Building Project Programming Approach

• It is essential that decision-makers ensure their building projects meet all concerns before starting any building or renovation phase in the current social, economic, and environmental context.
• The programming approach, which leads to writing a program, must help project owners ensure a project's feasibility and opportunity.
• The programming approach enables defining, expressing needs, and exploring available options.
• The programming approach optimizes the needs/costs ratio in an iterative process.
• The project owner must consider how the equipment will evolve to promote its flexibility to meet the changing challenges of sustainable development.
• Focus on energy, environmental and social performance
• Focus on the varying functions it may serve throughout its useful life.
• The project owner must also factor in operating costs, which are higher than the equipment's initial cost.
• Unanticipated operating costs can significantly burden the project owner.

Regulatory Context

• The Public Procurement Code (CCP) defines the project owner's responsibilities and the project manager's missions.
• The CCP ensures the project owner assesses the project's feasibility and opportunity.
• Focus on determination of location
• Focus on developing the program
• Focus on setting a budget
• Focus on financing of the operation
• Focus on selecting the process
• Focus on awarding public contracts for studies and construction.
• Public project owners must ensure a new building project's opportunity and feasibility to fulfill their public service duties.
• Project owners formalize their initial ideas and verify feasibility by engaging in programming.
• Verify feasibility in terms of the project owner's goals and overall sustainable development concerns.
• Programming shifts from general aims to specific details.
• Identify current conditions (site assessment).
• Identify desired conditions (project owner's objectives).
• Gathers the expectations and needs of future occupants through consultation, participation, and discussion.
• Convert expectations on functional and technical standards.
• Study scenarios that align with the validated objectives and needs
• Select the optimal scenario.
• Fine-tune and detail the scenario to convey the project owner's objectives in order of priority.

Programming Studies

• A final document called "the program" needs to be made to consolidate the project owner's social project.
• A phase entitled "Assembly" includes opportunity studies and pre-feasibility studies.
• A phase entitled "Program" includes feasibility studies and the pre-program.

Study Stages Summarized

• Opportunity stage identifies and formalizes the actual need.
• Pre-feasibility stage develops need-meeting scenarios.
• Feasibility stage expands investigations.
• The Pre-program phase translates objectives and resources.
• The "Program" phase entails detailing basic project objectives.

School Project Example

• Assess student population.
• Review community demographics.
• Evaluate existing buildings.
• Set political goals for consolidation.
• Consider building rehabilitation and expansion vs. new construction.
• Study the benefits and drawbacks of each option, including costs.
• In the feasibility stage sharpen focus on the 2 scenarios in light of limitations.

Programming Study Needs

• Competence and availability may not always be readily accessible.
• A specialized service provider, such as a programmer or other AMO (assistant to the project owner) experts, can be hired.
• An outside provider can ask challenging questions.
• Owners make educated decisions that align with the project aim during this stage of reflection.

Essential to Establish A Project Team

• Must have the necessary skills such as awareness to sustainable development.
• Set quality of use, environmental quality, and the ability to incorporate the goals into various groups and committees.
• A management system is needed to fit the project complexity and the project owner's structure.

Costs to Consider

• The preliminary stage ensures opportunity, and sets objectives.
• Costs and time spent in early stages allow for the project to be feasible.
• Costs are often lower during this stage compared to the overall operation cost.

Project Programming Studies

• Minimize costs and time spent in project studies.
• Can cause deficits in quality. Such deficits can happen during the whole operation, or even during exploitation leading to objective modifications, increased prices.
• Can affect the project, and lead to the project not completely matching the needs of a community.
• Preliminary steps involve relatively little time compared to the building's lifespan.
• Final cost is highly impactful in the design phase.

Phase

• Establish the reality of the need.
• The chance studies formalize the real need.
• Assessment of the present condition for identification.
• Identification with future needs.

What is Included

• The condition of current surroundings
• The sought after future setting
• Main targets for operation
• Occupants
• A good understanding can show the disparities
• The existing information will affect the operation

Types of opportunity

• Make sure the needs match the equipment.
• Consider enhancing usage of equipment.

Preliminary Feasibility Studies

• Examine range of possibilities.
• This step helps decide the direction of the project.

Aspects to Consider

• Must respond to targets
• Take constraints into account such as finances.

Scenarios

• Canceling the project.
• Constructing a new building, or reusing an existing building
• Focus on if service has service in place.
• Detail type of response for chosen scenario.
• Each possibility must have type of response, key data, form, estimation of cost.
• Project owner accepts a solution, used for support in the project.

All Studies Must Be Analyzed

• Limits to the risks.
• Phase called program.

Feasibility Studies

• Takes into account constraints.
• Assures adjustment with restrictions.

Key Aspects

• Check tech function, economic impact.

Complementary Investigations

• How to fill out needs
• Identify all services as well as function
• Research obstacles

Preprogram

• It restates project objectives.
• The foundation of the project.
• The choices are formalized.
• Reference document for budget.
• Important step in the program.

Communication Process

• Choices of project owner.

What It Contains

• An overview and past background of the project.
• Outline is a list of potential items.
• Objectives will be reached
• User data, desires, etc.