main concourse, lay/install playing field, construct upper steel bowl and build roof support will have to put on hold until this task is completed.

3rd Milestone

The third milestone is pouring the main concourse and constructing upper steel bowl simultaneously. These tasks are also crucial in order for the construction of the whole infrastructure and interior of the stadium to take place thereafter. Therefore, adequate measure and control of the progress on these tasks are extremely