The humble neighbourhood shopping centre is increasingly important to communities but with the resurgence of these assets comes new pressures. Retail specialist Mainbrace has found that the evolution of neighbourhood centres has demanded the evolution of Early Contractor Involvement (ECI), from a pre-construction focus to a strategic delivery tool with only positive cost implications.
For retail developers, timelines are tightening, and expectations are growing. This is happening at a delicate time, when cost pressures are high. Developers are clear on what they need: speed, cost certainty, flexibility and future-proofed assets.
Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) is proving the answer on multiple fronts, but for some the process raises concerns that outweigh the perceived gains. Successful ECI is a partnership between builder and developer that relies on transparency.
The advantages of ECI are centred on value engineering and are well-founded: optimised design, enhanced buildability, reduced risk, waste minimisation, the avoidance of duplication and delays, proactive safety initiatives and more.
For each of those advantages, the cost implications are positive, so how can the developer be sure they are capturing their share of those savings?
Real-time cost modelling, project benchmarking, implementation of market feedback during design, forward-looking value management and a competitive open book approach to identifying the guaranteed maximum price (GMP) help capture the value of ECI.
Cost clarity through ECI isn’t the only aspect to increase the likelihood of a project proceeding on time. Some of the biggest impediments to project commencements come from authority approvals. At Mainbrace, ECI enables open dialogue with utilities early. The team can gauge authority requirements from the outset, integrate their key durations into the program, and engage accredited consultants and subcontractors early to avoid costly delays both before and after commencement.
The enhanced speed to market unlocked through the ECI process continues through delivery. The evolution of the neighbourhood shopping centre demands flexibility, both during development and in operation.
Mainbrace is increasingly building shopping centres in stages so they can start or maintain trade throughout other works. Supermarkets are opening while fitouts continue. Shell works are being completed while services go live. This flexibility needs to be embedded in the program early.
ECI allows collaborative decisions to be made at the outset, which clears the pathway for staged handovers to meet lease and operational targets. It allows Mainbrace as builder to help sequence and stage to support development goals, as well as work with the leasing team to ensure the centre meets the requirements of lease agreements. Changes can be adopted as lease terms are negotiated.
Similarly, the collaboration that underpins ECI means infrastructure and sustainability needs can be understood and integrated early. As more projects target Green Star ratings, and look to integrate EV charging, solar installations and other sustainability features, ECI provides a clear understanding and assessment of the trade-offs. Cost pressures are high, so ECI shines a light on where the value truly sits.
The power of data in construction is already well understood but it’s also always expanding. Through ECI, the power of data is fully expressed.
For instance, analysing supply chain data and market trends helps Mainbrace anticipate material availability and prices. Environmental data on energy, emissions and waste enables project footprints to be assessed and minimised. Data analysis can challenge the norm in terms of optimal project design to meet the specific end use, informing everything from materials selection to procurement planning and construction workflow, minimising or even eliminating the need for re-design.
To make sure all of this is captured and communicated, Mainbrace uses ECI to provide realistic and detailed cost estimates early in the project lifecycle. From there, costs are reviewed and updated regularly as the design progresses.
Even through ECI, cost movements can be dynamic and as they ebb and flow, the regular reviews and updates mean decisions can be made with real-time insights. This cost modelling progresses as the design develops, enabling any cost element to be benchmarked before drilling into design. Savings are unlocked through enhanced efficiency in design without compromising quality.
All the way along, using our comprehensive cost modelling database drawing on data spanning hundreds of projects over many years, we can benchmark current projects against other similar projects, providing developers with peace of mind that the costs tabled are competitive and accurate.
This enables a GMP to be submitted with an open-book approach. Mainbrace provides access to its bill of quantities (BOQ) and subcontractor quotes and openly encourages clients to use their own quantity surveyor to verify the competitiveness of the submission. It is ECI transparency in action, so clients know exactly where their project stands.
Typically, we find ECI creates greater savings than could otherwise be achieved at tender and, crucially, there is no cost penalty to unlock these savings. The reasons for this are two-fold.
1. Total costs are brought forward with certainty, eliminating any surprise future costs, with the need for re-work being reduced or similarly eliminated, and the most cost-effective subcontractor or consultant approach clearly identifiable.
2. With a competitive open book approach to GMP, other advantages such as de-risking, constructability, less re-work and faster programs support the savings made through ECI, which aren’t captured via other procurement approaches.
The new wave of neighbourhood shopping centres is defined by how they adapt and evolve to what their community needs. Through the transparent collaboration on which ECI relies, we can work with developers to plan for flexibility, stage for efficiency, interpret real-time insights to implement dynamic cost modelling and more, all of which contribute to the developer’s ability to make better decisions that hold up under pressure.
In this way, ECI has evolved well beyond the pre-construction phase. It is now the most effective strategic tool for the smarter, faster and more adaptable delivery of the next generation of neighbourhood shopping centres. SCN
- This article by John Brunette, Head of ECI at Mainbrace Constructions, is featured in the latest edition of SCN magazine.
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