Aims:
The aims of the ‘joint project’ include to:

• further develop the students’ knowledge and understanding of their own discipline;
• further develop the students’ knowledge of other disciplines within the built environment;
• simulate a real-life development scheme and, in so doing , to allow students to experience the problems of undertaking such work and of working in a mullet-disciplinary team;
• further develop transferable skills such as the use of IT, presentational skills and management skills.

Resources:
The project is organised each year by a different programme team who will nominate a member of staff to co-ordinate the project. In addition s/he will be supported by a member of staff from each of the programme areas thus ensuring that the project is suitable for all students involved.

Details:
Planning starts at the beginning of the academic year with the selection of a suitable site, normally in Liverpool. Other areas have been used but there are time problems with students travelling any distance.Once a site has been selected the project team will develop a project brief which is then considered by each programme area.

Using a 'real' site enhances the simulation.

Once agreed other information will be prepared which will generally include the following:

• ‘Company Report and Accounts’ for the company that the students are assumed to be working for;
• Plans of site – usually these will be supplied in *.dwg format for use in CAD packages and also in a GIS format;
• A development brief;
• A schedule of tenancies and lease details;
• A project brief.

Students are organised into teams comprising at least one student from each discipline. During the running of the project each team is allocated a class room as a base-room

The project will run over a whole week usually in the second semester of the final year and will mean there will be no other classes run during that week. Part-time students are also expected to attend for the whole week.

Placing the site 'in context' helps students identify with the location.

The format of the project week is:

09.00 Monday – general project briefing. This covers the main administrative requirements of the project, especially the milestones for submission of work. Following the briefing the students are given an independent talk on the specific site, market conditions and general developments in the area. This recognises that time is short but would be omitted if the project could be done over longer period of time.

17.00 Monday – students to submit report on the organisation of their project team

17.00 Tuesday – students to submit effectively an outline planning application for their proposal

17.00 Thursday – project submission

09.00 Friday – project presentations.

Presentations are usually to the local Chairpersons of the professional bodies. In some years local developers or site owners may also be involved. The panel will act as ‘Board Members’ and will question the students on their presentations and proposals. The questioning session can be very challenging and thorough!

Within a week of the project being complete, a series of debriefing sessions will also held to evaluation each team’s performance.

Evaluation:
The project has worked well for many years now and students generally comment on how beneficial it has been to them. This feedback is supported by the responses from student questionnaires.

Feedback is also given to students by staff in the debriefing sessions as well as the panel after the Friday presentations.

Benefits:
The benefits of the programme to students is:

• further development of the knowledge of other professional disciplines;
• development of team based skills;
• ability to work under pressure within a very limited time scale;
• development of professional skills and knowledge.

Issues and lessons to be learnt:
The issue with any project which aims to be “realistic” is the requirement to start planning the next project site as soon as possible. The extent of the work needed to prepare is extensive and can be time consuming. Plan early and develop good local contacts to ensure continuity.

Ongoing Developments:
If possible the school would like to develop similar projects for first and second year students but at the present time we are constrained from doing so due to the lack of the staff resources to handle thee major projects (as well as all the other projects) and the difficulty in finding projects that could be handled by all students and which would not involve repetition for the students in subsequent years.