Assignment – Overview & Instructions 

Learning Outcomes

This assignment provides you with the opportunity to build a Project Plan for the construction of a new Recreational Community Centre using the concepts and framework discussed in class.  It will enable you to achieve the following Learning Outcomes:

• Identify the fundamental principles and practices of project management in an organization.
• Describe the key elements of a project and a role of a project manager.
• Demonstrate the ability to create project documentation, including a project plan and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
• Itemize and explain the critical success factors to a project.
• Describe key elements of project scheduling through a WBS and the management of project risks.
• Estimate time and cost for a project and develop a project management plan.

Type of Assignment

Paired with a Partner

Grade Breakdown

Paired Assignment – Peer Evaluation

10%

Paired Assignment – PDF Report 

20%

TOTAL

30%

This assignment provides you with an opportunity to demonstrate the development and achievement of the following course learning outcomes:

Construct a New Recreational Community Centre 

The Town of Newfane has experienced rapid growth because of several new housing developments that have doubled the population over the last six years.  In turn, this has led to a significant increase in year-over-year tax revenue for the Town.  This has afforded the Town the opportunity to provide additional services to the community.  However, the Town currently lacks the facilities to support such services.  The regional council has recently voted to develop a Recreational Community Centre to be built on the municipal lands near the Town Hall.  

Project Rationale

The new Centre will provide residents with facilities that will help bring the community together.  It will also provide the opportunity to adequately support competitive supports with other towns and cities.  The new complex will be state of the art and could be used to attract top tier athletes that the Town of Newfane was not previously able to recruit.  The complex will continue to strengthen the Town’s relationship with the local community through interaction programs such as hockey, swimming, and basketball camps as well as local fundraising events. 

Project Objectives and Goals

The main objective of the project is to provide the local community with high quality sporting facilities to encourage both friendly and competitive events that will help promote the Town’s team spirit.  The goal of the project is to improve facilities so that they are at a standard and level to other prestigious facilities across the country.  

Anticipated Benefits

• Interest to utilize the facility by other athletes across the country
• Increased revenue to the Town and the local community from events
• Healthier and happier community
• Creates a positive work-life balance for people
• Improves the Towns’ reputation when they host national conferences

Project Alternatives

Most construction projects offer a number of alternatives to clients (e.g. bronze, silver, gold).  A number of community consultation and collaborative sessions were held with the local community to develop a concrete list of facility amenities.  The project team worked hard to finalize this list to avoid further changes during design and construction.  After careful deliberation, the Town has decided to go with the “gold” alternative.  

The gold package comes with a facility that will be modern, fit-for-purpose, and complete with sports and swimming facilities.  It will be designed to meet the needs of today’s public leisure users and the entire community. 

The proposed 150,000 square foot facility will include the following:

• Hockey rink
• 25m main Swimming Pool 
• Learner pool
• Fitness Suite
• 6 community multi-purpose studios
• Gymnasium/ basketball court
• 1,400 parking spaces

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

Before developing a Gantt chart, it’s important to complete a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to illustrate the key components of the project.  The complex will consist of a new 150,000 square foot facility with all of the elements mentioned above (e.g. hockey rink, 25m swimming pool, learner pool etc.) plus other components such as project management activities, lounges, and food concession areas.  When breaking down your work, think about all these components as well as everything that goes into it (e.g. lighting, flooring, restrooms, seating, scoreboards, etc.)

Cost Estimates

Newfane Town Council initiated the project with funds secured from the new tax revenue generated because of the housing development and developer levies collected to support infrastructure projects.  However, initial funding of $40M budgeted for the project were found to be insufficient to achieve the requirements and further funding was required.  Town Recreation and Infrastructure Project Committees constructed a business plan that secured an additional $25M from Provincial grant for a total project budget of $65M.  

Below is an estimated cost per square-foot (SF) to construct the Centre.  Use it to determine what the cost is for each resource along with the % of total budget dedicated to each resource.  

Item

Cost/SF per item

Cost per Item

% of Total Budget per Item

Contractor Fees

$40

Architectural Fees

$12

Community Consultation Costs

$1

Cost of Materials

$300

Permit/Fees

$2

Cost of equipment Rentals

$50

Resource Estimates

To successfully build the Recreational Community Centre, a Project Team with several resources were assembled.  This includes the following:

• Town Council
• Town Recreation and Infrastructure Project Committee
• Architectural Firm (Lawrence and Yonge)
• Main Contractor (Willis and Don)
• Design Team
• Stakeholders from the Local Community

Risks and Mitigation Strategies

Risks are inherent on every project.  Building a large-scale Recreational Community Centre comes with own set of risks.  When completing your report, you will need to think about different types of risks and how you will mitigate them.

Constraints

Below are some constraints for building the new Recreational Community Centre:

• Project is slated to start on September of current year and expected to last 12 months
• Work must be completed prior to the Grand Opening in September of the following year
• Key decision makers may be difficult to contact during project (e.g. vacations, sick days)

Paired Assignment – Peer Evaluation (10%)

The Paired Assignment has a Peer Evaluation.  What that means is each person will evaluate his or her teammate in terms of their contribution.  This is an INDIVIDUAL assignment so each of you MUST submit your own evaluation form.  This will be in Moodle and the link to the file is located HERE. 

Note:  Failure to submit the form will result in a loss of 10% of your overall grade.

Paired Assignment – PDF Report (20%)

Each report is expected to consist of the 7 following components.

Project Scope Statement (6 parts)

• Project Objective – Answers the questions of what, when and how much
• Deliverables – Tangible or intangible goods or services to be created
• Milestones – Major events to show segments of completed work
• Technical Requirements – Any performance specs needed for a product / service
• Limits & Exclusions – List Items outside of the scope to establish boundaries
• Customer Reviews – who is your point of contact?  How will you manage expectations?

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Create a WBS structure in a hierarchical format
• Can be structured by “phase” or by “deliverable” (either one is fine)
• Tasks should be:
• Manageable – authority and responsibility can be assigned
• Measurable – it should be easy to track progress on it
• Independent – not dependent on other activities
• Rule of thumb:
• Stay between 5 to 8 columns wide 
• Stay between 4 to 5 rows down 

Gantt Chart

• Create a Gantt chart for your Project
• Note: the use of MS Project is not mandatory
• Use the template provided or any software available to assist in building the Gantt (e.g. PowerPoint, Visio, Excel, PowerPoint or MS Word)
• Use the WBS created above to match the breakdown of the Gantt Chart 
• Include key deliverables and milestones 
• Conduct research when necessary and use industry knowledge when appropriate

Budget

• Use the information provided to create a budget for this project
• Develop the budget in an excel spreadsheet or word document (either is fine)

Risks and Mitigation Strategies

• Planning – what risks come with planning a greenfield (undeveloped) project with nearby houses and substantial change?  
• Schedule Delays – what will be the impact of a delay in the project?  How can you minimize it?  How can you avoid disruption to the local community?  What will be your Plan B? 
• Cost Increases – sometimes the prices of material increase due to an increase in demand (e.g. raw material such as wood, steel, glass).  How can you avoid this problem?
• Environmental – since this is a greenfield project, what kind of an impact could this have to the environment and, potentially, to endangered species?  How can you mitigate that?  What about flood risk?  

Conclusion

• What were your Key Findings?
• Will the project finish on time and within budget?  Why or why not?

References

• Use at least 3 references to support your project
• References can include articles, case studies, textbooks
• Remember to use APA formatting when citing references

Note:  Do NOT use CourseHero, Wikipedia, CourseRaptor, or any other paid tutoring service.  The sharing of academic college property through these types of platforms is considered an act of academic dishonesty. 

Submission Format

• Length and space: 8-10 pages max, single side, double-spaced (excluding references and appendices)
• Font type: Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman
• Font size: 12 points
• Citation guide: APA Style
• File type: complete in MS Word but submit as a PDF
• Include a cover page at the front with your Team #, Section #, and partner names