Project Management Consultancy: A Must for the Hospitality Industry

Project Management Consultancy: A Must for the Hospitality Industry

 
If the experience isn't unforgettable, it isn't a worthy oneA deliberate approach to any business results advantageous. Planning and execution are the two main pillars of success of any Hospitality project. To make a successful venture it is very significant to learn the workability of any project or business over a period of time. So it is advisable to consult experts before making a business move, and this is why most of the companies going for a new project take services from a professional and experienced PMC to get the added advantage.



Hospitality industry has been going along the conventional system of hospitality management also follows the same procedure. This is where Project Management Consultants gets a space in the industry.

Why hiring a PMC is essential for execution of any Hospitality project?
We agree that internet has a wide reach because of which market is becoming competitive. It has become not important but compulsory for the hotels and other hospitality wings to take help from hospitality consulting company before taking off their hotel business. The Project Management consulting professionals create opportunity for the business and help it grow the value of property. This consulting company will delivers you with a relationship on which you can count on for advices associated to the process.

Role of PMC in Hospitality Industry

Analysis Of Market Structure – Before the construction of your Hotel Industry gets started, there are certain important things to be considered. Thorough analysis of Market is one of it.

Read the entire article about why Project Management Consultancy is important for the Hospitality Industry here

MDS – The journey that has been ……

MDS – The journey that has been ……

It has been every architects or designers dream to see his thoughts, dreams and designs being converted to reality and the joy of witnessing this happen is no less than the joy at the birth of a child felt by a parent!

It was one fine day in April 2013 when a chance meeting with some senior members of Masters Kolkata PMC team resulted in the germination of thoughts for setting up of Masters Design Studio.

After working in the architectural consultancy domain for 2 decades with reputed architects and organizations, I was looking for an opportunity to start a practice which could be my very own and where I could put to use all that I had learnt from the great masters whom I worked with.

I had been associated with the Masters Kolkata’s PMC team, as a Consultant, on multiple projects during my career and had known the team to be extremely committed and hardworking, ably led by Mr Dhruba Bhattacharya. Ms Swati Bhattacharya, who was and is still working in PMC team along with Mr Dhruba had been nurturing ideas to start a design studio within Masters and I think it was that lucky chance encounter with both of them and many subsequent meetings thereafter, discussions and strategies with Ms Puneet Alag, building business plans, plan rejections etc that we started to believe we could really start a Design studio!!

With our MD Mr Jaspreet Singh’s vision, his heartfelt support and with me as its first and only team member, MASTERS DESIGN STUDIO started its journey from Kolkata regional office from mid April 2013.

Next was building the team and the business …the team started with my very talented colleagues from prior organizations who shared the same dream of starting a design studio and also put their belief in a new venture of an organization and me - that we started building a strong team together.

The Masters Design Studio initially started with design presentations, competitions and visits to established clients and by December 2013 we got our first big project with Hiland Group , whose MD Mr. Sumit Dabriwala put great faith in us and awarded an architectural consultancy work for 6 lakh square feet of residential buildings in his flagship project Calcutta Riverside . Thus began a great journey which has now culminated in consultancy agreements for Architectural design for over a million square feet in exactly 2 years!!

Read more at - http://www.masterspmc.com/blog/111-mds-the-journey-that-has-been

Safety Has No Holiday - A Case Study !

Safety Has No Holiday - A Case Study !

A group workers (helper category) of Sub-contractor were assigned the job of housekeeping in under construction Tower on Sunday at about 8:00 am by main contractor. Injured Person was working alone in OTS shaft for debris removal, while accessing the chajja at other side of OTS the victim lost balance and had fall at about 8.40am from 2nd floor level (approx. 5.15 mt from gr floor) leading to right leg & right hand mid finger fracture & minor cuts & scratches on face. Injured Person was wearing his all PPE's safety helmet, safety shoes and safety harness, however he didn't anchor his harness and hence there was free fall to ground. Also the primary protection safety net at first floor level OTS was partly left open by the victim after cleaning of the debris and hence could not arrest the person from free fall.

Assumption No 1

The victim may have tried to reach chajja from the top opening of toilet. At the time of passing from that opening he may have lost his grip from brick wall of  toilet and fell from that point.

2 Nos broken bricks were available as shown in the figure. But it is doubtful since1.9m height is difficult for the victim to go down until he decided to jump and there was no ladder available at vicinity of that area.

Assumption No 2

The victim might climbed by any means (which later may have taken out from that area) and at the time of climbing down to the other side of toilet he jumped and lost control.

If anybody tries to jump from 2.4m and at the platform of 0.5m it is very much possible to be topple.

Assumption 3

Another assumption was made that the victim may be have tried to reach the chajja by means of a 100mm channel section,which was available at the adjacent unit of the area. The victim and his crew member may be placed the channel at that  opening and after that victim tried to reach the area from over the channel.During going from the channel he may have lost  his control and  fall down

The victim may have fallen the channel but there were no evidence available that shows the channel has been put on the opening.Here also it was doubtful that the channel weight is approx . 25kg which is not possible for one person to put  at place  whereas all other gang members told the victim was alone at that place.

Events leading to the incident/accident

1.Unplanned work - Work without work permit  and prior intimation is not permissible but Contractor violated this protocol and conducted the work without giving any prior intimation to PMC and without obtaining any valid work permit

2. Lack of Supervision - The work was planned a night before without any prior intimation to PMC and the supervisor allowed the work to happen in his absence and left the activity unsupervised.

3. Negligence of Safety Equipment - Although the victim was wearing full body safety harness but he didn't anchor the safety belt.

Findings on overall approach and safe work practices adopted at site

The victim was working without work permit for the net/chajja cleaning work under the instruction of supervisor of Contractor. As per Client safety guideline no work should be executed without written work permit and written permit always requires authorization of work by concern Contractor’s project personnel and thereafter, approval of PMC personnel. In this regard the Client safety guidelines for work permit system was violated.

In addition to this, the work was carried out in absence of any supervisor which is also a major failure of site management of Contractor.

As per established system, if any work other than routine maintenance and housekeeping work at ground level, is  required to be executed on Sundays and other Holidays, the Contractor is supposed to inform the same in advance to PMC so that in turn, PMC also makes necessary arrangement to ensure their presence at site. In this case, no such prior intimation was given to PMC and established practice was bypassed.

While working, the victim was wearing full body safety harness but he didn’t anchor the hook of safety harness anywhere and therefore, the fall from height was not arrested.

It is also noticed that because of unplanned work, no hook locking arrangement was provisioned at work place and the working area was unsafe.

Learning from Case Study

1. All work whether routine or non-routine on holidays (productive/ non-productive) shall be given equal importance and supervision and safety measures must.

2. Critical height work with difficult approach shall be well planned after HIRA and permit to work.

3. Passive protection safety measures (safety nets, hard barricading, lifelines, shaft & cut-outs enclosures etc.) shall not be tampered or removed without permission of Tower In charge and Safety In charge. This is life threatening offense and punitive action must.

4. Emergency support services like first aid, firefighting aids, emergency vehicle, operators/ drivers etc. shall be operative/available for holiday or odd working hours.

5. Ensure that the Contractor, PMC and Client are conducting self-safety assessment through corporate/ cluster safety head/ safety coordinators frequently at least quarterly and improvements are factored and evaluated.

6. Permit is strong administrative control tool and if adhered strictly work will proceed safely after spot inspections/ corrections. There shall be zero tolerance approach to PTW procedural deviations.

About Masters

Masters is a leading Project Management company providing end-to-end solutions to the Construction Industry using the best of global standards and practices with primary focus on Real Estate sector.

Since its inception in 2004, the Company has evolved as a one-stop-shop service provider, offering a range of services to its Clients taking the project from start to finish – ranging from assisting them during per-development stages to feasibility analysis, pre-construction and construction & installation management services to all the way to a successful close out. In addition, Masters also specializes in Cost Consultancy and Design Development (Architectural as well as MEP) through their in-house team. Besides, Masters also offers Programme & Process Review Services and Quality, Cost & Safety Audit/ Monitoring Services and is well equipped to offer range of Development solutions (like turnkey, design & build, construction management at risk) to its Clients.

To know more about Project Management Consultancy, Contact us at :

Masters Management Consultants (India) Private Limited
New Udyog Mandir,
Kamanwala Chambers No.2,
Unit No. 7, Ground Floor,
Mugal Road, Mahim (West),
Email - connect@masterspmc.com
Phone : +91 22 64567600

Importance of Cost Management in Project Management

Importance of Cost Management in Project Management

Project management success depends on the ability to manage customer expectations, as well as the capacity to maintain a calibrated approach to all projects within the portfolio. And while time and resource issues are always significant, the factor that often has the biggest influence on project success or failure is whether or not the project team can – or cannot – optimize project outputs with effective cost management.

Construction cost is one of the most important criteria of success of project throughout the lifecycle of the project and is of high concern to those who are involved in the construction industry. In order to manage construction project successfully various procurement strategies have been introduced. In spite very rarely projects are completed within estimated budget.

Keeping construction projects within estimated costs and schedules requires sound strategies, good practices, and careful judgment.

Factors affecting Construction Cost Performance

There are several factors that affect the construction cost and various studies have been conducted to address these factors.

Low quality materials cause higher construction cost than expected because of the loss of materials during construction. This results from a lack of standards for materials and management systems. Lack of ability to prevent cost overruns or to control construction costs causes many construction companies to fail.

A major factor contributing to the time-delay and cost-increase is the inadequacy of money and time allocated to the design phase. The three main causes of time-delays are, in order, the number of change orders, financial constraints and owners’ lack of experience in construction.

Design changes, inadequate planning, unpredictable weather conditions; and fluctuations in the cost of building materials are other common factors causing cost overruns.

To sum up, following are the factors affecting Construction Cost management:

• Fluctuation in prices of materials
• Frequent design changes
• Unforeseen ground conditions
• Change in the scope of the project
• Low speed of decisions making
• Lack of communication among parties
• Delay in Material procurement
• Underestimate project duration resulting Schedule Delay
• Owner interference

To avoid the above, project needs special knowledge and expertise to handle it ,which is most efficiently provided by Cost Managers of an effective PMC.

About Masters

Quite simply, Masters completely and clearly understands the importance of cost management as a subset of project management. It demonstrates this by enabling organisations to efficiently and effectively assess all costs associated with a construction project, including (but not limited to): original budget cost, current approved cost, forecasted vs. actual cost, and committed cost.

Our Cost Consultancy services are classified into four typical stages:

• Pre contract
• Tendering & Documentation
• Post contract Cost Control & Monitoring
• Post contract Financial Management

Some of our Cost Consultancy Projects are:

- Project management & Cost Consultancy for Novotel Hotel Mumbai
- Project Management & Cost Consultancy for The Imperial, Mumbai 
- Project Management & Cost Consultancy for Trilium Mall, Amritsar
 

PMC Services for Hotel development

Tourism and hospitality, a key sector of the Indian economy, plays a key role in the growth of Brand India.It is important to realize up front that there is much more to the process than only construction and operation of the Hotel.

Traditionally, hotel opening efforts have been driven by corporate operations, invariably supported by task force teams drawn from existing hotels. This specific approach only works on a small scale and has several limitations.

The traditional approach alone cannot meet the challenges and dynamics of new hotel development on a large scale and will contribute to causing delays in the technical, operational and commercial readiness of hotel projects.

Development of Hospitality industry on a larger scale generates specific dynamics and challenges. It requires proven project management expertise to meet these challenges head on and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of opening new hotels, right from pre-construction to construction to substantial completion and then final operational stages of a hotel. 

In our view, 
“A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service, or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates a project has a definite beginning and end.” (PMI, 2013).

It is important to understand that by definitions new hotel openings are essentially projects and not part of on-going hotel operations. The approach to manage them should fundamentally not be different from projects conducted in information technology, consulting, banking, telecommunications, aerospace, and other industries.

 Project management process for Hotel development includes the following:

• Due Diligence
• Site Assessment & Building Studies
• Design Review & Conceptual Pricing
• Design Team Selection, Negotiation, Contracting & Management
• General Contractor Selection, Negotiation, Contracting & Management
• Consultant Selection, Negotiation, Contracting & Management
• Constructability Planning
• Cost Analysis & Value Management
• Budget Development & Analysis
• Schedule Development & Analysis
• Project Management Controls
• Change Management
• Quality Control and Compliance with Design Standards and Brand Standards
• MEP System Commissioning Support
• FF&E Procurement and Management
• Operations and Pre-Opening Planning
• Project Close-Out and Punch List Management

Role of PMC in Hotel Development

A  PMC should have the ability to oversee and manage an entire project (from design through completion of the punch list) in the most cost effective way for an owner.  It must have the expertise, the systems and right quality people which can enable the PMC to readily identify potential cost savings in design, purchasing, and construction that the operator or the developer may not know. The PMC should have in-house skill set for the identification of value-added opportunities and the detailed management of costs while maximizing the return on invested capital.

About Masters

Masters with experience of working on various Hotel developments can provide you an experienced project and construction management team whether you are building an entirely new hotel or renovating an existing one. We also offer a full breadth of consulting services to advise you about your hotel construction or renovation project.

Some of the Hospitality projects under our umbrella are:

JW Marriott, Kolkata

Ginger Hotel, Goa

Vivanta by Taj, Dwarka

Radisson Hotel, Kolkata

Novotel, Mumbai

Fairmont, Jaipur

Talk to us today!

Contact
connect[at]masterspmc[dot]com

Phone Number
+91 22 64567600