What is a construction programme, and what should it show?

Every construction contract has a programme. It is the plan for how the job gets from the first day on site to handover, and it is the document both sides turn to whenever they talk about time.

Most programmes are drawn as a bar chart, with each activity shown as a bar against a calendar. Reading one well is a useful skill for any client.

What a sound programme shows

• every main activity, from site establishment to handover
• how long each activity takes
• the order they run in, and which ones have to finish before others can start
• the dates that matter to the client, such as stage handovers and practical completion
• the lead times for items made off site, such as joinery, steelwork or equipment

The critical path

Some activities can slip a few days without changing the finish date. Others cannot, and the chain of activities with no room to slip is called the critical path.

The critical path tells the client where to look. A delay on a critical activity moves the finish date unless something else changes, while the spare time on other activities, called float, absorbs small delays without any effect on the end date.

On a live site, the client's dates come first

On an empty site, the programme is built around the trades. On a live site, it is built around the people using it.

A school programme shows term dates, exam periods and the holidays when the loudest work can run. A council programme shows the booking calendar or the sporting season. Monument plans school works around the timetable, not the other way around, so those dates go into the programme first and the trades are fitted around them.

Fixed windows

Some programmes have an end date that cannot move at all. A holiday window that has to finish before Day 1, Term 1 is the clearest example.

Monument delivered the Georges River College Peakhurst and Penshurst amenity and changeroom upgrades over the end-of-year holidays, and both were handed over on time for Day 1, Term 1. Work like that depends on scoping, ordering and planning before the break so construction runs straight through it. The method is in how works are delivered in the school holidays for a Day 1 Term 1 handover.

One programme across many sites

A programme can also cover many sites at once. Under Sydney Trains Refresh 5A in 2017, Monument refreshed seven rail stations in a single six-month programme, with every station open to the public throughout. How that kind of job is run is covered in delivering a multi-site works programme.

A programme kept up to date

A programme only helps if it is kept up to date. It is updated as the job moves, checked against the original plan and reported to the client along with any risk to the key dates.

When weather or an unexpected find puts a date at risk, the updated programme shows the effect and the plan to recover. That process is described in wet weather and programme recovery.

As principal contractor, Monument carries accountability for programme, quality and safety from start to finish.

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