Introduction
Thisassignment is designed to test your understanding of appraisal techniques used to help clients make decisions about alternative design solutions. The tasks are specified and an explanation of what is required is provided, as well as an indication of the criteria that will be used when marking your assignment.
Tasks
You are employed by a consulting company and have been asked to present a report in relation to alternative window specifications for a local authority in a poor neighbourhood in London characterised by a high level of crime and burglary. The purpose of this report is to allow the local authority to make an informed decision about choice of windows for their housing projects. The report should have the following sections:
1 An introduction
Need a brief explanation of the brief relating to what you were asked to do to provide the context for the report.
2 Whole life cost comparison
Compare the whole life/ life cycle costs of alternative window specifications,
assuming a 60-year life cycle and using an appropriate discount rate. You should choose three completely different windows for your evaluation. All windows should meet minimum performance requirements. These requirements and assumptions must be clearly stated in your report.
3 Multi-criteria assessment
As a consultant to the local authority, explain and demonstrate numerically how you would make your selection for the most suitable window from three different types of windows using at least five distinct and relevant performance criteria. You are asked to develop a list of criteria and attempt to score each specification against the criteria to arrive at a total performance score for each design option/specification. A brief explanation of the criteria used, weighting and scoring system must also be provided.
4 Conclusion and discussion of approaches used
The final section of your report should summarise your findings, but also highlight any difficulties that you experienced in undertaking this comparison and the limitations in relation to the techniques used that you feel your employer should be aware of. This section should draw on what you have read about these approaches and your own experience in using these approaches.
5 Annex
List the sources that you have used, identify the information that has come from the sources and how you have used this data to arrive at the figures presented in the report. There is a need for a clear “audit trail” in, order to asses your report. Please do not include a stack of brochures and photocopies of every source you have consulted.
Assessment Criteria
The report is to be word-processed and should be written in report style. It will be assessed in relation to the following criteria (marking allocation shown in brackets):
• Introduction: brief context and background to the report; clear aim and objectives of the report (10%)
• Life cycle cost study: choice of windows; clear and appropriate statement of minimum performance; appropriateness of assumptions; appropriate and justified choice of discount rate; inclusion of relevant costs; and correct use of technique (35%)
• Multi-criteria evaluation to determine performance score: appropriate criteria and clear description of each criterion; appropriateness of weighting and scoring (20%)
• Conclusion and discussion: appropriate conclusion for the report; concise clear summary of findings; well-informed discussion or reflection on the difficulties and limitations of the techniques (10%)
• Report presentation: style and format; clarity in communication through tables and text, spellings and use of English (10%)
• Annex: evidence of the thoroughness of your research for data (but not the quantity of documentation that you have accumulated); appropriate use of the data; support for the figures included in your report (15%)