PROJECT MANAGEMENT SERVICES

UEM project management services include acting as owners’ engineers or representatives in building construction, facility and infrastructure construction, project development and approvals and asset management/sustainable infrastructure projects. Our specific responsibilities in representing our client owners are to ensure projects meet the expectations and needs of the users, are delivered as designed, as scheduled and for the approved budget.

In our role as project managers, we are usually responsible for ensuring project delivery and for completing or managing support services to ensure the owners needs are identified and addressed. UEM has undertaken project business plans, letters of intent, infrastructure design, project approvals, environmental site investigation, community and stakeholder consultation, technical peer reviews, architect, and contractor or construction management (including pre-qualification) selection processes, tender/specification documents, permitting, and budget and scheduling control.

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

Clear, timely, and transparent communication is the cornerstone of our relationship with our clients. UEM believes that to provide real value to our clients, we need to be available and responsive to address issues that arise as projects progress. Frequent communication throughout the project is a priority and we conduct follow-up sessions after project completion. All UEM employees are trained to address project challenges immediately and directly, starting with the client and other key stakeholders. This mandate is firmly supported and enforced by all management levels of the firm.

UEM has a well-established internal communication and reporting structure that is supported by our internal policy and procedures manual. The Project Manager is responsible for project completion, technical quality, communication and making decisions on behalf of UEM. The Project Manager is supported by a Financial Coordinator who is responsible for project budgets and tracking changes as required.

Project Managers are responsible for the UEM technical team, internal communication, budget control and project scheduling.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Risks are of an expected and unexpected nature and no matter how well a project has been planned issues arise that potentially pose different levels of risk. UEM approaches risk as preventative in areas where mitigation can be used (e.g., independent cost consulting) and aims to be flexible to address any unexpected risks that arise. UEM has developed a template for potential project risks and mitigation strategies.

There are several types of expected project risk that UEM has addressed in other projects. Approvals, costs, quality of design and construction are all risks that can be mitigated by thoughtful and experienced project management. For example:

• Serious delays in the project can occur if approvals are UEM’s Project Management Lead plays a major role in identifying all approvals, permits, and certificates at all levels of government that will be required. We assign senior planners to these tasks to facilitate coordination and completion. Ongoing liaison with approvals authorities is also important to mitigating risk.
• Cost overruns represent an ongoing risk and are addressed by retaining competent professional designers and contract document This requires a competitive, value driven selection process involving the client and led by the Project Management Lead. The use of independent cost consultants assesses the scope of the design relative to the approved budget.
• Quality risks are mitigated by retaining qualified contractors with experience on relevant This can be accomplished by completing a pre-qualification selection process before the tender is issued for at least the general, mechanical, and electrical contractors. This process is undertaken by the Project Management Lead and the architect/engineering team. The use of commissioning consultants and independent testing and inspection consultants during the design and construction stages assists in mitigating quality and construction risks.

Unexpected project risks often occur during construction and range from geotechnical concerns to design/building system issues. Our lessons learned from other projects is that the time and cost in front- end planning, peer review and a complete geotechnical investigation of the site significantly reduces unexpected risks. Retaining experts, based on the value they bring to the project, is an important risk management activity. UEM’s Project Management Lead assumes the responsibility of risk manager and works closely with the client and professional service team to identify potential project risks, costs, and processes to mitigate. The impact on schedule and cost of each risk identified will be analyzed on a case-by-case basis and the results of which will be incorporated into the Project Management Plan.