ATOPCON sharpens members’ skills on expectations in project delivery

“Since consultancy service is about solution provision, clients’ expectations are expected to be high

“It is because of the anticipation that the expectations will be met that the client is paying fees.

“The nature of town planning service makes it mandatory that consultants consider the expectations of not only the clients with which it had contractual agreement, but the multiple non contractual parties.”

Those were the words of the Managing Director, MOA Planners Limited, Moses Ogunleye to the professionals under the auspices of the Association of Town Planning Consultants of Nigeria (ATOPCON), when they converged on Lagos for their Annual General Meeting at the weekend.

Speaking on the theme: Expectations from Town Planning Consultants in Project Delivery,” Ogunleye, who was the guest speaker at the forum, defined expectations as what the parties in a project are looking forward to.

He spoke on the expectant, the expectations, dynamics of expectations and options for managing expectations.

According to him,some expectations are obligatory, binding on the consultant town planner and the client, while non- obligatory expectations could be in public interest.

He listed expectations that are obligatory to include duty of diligence and care, representation capacity, declaration of interest, confidentiality of information, feedback and reporting, and warranty.

President of ATOPCON, MuyiwaAdelu, while welcoming members, said the annual general meeting has always provided a forum for evaluating the group’s accomplishments and opportunities to date aside from servings as a gathering place for town planning consultants from across the nation to discuss current issues and consider potential directions for the association and the profession.

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“I will be delighted if every consultant and guests here present today pay close attention to our speaker on what we anticipate from the government in granting development permits for proposed projects,” he said.

Former Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development in Lagos, Dr Idris Salako, said the theme of the forum arose from a careful needs assessment and gap analysis in the mode of operations of member firms.

“We have since realised the need to prioritise the identification of the desired outputs from the inception and initiation of projects,” he said.

Despite the fact that projects vary on a multilevel and multi-dynamic scale, Salako said that consulting town planners should be able to identify, streamline and measure the project deliverables from intangibles to the tangibles.

In discharging the town planning services, Ogunleye said the professional has the obligation to exercise reasonable skill, care and diligence.

“It is not expected that a registered town planner will subscribe to or make any statement or report which is contrary to his own bonafide professional opinions,” he said.

Besides, he added that the town planner has the right to act on behalf of the client in the matters set out or necessarily implied in the agreement, or any other document in project procedures.

According to him, the consultant town planner is bound to have some interests in certain projects or activities, saying that such interest should be declared in order to avoid conflict.

He said he the consultant is bound to act in such manner in conformity with the ethos of honesty, openness, and integrity.

‘The expectation of clients on feedback and reporting is usually very high. This is observed in town planning consultancies involving representation like procuring planning permit,  approval for layout plan and planning advocacy, which are dependent largely on government agencies,’ he said.

On non-obligatory expectations, he pointed out that, when acting in the public interest, the expectation was that a consultant town planner would meet and maintain high standards.

“The consultant is expected to act fearlessly, and impartially, when exercising professional judgement

‘To be fearless is tantamount to being impartial. A fearful consultant will not want to be heard, ever when his personality and business interests are at risk,” he said.

Beyond the agreement signed with a client organisation, he explained that the third party also required honesty and high level of integrity from a consultant.

‘Community well-being, planning and design should made safety and health of communities as paramount. Execution of contract should not compromise the wellbeing of a community inclusion,” he said.

Beyond the agreement signed with a client organisation, he explained that the third party also required honesty and high level of integrity from a consultant.

By the nature of the practice environment, he said the requirements on expectations on project delivery would continuously be in state of motion.

The nature or dimension of change in the expectations, according to him, have been influenced by many factors, stating that six of the factors remained principal components that could be deployed in explaining many others

‘Beyond the ones that are known, and plan could be made at managing them, some are in the realm of the unknown when unknown, they cannot be anticipated or predicted

On options to manage expectations, he enjoined every consulting firm to have a business strategy, saying they needed to be certain of the uncertainty.

He added that consulting town planning firm must be ready for competition

“Firms can attempt to gain some controls in the industry. The control can be through offering popular services in an unequalled manner. (This, however will be at a cost that may be burdensome for a young firm),’ he said.

Ogunleye also harped on specialisation, saying that when firms decided to specialise in service delivery, expectations would be exceedingly high, and diverse.

‘With specialisation, the firm could be taken by the client as a super specialist,” he said.

Ogunleye a former President of ATOPCON, said the core expectations of professionalism are integrity, probity and competence, saying firms must declare who they are, and what competence they have.

According to him, there should be clarity on nature of services that could be offered

He said: “Firms cannot and should not claim to have competence in areas where they are not trained or registered

“Some town planning consultancy organisations have claimed to have competencies in areas where they are not certified. This is not only debilitating to the profession, it is unethical.”