Design and develop your provision
Once you have decided what you want to
do and considered the possibilities, you need to create a
plan.
A good plan will help focus your ideas,
facilitate access to funding, and act as a guide for future
development. Plans can also keep everyone involved up to date, and
let potential supporters know about what you intend to do.
Your plan should include a budget and
financial forecast with how much funding is needed to fulfil your
objectives – which will also be a requirement for funding
applications.
A sound project will have identified the
'critical path', the sequence and timing of the different actions,
activities and events that need to happen in the right order to
ensure that the project runs smoothly and to schedule. Before you
start, write down every activity and action that will or might
occur, and then try and put them into a sequence, with a sensible
time allowance for each activity, such as allowing suffiecient time
for deliveries to arrive or for concrete to set. Some activities
will happen at the same time as others but both might be crucial
for the right outcome.
If you are engaging a contractor, ask them to provide you with a
copy of their schedule, and don't forget to book essential services
such as an indepenent installation inspection several weeks in
advance. There's nothing more frustrating than completing all the
installation work and then having to keep the site closed closed
for days or weeks while you wait for it to be checked against the
recommended standards and guidance by a qualified and experienced
inspector.
This means:
- Creating a plan
- Budgeting and financial management
- Using good design principles
- Commissioning and building
- Finding funding