Consulting: Management

The engineering project management group provides a specialist consulting service to industry and government in its field. The group aims to be identified as lead advisers to project clients, their financiers and service providers based on academic and professional neutrality.

The group offers specialist consulting services in the following areas:

• Documentation and Procedures Review
• Risk Management and Evaluation
• Strategic Project Management Advice
• Expert Advice on Contractual Disputes
• Public Private Partnerships
• Corporate Education and Training

Specific contacts for each of the areas listed above are provided with the linked information. For general consulting enquiries please contact:

Assoc Prof Colin Duffield
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
The University of Melbourne
Victoria 3010 Australia

T: +61 3 8344-6787
F: +61 3 8344-4616
E: colinfd@unimelb.edu.au

Documentation and Procedures Review

The engineering project management group has extensive experience in the development and documentation of procedures relating to the management of engineering businesses and major projects. Recent consultancies that the group has carried out include:

• development of quality, risk management and safety procedures
• drafting of design briefs for road authorities
• tendering and contract management review for local government and construction contractors
• development of estimating and cost control systems

Contact

Prof David Young or Assoc Prof Colin Duffield

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Risk Management and Evaluation

The engineering project management group provides strategic risk management advice and undertakes detailed qualitative and quantitative risk evaluation analyses. Recent consultancies include:

• independent estimate and the conduct of a detailed risk analysis of a major freeway
• commercial risk study into public transport
• a study into the risks associated with asset management of water systems, buildings and tunnels

Contact

Assoc Prof Colin Duffield

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Strategic Project Management Advice

The engineering project management group offers strategic advice and management support in respect to a whole-of-life approach to the management of projects. Our definition of this is:

"The application of the functions and activities of management to an engineering project throughout its life cycle, from the conceptual phase, through development, design and construction, operation and maintenance, to its eventual recycling and restoration."

Recent projects include:

• project Director roles for AusAID
• leadership of gateway reviews of business cases and procurement strategies for major projects
• membership of tender review panels
• assistance in the development of project feasibility studies
• probity advice and audits
• membership of special committees advising on appropriate procurement strategies for major development projects
• specialist construction engineering advice regarding the viability of technical proposals for major industrial and infrastructure projects

Contact

Prof David Young or Assoc Prof Colin Duffield

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Expert Advice on Contractual Disputes

Numerous staff from the engineering project management group have a unique blend of extensive industrial, research and academic experience. The group works closely with a number of legal and contract claims assessment teams to provide strategic advice, act as expert witnesses, and to prepare detailed technical and contractual reports. Recent projects include:

• a coronial inquest into the collapse of barricade walls in an underground mine
• the premature failure of tunnels, bridges, pavements, water treatment plants, underground pipes, mechanical equipment and dams
• the underperformance of building facades, fibre optic installation in highrise buildings, cracked concrete and the water tightness of buildings
• project cost overruns involving construction scheduling, cost estimating and construction management

Contact

Prof David Young or Assoc Prof Colin Duffield

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Public Private Partnerships

The engineering project management group works closely with the Australian Centre for Public Infrastructure (www.muprivate.edu.au/acpi) to provide broad consulting services that encompass the breadth of technical, construction, legal, financial, economic and social required to successfully deliver services via a partnerships model that involves the public and private sectors. Our work in this area overlaps some of our other areas of competency and also includes:

• policy development
• development of public sector comparators
• financial structuring
• output specifications
• demand modelling

Contact

Assoc Prof Colin Duffield or Mr Michael Regan

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Corporate Education and Training

The engineering project management group provides corporate education and training in fields relating to:

• project management
• contract management and administration

Contact

Prof David Young or Assoc Prof Colin Duffield