Procurement and Contract Strategy for Dalrymple Industrial Development Project

Assignment Brief – Assignment 1

Background

You are working for a property consultancy firm engaged as project managers for the refurbishment and extension of an industrial estate recently acquired by a client of your firm, a successful high end privately owned residential property developer (Dalrymple Quality Homes Ltd (DQH)). The scheme is being taken forward by your firm’s client to provide a base for its new modular construction and construction robotics divisions.

DQH has created a wholly owned subsidiary (Dalrymple Industrial Developments Ltd (DID)) to own and manage the industrial estate. The project has two phases. The first involves the refurbishment and recladding of the four existing single storey steel-framed buildings on the estate. These buildings range in size from 2,500m2 to 8,000m2. These units will be leased by DID to the construction robotics division (Dalrymple Robotics Ltd).

The second phase involves the construction of two 50,000m2 high bay steel framed buildings, together with associated infrastructure works and landscaping on land purchased by your client adjacent to the industrial estate. The buildings will be leased by DID to the modular buildings division (Dalrymple Modular Ltd).

The client’s intention is to seek planning permission for the second phase of the project extension to the industrial estate during the course of the refurbishment works. Its present intention is to implement the permission for the extension as soon as possible after grant of planning permission but it wants the ability to defer or postpone indefinitely construction of the second unit should the circumstances of its business change.

Task

Prepare a report for DID identifying a proposed procurement strategy and related contract strategy / strategies for the project. [The report should make clear the options considered and the reasons underpinning the selection of your favoured option over the others considered].

Your submission should take the form of a short report (in the order of 2,500 – 3,000 words), supported where appropriate by tables, diagrams etc. either in the body of the text or as appendices. Such tables etc. do not form part of the word count.

You must provide a clear justification for your recommended approach to packaging the project and procuring the works and services contracts required for the project.

Coursework: Written submission (Report) (70% weighting)

This will be based on a hypothetical project and will require you to prepare a report summarising the procurement and contract strategies you would recommend in order to secure a successful outcome for the client.

Eligibility of students for an ‘alternative assessment’

No alternative assignment is offered for this module

2500-3000 words

Sample Answer

Procurement and Contract Strategy Report for Dalrymple Industrial Developments Ltd (DID)

Executive Summary

This report presents a recommended procurement and contract strategy for the two-phase industrial estate project of Dalrymple Industrial Developments Ltd (DID), a wholly owned subsidiary of Dalrymple Quality Homes Ltd (DQH). The project includes:

• Phase 1: Refurbishment and recladding of four steel-framed industrial buildings.

• Phase 2: Construction of two new 50,000m² high bay steel-framed buildings.

The strategy aims to ensure value for money, flexibility, risk management, and timely delivery. Various procurement options are evaluated, and a combination of Traditional and Design and Build methods is recommended.

Introduction

The client, DQH, is expanding into modular construction and robotics, using DID as the property management arm. As project managers, our firm must provide a clear, cost-effective, and risk-aware procurement strategy. This report outlines procurement options, compares their pros and cons, and recommends suitable strategies for each phase.

Project Overview

Key considerations:

• Tight timeline for refurbishment.

• Need for flexibility in Phase 2 due to business uncertainty.

• Risk control, value engineering, and potential for design innovation in modular construction.