Article from Northcroft Australia office
As any multi-site business will tell you, developing a new site is an enormous investment which can vary widely depending on location. For multinationals, developing and opening new sites in Australia often requires significantly larger investments than those required in other countries due to higher building standards, labour conditions and legislative requirements.
In-house procurement teams can assist with negotiating material costs, but to truly gain some savings, a more wholistic approach is required. That’s where value engineering comes in.
Nothing is assumed and everything is examined
A strong brand image is reinforced with a consistent store or restaurant design and layout. This consistency is highly reassuring to customers, but that doesn’t mean the same materials or construction methodology should be used for every site and in every country.
As part of the value engineering process, the standard site design is reviewed – material by material, equipment by equipment and methodology by methodology. For their clients, Northcroft’s team review every aspect of the design to:
- Check the suitability compared with the building’s planned lifecycle to ensure over engineering doesn’t occur
- Source new or less expensive building material options that will achieve the same appearance and performance
- Investigate alternative solutions that may increase the speed of construction – saving money and facilitating an earlier site opening
As part of the review process, Northcroft will work with the clients’ marketing team and operation team to examines consumer and operation trends which may allow for reduced floor space. This is often the case for fast food restaurant design where increasing demand for drive-thru and delivery services mean dining areas are becoming smaller, which will in turn reduce the cost of investment in terms of land cost and construction cost. It also reduces the cost of operation in the long run.
Offering solutions for the unexpected
Sometimes, the best designs can be undermined once construction commences. For example, changes to footing design may be required to cope with latent soil conditions such as reactive soils. Another option to manage site conditions may be to change the chemical composition of the soil itself.
When faced with these latent conditions and other unexpected site conditions, the Northcroft team always try to provide the clients with the best information in deciding on the solution with the least impact to budget, quality and programme.
Looking for cost saving alternatives?
No matter how many sites you currently have, it makes good sense to look for ways to reduce your costs of investment and operation, without negatively impact on your brand, your design intent and functionalities.
For a fresh perspective, get in touch with Northcroft.