Driving efficiency and maximising asset value through complete commercial control

The Tractorul factory site in Brasov, north of Bucharest, is a 120 hectare site, formerly the biggest industrial centre for tractor production in the world. The site has a major legacy of former industrial use and the need to modify and extend existing infrastructure into the new development was identified.

Following its acquisition by our client, the development of a viable, deliverable master plan was the top priority. The master plan incorporated the construction of 6,000 residential units, 177,000m³ offices, 160,000m³ of retail space, a hotel, exhibition halls, conference halls, civic buildings, a sports centre, a hospital, schools, an 8 hectare park and all associated utilities infrastructure and highways access.

EC Harris was engaged to create a cost model capable of reflecting the master plan which was flexible enough to support later modifications of planning over a likely 15 year development programme, without losing the integrity of the data and allowing a strong audit capability for change management.

Creating solutions

The key to viability was to ensure that the development reflected the sustainable market need, was adaptable and differentiated from the competition. This was achieved by the following means:

• EC Harris put the client in control of the master plan development by implementing and managing the necessary commercial control platform, ensuring the scheme could be developed within a viable framework.
• A strategy was proposed for dividing all the areas in to plots and subplots, linking asset creation on a building by building, plot by plot, phase by phase basis. This financial appraisal enabled the client and design team to assess the impact of changing functional use, area, efficiency parameters and infrastructure provision on this development, thereby offering maximum flexibility.
• By using external benchmarking data for building shapes and efficiencies, EC Harris was able to drive the necessary client brief parameters for each type of building which now sets the ‘baseline’ for the progression of the master plan to delivery phase.
• A robust model on cost planning was successfully created, ensuring flexibility around potential changes by producing consistent and accurate data. The client was then able to obtain fast and clear cost data when future modifications were proposed.

Adding value

• A complete commercial control platform was established to put the client in control of a major complex long term investment in relation to the client design brief, capital cost targets, cash flow and phasing requirements.
• The master cost plan was designed in such a way that allows future changes and detailing of the works with minimum effort and maximum speed.
• EC Harris partnered with the client to execute sensitivity analyses on the design brief, capital cost targets, cash flow and phasing requirements in line with a live and dynamic master plan, bringing ‘best in class’ thinking to the development process.

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