Auckland City Facilities Partnership Scheme
Good practice lessons
Architectural capture
When a club, society or school begins planning a project, architects play a key role in helping them develop the vision. The projects are often very exciting and can blow out into a grand scheme at this conceptual stage. The problem is that once a scheme of a particular scale and nature has been floated, people begin to get attached to it. If it has already been made public, they may find it difficult to downsize plans, even if the scope of the scheme has become impractical, or the cost unrealistically high.
There are two lessons here. Firstly, expectations need to be managed, and it cannot be too clearly stated that it is unwise to finalise plans before getting advice and finding a solution to how they will be funded.
Secondly, an architectural firm’s interests and perspective on construction may not always align with the limited financial means of a community development.
Expectations
Volunteers involved in planning infrastructure development for clubs and schools often have very little experience working on large projects. Sometimes this inexperience can mean that the organisation has unrealistic expectations regarding budgets, timings, and what is realistic.
It is important to communicate early on with the council who are prospective project partners and who are experienced in dealing with these types of issues. It is not in the council’s interest to downsize a community project for the sake of it. Rather, the council aims to ensure that community projects are realistic and can be completed within timeframes and budget (and without the council having to bail out the project, which is something that used to happen often).
Fundraising plans – keeping costs, timings and estimates realistic
Leigh Redshaw, Manager Partnerships and Funding Auckland City Council, has this advice “The most typical problems we strike in fundraising planning is that organisations and individuals underestimate the time it takes to fundraise. This becomes evident when their fundraising plans are submitted. The plan, which is part of the applications process, is supposed to demonstrate a well-researched, sound understanding of the grants process, the building application process and council processes. Overall, this provides a good indication early on of how realistic their project planning is”. Generally, most organisations grossly underestimate the amount of time all the various parts of projects will take, from fundraising, to finalising plans, to obtaining consents.
The number of projects supported under the scheme continues to grow, as does the strength of the partnerships between the council and the wider community. To learn more about the Auckland City Council Facility Partnership Scheme, please contact Leigh Redshaw, Manager - Partnerships and Funding at Auckland City Council
leigh.redshaw@aucklandcity.govt.nz (09-3074538).
Updated | 21 Feb 2008.
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