The programme that carries the project into construction.
The period before a start on site is where most of the recoverable time sits. Planning conditions, design releases, statutory approvals, utility applications and long-lead procurement all have to land in the right order, and each of them can hold up a start date that has already been committed to. A preconstruction programme makes that sequence visible while there is still time to act on it.
The baseline then becomes the reference the project is measured against once work begins. It needs realistic durations, logic that holds up when something moves, and clearly stated assumptions, so that later change can be understood against a fixed starting point rather than argued about.
From approvals through to handover.
The programme connects the decisions before site start with the work needed to reach completion: design and approval milestones, procurement and utilities, mobilisation, the construction sequence and its key interfaces, and the commissioning, completion and phased handovers at the end. Phased schemes need the handover sequence considered early, because it shapes how the works are built rather than only how they finish.
Where a scheme is being prepared for an investment or start-on-site decision, the same programme gives the delivery assumptions behind that decision in a form the team can interrogate.
Packaging, procurement and early contractor input.
How a scheme is broken into packages shapes both the programme and the price. The packaging strategy sets out how the works divide, which packages have to be procured early to protect the sequence, and where enabling and logistics works need pricing before the main contract is let.
Bringing contractors in early tests whether the scheme is actually buildable as designed. Early prices for enabling and logistics packages, and a considered set of preliminaries, give the developer a view of the real cost of delivery while there is still time to change the approach. The purpose is to de-risk the scheme and support its viability; no particular saving or outcome is promised.
What is produced.
- Planning, design & approval milestones
- Packaging strategy & early procurement
- Preliminaries & early contractor engagement
- Enabling & logistics package pricing
- Construction sequence, interfaces & phased handovers
Common questions.
What is a baseline programme?
A baseline programme is the agreed version of the construction programme fixed at the start of the works. Progress is measured against it, and later change is assessed by comparing the current position with that original position.
When should a preconstruction programme be prepared?
As early as the design, approvals and procurement route are understood well enough to be sequenced. Preparing it early is what gives the team room to act on the constraints it exposes, rather than discovering them close to a committed start date.
Does it cover more than the construction works?
Yes. It covers the planning, design and approval milestones, procurement and utilities and mobilisation that have to be complete before and during construction, through to commissioning, completion and phased handovers.
What is a packaging strategy?
A packaging strategy sets out how the works are divided into procurement packages, in what order they are let, and which have to be secured early to protect the construction sequence. It drives both the programme and how the scheme is priced.
Why bring contractors in before the main contract?
Early contractor engagement tests whether the scheme can be built as designed, and produces real prices for enabling and logistics works. That gives the developer a view of the cost and constraints of delivery while the design can still respond to it.