Services

Project Advice & Support

At whatever stage of your project, whether at the earliest inception phase, mid project through to  project review stage we are able to provide advice, support and mentoring packages to meet your requirements.

Developing sound initial concepts and putting together the right teams are vital to project success - we can help you do this at the outset.

Circumstances may often change part way through a project which may jeopardise critical outcomes - we have the expertise to help you review and support evolving to such change.

Meaningful project review is an important discipline which is commonly overlooked or not prioritised- we have a track record of helping clients carry out successful reviews and ensuring key lessons are truly learned.

Project Management

Craigerne Consulting offer a bespoke project management service for heritage sector, visitor attraction, and conservation projects. With a wealth of previous experience of successful and award winning projects to draw from, your project will be effectively planned and managed to deliver the outcomes that matter to you.

Success comes from developing the most appropriate project strategy in each case, combined with detailed planning and a full understanding of your requirements, the project constraints and the interests of all stakeholders. The approach is built on knowledge of the heritage significance of the assets involved, sitting these alongside your business and commercial needs.

A tailored and flexible service is offered at each project stage, where the clients’ interests are always to the fore, project risks are reduced and consistent controls put in place to ensure objectives are achieved and expectations surpassed.

Conservation Management

We advocate working to well established and accepted conservation principles, which underpin good conservation management of your project and set the foundation for on-going sustainable best practice in the care of heritage assets. Key to this is a comprehensive, holistic understanding of the heritage significance whether this is built, natural, or cultural significance and in many cases a combination of all of these.

We can offer clients a range of support across all project stages from general advice and direction at project inception to the commissioning/writing of Statements of Significance, Conservation Management Plans and Heritage Impact Assessments required to secure Statutory consents and Heritage Grants.

Visitor Attraction Management

Craigerne Consulting’s Director, David McAllister, was a member of the National Trust for Scotland Senior Management Team for seven years, accountable for both operational and conservation activities within its South Region. He has the experience of managing an extensive portfolio of highly significant heritage assets in a climate of considerable change and challenging visitor attraction market. In this time he transformed what was the least well performing Region to the best across all key performance indicators.

This unique combination of experience makes David a considerable asset for the planning and execution of successful projects in the sector. There is an often-quoted misconception that best conservation practice is incompatible with the commercial imperatives of income generation, managing for visitors and making heritage a sustainable business. Again this is something that we will consistently challenge and we passionately believe that one without the other is neither what you want nor what you need. We have a wealth of experience in achieving both, and recognition through major awards for conservation and excellence in tourism and visitor services.

Managing Multi-disciplinary Teams and cross Functional Team Building

It is perhaps obvious to state the need for members of different professional groups to work together effectively for heritage projects to be successful. It is in practice harder to achieve however, and certainly cannot be taken for granted. The team you need to deliver your project all have expertise in their individual fields, will work to different professional standards and have differing priorities.  Sometimes this can lead to conflicting advice and seemingly irreconcilable differences.

This is where Craigerne Consulting can make all the difference in assembling and then effectively managing the team to challenge traditional professional boundaries and focus on the delivery of excellence across all project areas.

‘If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail’

Benjamin Franklin

Project Planning

Too often project planning is ignored in favour of getting on with the work. However, many people fail to realise the essential value of a project plan for saving time, money and potentially catastrophic problems. Clients face many challenges when undertaking projects so it is vital to understand these across all aspects of the operation or business. The key to a successful project therefore is in the planning, so creating your project plan is the first thing we will do with you when you commission Craigerne Consulting.

This Project Plan need not be over complex and there are a few simple steps in the process that follow from one to the next:

  • Step1. Setting the project Goals and Objectives to meet the requirements of all stakeholders
  • Step 2. Establish the project Outcomes based on the Objectives
  • Step 3. Develop the project Schedule
  • Step 4. Develop the supporting Plans, such as Project Execution Plan, Business Plan, Activity Plan etc. including resources, communications and project risks

With this in place essentially we will have the necessary toolkit to take your project forward and begin to:

  • Put together the most effective team to deliver on budget, on time and to the standards required.
  • Develop the most appropriate and creative project solutions aligned to operational and business needs.
  • Develop strategies to reduce/eliminate disruption to the existing business.
  • Ensure internal governance and approvals process is understood and the obtaining of statutory approvals is achieved.

Stakeholder Management

We work with Clients to design and implement a plan to engage with project stakeholders- the individuals or groups with an interest in the project because they are either involved in the work and/or affected by the outcomes.

Typically projects will have a variety of stakeholders with different, and sometimes competing, interests. It is important to recognise that stakeholders can be supportive or unsupportive and these individuals and groups can have significant influence over the eventual success of the project.

We use a set of techniques that harnesses the positive influences and minimises the effect of the negative influences. Each stakeholder will then be classified according to potential impact. Those with an ability to directly affect the outputs or benefits are sometimes referred to as key stakeholders.

This is a vital activity, even on the smallest of projects. Using simple procedures and investing a modest effort, can make a big difference to the eventual success of the project simply by understanding the stakeholders and what they want.