What made you open a Project Management company in Ibiza?
“We change our behavior when the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of changing. Consequences give us the pain that motivates us to change.” I started as a property developer in Ibiza building luxury villas, designed in the old Ibizencan style. I reached the conclusion that the conventional building system is full of inherent problems. This drove me to search for Innovative solutions, I found a methodology called PMBOK (Project Management body of knowledge) *0, created by the PMI *1 (Project Management Institute), when I finished my studies I set up a company specializing in Project Management *2, as of today we have a great team of se- ven people including three architects a civil engineer all with a lot of experience, All our customers are allocated a Project manager with the PMI International certification.
Having started off as a Property developer what advantages are there in contracting a Project Manager?
We have had great results, a good Project Manager makes sure that everything goes according to plan, that things are done in the right moment, within the foreseen costs and resources, to reach the desired results, in an integrated way. According to a research carried out by the PMI (Project Mana- gement Institute) during 2014 *3 only 56% of projects were exe- cuted sucessfully, it also shows that projects that used a Project Manager who implemented the PMI methodology only had an average delay of 7 %, and the average cost overruns where only 5 %, compared to projects that used the conventional system, the average delay was a 32 %, and the cost overruns where a 30 %. 3* So if we where to look at the cost of a Project Manager as a separate investment its ROI (return on investment) would be 600 %, aside from the stated advantages, the project is fully under your control, avoiding chaos and FUD (fear uncertainty and doubt) or even worse MUBAR messed up beyond any recognition.
Can you name three notable improvements that you have achieved in your projects, and how do you know if your team is performing to the maximum of their capabilities?
We are delivering projects within the planned timeframe. The costs overruns average is 5%, and customers are very satisfied with the quality.
We have created an algorithm that allows us to do the planning, monitoring, and controling. Using this program, both the team and the client have access to a dashboard with weekly updated information, on the work progress, active and fulfilled goals, the added value, a comparison in between the budgeted cost and actual cost, and other information such as risk monitoring, quality of services and the performance of each worker on the project.
How do you know if what you’re delivering meets the quality standards, expected by your company, or the customer?
For each project, together with the customer we define acceptance criteria for each activity within the scope of the project. We create a parameter of acceptable margins of error; for example if we are talking about the floor, a parameter could be that the space in between the floor tiles can be no lesser than one millimeter nad no greater than two millimeters, All these detail are reflected in a document called the PM Plan, which is attached to the contract and is reffered to during the life cycle of the project. The builders or subcontractors are required to follow the guidelines outlined in the PM plan. This way we eliminate grey areas and leave everything clear during the planing process, resulting in customer satisfaction achieved by all his expecations being met. Customer satisfaction is incorporated into the strategic focus of the company via the mission statement. A team success fee is is tied directly to the customer satisfaction surveying program. We focus on the internal processes that lead to customer satisfaction, and we continually improve them.
Are you involved in any project that you see as a really big challenge?
We are developing the first urban cell in Brazil *4, it will have a population of about 15,000 inhabitants in an area of 50 hectares. The project was designed with two main objectives: safety and sustainability, as well as meeting all the needs of its inhabitants, it will be fully integrated with nature. “Only with a holistic overview of master planning can we improve the lives of its users.” We are integrating Intelligent Urbanism 5* with CPTED crime prevention through environmental design *6; the concept is that “the proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in crime, and an improvement in the quality of life”. This methodology has been implementing since the 60s, and the results are impressive with an average reduction in crime of a 70%.
What are the goals that your company wants to achieve?
“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Isaac Newton Our company has two main objectives, the first is to use as a basis the extensive knowledge evolved over time by the great minds and masters of this field, and integrate them in a way that enables us to eliminate recurring problems and replace them with solutions by combining innovative methodology with the cutting edge technology. The second most important goal for our company is to continue to evolve the concept of urban cells. To eliminate the problems that we have inherited in most urban ares in which we live, the objective is to create a healthy environment where we and our children and grand children can live a better life, an urban cell de- signed for the future, comprised mainly of pedestrian walkways and lanes for bicycles and small electric vehicles, areas with lots of vegetation and parks. Focusing on safety and sustainability, while eliminating the problems that plague our lives in cities; like noise, pollution, crime, traffic, parking, etc. We understand that cars will be around for some time to come, the concept however is that the urban cells will be connected by roads but can either be comprised of car-free spaces or only allow cars to reach the back of houses and comercial areas while eliminating the front street and replacing them with a tree-lined pedestrian lane, emphasis is placed on low-impact alternative travel such as walking and cycling.
How would you like Ibiza to develop on an urban and architectural level?
I propose the creation of a Master Plan for Ibiza for the next 30 years implementing Principles of Intelligent urbanism, (PIU) is a theory of urban planning composed of a set of axioms intended to guide the formulation (in this case) of the Island plans and urban designs. They are intended to reconcile and integrate diverse Island planning and management concerns. These axioms include environmental sustainability, heritage conservation, appropriate technology, infrastructure-efficiency, placemaking, Social Access,”, Island integration, human scale, and institutional integrity.
The Ten Axioms are the following:
1 Principle one: a balance with nature
2 Principle Two: a balance with tradition
3 Principle Three: use of appropriate technology
4 Principle Four: coexistence
5 Principle Five: Efficiency The principle of efficiency promotes a balance between consumption of resources such as water energy, time and fiscal re- sources.
6 Principle Six: the human scale is the promotion of sites designed for people, pedestrian areas and public domains where people can meet freely. These can be parks, gardens beaches, and places of unspoiled nature.
7 Principle Seven: matrix opportunity: Intelligent Urbanism looks at a territorial plan, not only as a physical plan but also as a social plan and an economic plan.
8 Principle Eight: the islands integration.
My vision is to create an online platform that enables us to invite qualified and licensed profesional who are specialized in the different fields that lie within the scope of Intelligent Urbanism, to share ideas and form groups. Each group would make a presentation to the public stakeholders and interested parties from Ibiza. The online platform would allow a system of participation by the Stakeholders in the preparation of the Master Plan. On- line and Public meetings would take place. Hearings of objections and transparent processes of addressing objections would be put in place, to promote Public Participation. This information would then serve as a feedback from the Stakeholders and Public to the groups of professionals who would then make the appropriate changes; this would be an ongoing process until we reach a consensus. The Process would continue during the life- cycle of the project to allow for flexibility in the face of changing circumstances and for the inclusion of new ideas and solutions to the problems we currently face and new ones that will arise.