Project Strategy Case Studies

Boral Ltd. a large public listed Australian building materials supply company, has an 65 hectare old brick quarry that has come to the end of its economic life. The brick quarry has been operating for over 70 years and supplied a lot of the bricks that built Sydney. After 70 years of operations, the quarry now consists of a number of large water logged clay pits that could be dangerous and require extensive remediation, a very deep shale pit full of water that must be made safe, extensive contaminated and hazardous areas some of which contains asbestos and a large area of brick kilns and derelict operational buildings.
The quarry, in the middle of “nowhere” when it started, is now surrounded by residential areas with reasonable public services including schools, public transport and shops and access to a motorway, major roads and rail. The surrounding residents, the local Council and the NSW Government require the Boral to immediately secure for the safety of the site and to start the remediation and decontamination of the site within 6 months.
Boral has informally been told that unless the site is made safe and the remediation and decontamination started within 6 months, the Company may be prosecuted.
Case Study 1 – Project Strategy (maximum 800 words)
The Board of the Company has asked you to advise it on the project strategy to meet the concerns of site safety, decontamination and remediation AND how to realise the “highest and best” use of its old quarry site. The Company has always stuck to its core business of making building products, has little knowledge of site decontamination and remediation on a large scale or getting the “highest and best” use for an old contaminated quarry site.
The Board of Directors have, however, been informed that the land value could be greatly improved if the old quarry was remediated and rezoned. The Board has also been informed that there is the strong opportunity for the Company to make very substantial profits by developing the site.
List, in dot point format, the project strategy options the Company has to meet the strategic objectives of realising the “highest and best” use of the site, enhancing the profits for its core business of selling building products and securing the site’s safety.
Provide a summary step by step “Action Plan” of how you would undertake the analysis and ranking of the elements of your construction project strategy and give your recommended strategy with reasons.