Coursework Brief
Aberdeen City Centre Regeneration
Aberdeen city, like many other city centres, has been in decline for a number years. Union Street, Aberdeen’s high street has suffered the same fate as many high streets in the UK with a large number of empty shop units and increasing competition from out-of-town shopping and new shopping malls.
The impact of Covid has exacerbated this process, with people increasingly working and shopping from home this has stifled city centre recovery and there is evidence that these trends may continue. The Centre for Cities reported that the impact on Aberdeen had been particularly significant with Aberdeen recording the steepest fall in job vacancies (BBC, 2020).
One city that has taken an innovative approach to regeneration is Stockton-on Tees. Plans have been announced there to knock down the shopping arcade and build a riverside park.This is part of a strategy to rethink what city centres should and could be and to find alternative ways to attract people to cities that does not depend on the traditional mix of retail and hospitality alone.
Dundee has also taken a similar approach to economic regeneration by positioning itself as a centre of culture with the opening of the new V & A museum and the city has also recently announced that the Eden Project will set up its first attraction in Scotland on
a former Dundee gasworks.
Aberdeen City Council developed a regeneration masterplan in 2015 with the aim of
‘transforming the city while conserving its proud heritage’ (Aberdeen City Council, n.d.).
The masterplan objectives were to change the perception of Aberdeen, to move from being viewedas the ‘oil and gas capital of Europe’ to being an energy city, to be seen as a more cosmopolitan city rich with cultural activity and creativity. In May 2021 the council agreed to review their plan for the city. In light of the changes that Covid is likely to bring to Aberdeen.
Requirements of the Coursework
You have been hired as a consultant to Aberdeen City Council to review their regeneration
strategy and identify suitable projects in line with the aims of the Masterplan. In light of the
changes that Covid is likely to bring to Aberdeen you have been asked to identify 3 projects
that would fit the objectives of the Masterplan. You must recommend one project that you
would propose to implement and develop a high level plan for that project.
Option Appraisal and recommendation
1. Identify 3 possible projects that would be suitable options in response to the project brief for the organisation to consider. Provide a brief outline of each option in terms of time, cost, alignment with the brief and risk.
Identify a decision-making framework in order to critically evaluate and assess the merits of each of your options, you should include risk, benefits, costs, time and fit with the overall aims of the project brief, you can identify any other criteria you deem appropriate.
Following your option appraisal, you are required to make a recommendation on the most beneficial potential project to adopt. You must ensure you provide a clear rationale for your choice.
Project Plan:
Once you have identified your preferred option you are now required to develop a
high-level project plan for the project.
2. Scope:
You must define the Scope of the project identifying the overall aim of the project, the objectives and the project deliverables. You must include a summary of the main considerations and assumptions you have made in formulating your project scope.
You should also include critical success factors and criteria.
3. Planning and Control:
You must provide a project schedule, identifying the key phases and life cycle of the project. The report should include a work breakdown structure (WBS) and a ‘project schedule’ (Gantt chart).
You should also critically discuss the approach to the life cycle, including how the project has been broken down into phases, any critical activities and any milestones or decision gates.
4. Risk:
A risk assessment of the project and the project plan should be undertaken with an analysis and discussion of the key risks. You must also identify measures to minimise each of the risks and whether there remains any residual risk following your risk responses.
5. Stakeholders:
There should also be a discussion of the key issues and concerns in terms of stakeholders, identifying which stakeholders have the potential to have the most
significant impact on the project. You must also include a stakeholder matrix and identify how you will deal with the stakeholders and critically discuss the need to manage project stakeholders.
6. Change:
You should identify any specific controls you will put in place to monitor and control the project including an outline of the change control mechanisms and who will have responsibility for change control decisions within the project and how that would fit with configuration management.
You should also critically discuss the potential impact of not having appropriate change and configuration mechanisms in place.
Conclusion:
The report should include a conclusion section that pulls all the disparate elements together. Identify any areas of further investigation/research necessary and any decisions
Sources:
Aberdeen City Centre masterplan. 2021. [online]
Available from:
https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/strategy-performance-and-statistics/city-centre-masterplan [Accessed 23/8 2021]BANKS, K., 2020. Union street: Empty stores on the rise in Aberdeen city Centre. [online]
Available from:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-
54614825 [Accessed 23/8 2021]CENTRE FOR CITIES, City centre case studies. [online]
Available from:
https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services/strategy-performance-and-statistics/city-centre-masterplan [Accessed 23/8 2021]GARNER-PURKIS, Z., 2021. Council on the precipice: The big risks to city centre regeneration. [online] Construction News.
Available from:
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/government/councils-on-the-precipice-the-big-risks-to-city-centre-regeneration-08-02-2021/ [Accessed 23/8/ 2021]
THE OBSERVER, 2021. The observer view on regenerating Britain’s high streets. [online] The Observer.
Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/22/observer-view-regenerating-britains-high-streets [Accessed 8/23 2021] WESTON, P., 2020. Going wild? A radical green plan for Nottingham’s unloved shopping centre. [online]
Available from:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/04/going-wild-the-radical-green-plans-for-nottingham-post-covid-regeneration-aoe [Accessed 8/23 2021]
Coursework Aim:
To promote an understanding of the key principles, concepts and strategies of project
management.
To examine the broad project environment and apply project management toolsand techniques to a real or case study project.
Coursework Learning Outcomes:
Module Learning Outcomes Briefing Requirement
Critically review the project life-cycle phases, processes, tools and techniques and the broader environment in which projects take place.
1. Option Development and Appraisal.
2. Business Case.
3. Scope
4. Plan
Develop a critical awareness of the issues involved in the development of project planning and control activities, including anticipating and assessing business environmental impacts in the earliest stages of project planning.
1. Option Development and Appraisal.
2 Business Case
6 Risk
7 Stakeholders
Critically evaluate the project objectives of cost, quality and time and the trade-offs and interaction between these objectives.
1. Option Development and
Appraisal.
2. Business Case.
6. Risk
7. Stakeholders
Develop a broad outline for a case project a Project Plan.
4. Plan
5. Organisation.
6. Risk
7. Stakeholders
Evaluate the relationship between change management and project management and be able to establish a change management process.
6. Risk
8. Change and Quality
Last Completed Projects
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