There are exciting things happening in the infrastructure environment across Australia and beyond, and Balance Advisory is at the front of the pack when it comes to providing specialist solutions across the entire lifecycle of an infrastructure project.
It typically takes 4-10 years from the conception of a major infrastructure project through to its completion.
But this timeline can vary depending on high-risk components and even things like inclement weather and economic downturn.
It makes sense that you might need some support to navigate your way through this complicated process, and Balance Advisory have the experience and wherewithal to guide you from step-to-step.
This article outlines the 5 key phases of an infrastructure project and helps you to determine where it is most useful to seek specialist advice, and why.
- Scoping Studies
The introduction of early support for a project is integral to its success and the scoping study stage are the best time to ensure a proponent-led approach to the project’s inception, execution and financing.
In this initial phase you will need to determine your project’s scope, compile a realistic cost estimate and identify the obstacles you may face, alongside the opportunities that could present themselves as the project takes shape.
This is a good time to collate a really thorough list of profitable connections and networks that can assist you to get this project running and ensure its success. If you don’t have these networks in place, seek a professional that can forge them for it – this will be important later. - Feasibility Studies and Due Diligence
Professional and thorough feasibility studies and due diligence carried out by seasoned specialists is a must to ensure the overall viability of an infrastructure project.
This stage requires assumptions to be made about the financial and technical aspects of an infrastructure project to determine its functionality.
These assumptions may relate to: resourcing, logistics, systems and processes, the technical environment, hardware and software and the overall development architecture of the project.
Identifying issues that may occur and planning how to resolve them allows due diligence professionals to judge the project’s chances of success and map out the key milestones required to execute the project and see it through to completion.
Due diligence also requires a compilation of project stakeholders, detailed identification of resourcing requirements, a complexity assessment and a microscopic study of scheduled activities and expenditures and their viability overall.
If you are unsure of any phase of your project’s development, this is the time to figure it all out – to test your strategies and assess their feasibility.
Hiring a pragmatic and experienced team is the best option to see you through the all-important due diligence process. - Commercial Negotiation & Procurement
So, you’ve developed the plan. You’ve tested its capability and sustainability, now is the time to find the people and things you need to execute it!
Commercial negotiation and procurement are highly-specialised areas of expertise and it makes sense that you’ll need to call in the experts to get this part happening.
Negotiations are also not always straightforward, so you may require expert advice on how to navigate disputes in this phase of your infrastructure project, and once again, these are a lot less scary if you have professionals working on your behalf.
This part of the process can often seem a bit lengthily and disheartening at times, but keep the faith, if you seek out tailored and holistic infrastructure advice from trusted sources you should be guided through this phase seamlessly, and before you know it, you’ll be at the exciting bit. - Project Development & Execution
If you were building a house, this is the part where you’d break ground.
Project development and execution is, undoubtedly, the exciting part, and you’ve already travelled through so much planning to get to this part, that is makes sense there might be a few quiet celebrations when this milestone is reached.
While the actual development of your project is exciting to watch, this is the phase where those connections you forged back in your Enquiry and Assessment phase can come in handy.
This is also the part where things totally out of your control can wreak their own havoc (think weather events like major storms, flooding or prolonged drought and bushfires) so this is also the bit where your intensive due diligence and risk mitigation strategies and planning could come into play.
The good news is, if you’ve sought solid advice prior to this point, chances are you’re more than equipped to cope with whatever obstacle is thrown your way! - Financial Close
Congratulations!
Chances are we are a few years down the track now and your infrastructure project is complete.
The experts come in handy here as there are often a few commercial negotiations (and yes, sometimes disputes) to handle in this phase along with the final financial transactions of the project.
A specialist and sophisticated advisory firm will have walked with you every step of the way so far, and this part will just be about mopping up some of the leftovers and making sure all rights and obligations are clearly understood, accounts are balanced and bills are paid.
It is clear from the summarised journey above just how important it is to seek specialist advice early on in your infrastructure project lifecycle to ensure the success of your project.
Balance Advisory offers sophisticated offsite infrastructure advice with its capable team of experts using their working knowledge of the infrastructure landscape to meet the needs of clients and organisations.
If you need advice about how to support your projects or operations, we’d love to help.
