Steps Within Each Phase

STRATEGIC PHASE — WHY?

Determine the need and investment direction.

The Strategic Phase establishes the organizational reason for considering an initiative.  It begins before a building, site, lease, renovation, or capital project is assumed to be the answer. The objective is to understand organizational strategy, future needs, priorities, existing assets, and investment capacity sufficiently to determine whether action is warranted.

1. Organizational Strategy

Connect organizational objectives to potential capital and real estate needs.

Explore:

Mission, vision, values, and strategic objectives

Business strategy and operating priorities

Growth, contraction, consolidation, and transformation

Changes in workforce, customers, services, and operations

Future operating models

Technology, digital transformation, AI, and automation

Organizational opportunities, problems, and constraints

Key Question: What organizational objective or problem are we trying to address?

Typical Outcome: A clearly articulated organizational need or opportunity.

2. Strategic Planning

Translate organizational strategy into potential facility, workplace, infrastructure, and capital requirements.

Strategic planning explores future demand and identifies what may need to change to support organizational objectives.

Consider:

Strategic drivers

Business needs and opportunities

Planning assumptions

Future demand

Operations and workflows

Capacity requirements

Strategic priorities

Preliminary scenarios

Decision criteria

Dependencies and constraints

Planning horizons

This phase asks important questions before a physical solution is selected: Do we need additional capacity? Can existing assets meet future needs?Should operations be consolidated or decentralized? Could technology or changes in operating processes reduce the need for physical space?Should we invest, defer, or do nothing?

Key Question: What needs to change to support the organization’s strategy?

3. Portfolio & Financial Planning

Determine how the initiative fits within the broader portfolio and the owner’s financial capacity.

Portfolio Planning

Evaluate:

Existing assets

Utilization and capacity

Asset condition and performance

Underutilized or obsolete facilities

Future demand

Portfolio gaps

Consolidation, expansion, relocation, renovation, and disposition alternatives

Capital priorities

Financial Planning

Evaluate:

Preliminary capital requirements

Order-of-magnitude costs

Funding capacity and sources

Investment scenarios

Affordability

Return and organizational value

Financial risks

Preliminary business-case assumptions

This analysis can lead to fundamental choices:

INVEST OR DO NOTHING? BUILD OR RENOVATE?LEASE OR OWN? CONSOLIDATE OR RELOCATE?

Strategic Decision

SHOULD WE PROCEED? If a real estate decision is not required, the initiative may move directly into Project Definition. If a location, property, acquisition, or lease decision is required, the process continues into the Real Estate Phase.

REAL ESTATE PHASE — WHERE?

Identify the best location and real estate solution.

The Real Estate Phase determines the location and property solution that best supports the organization’s strategic, operational, financial, and project requirements.

Not every initiative requires this phase. When real estate is involved, however, location and property decisions can have long-term consequences for cost, operations, workforce, customers, flexibility, and organizational performance.

4. Real Estate Strategy

Translate organizational and operational requirements into a real estate strategy.

Define:

Geographic requirements

Location characteristics

Access and transportation needs

Workforce and customer considerations

Market constraints

Space and property requirements

Lease-versus-own considerations

New construction, renovation, acquisition, and reuse alternatives

Financial parameters

Property-selection criteria

Long-term flexibility

Alignment with portfolio strategy

Typical Outcome:An approved real estate strategy and property-selection framework.

5. Site / Property Selection & Transaction

Move systematically from requirements to a selected and secured property solution.

The process may include:

Establish Requirements: Define the property type, size, capacity, geography, infrastructure, environmental expectations, schedule, and financial parameters.

Establish Selection Criteria: Develop measurable criteria for location, cost, accessibility, transportation, utilities, capacity, zoning, entitlements, risk, schedule, and future flexibility.

Analyze the Market: Understand availability, pricing, development trends, competitive demand, timing, opportunities, and constraints.

Identify Candidate Properties: Develop and document an appropriate range of alternatives.

Analyze Alternatives: Evaluate physical, financial, operational, workforce, community, infrastructure, schedule, and risk implications.

Shortlist Alternatives: Screen and score the strongest candidates using agreed evaluation criteria.

Conduct Due Diligence: Investigate property condition, title, survey, zoning, entitlements, environmental conditions, utilities, infrastructure, access, easements, restrictions, code issues, financial obligations, and legal constraints.

Evaluate Final Alternatives: Compare strategic alignment, total occupancy cost, capital requirements, operational effectiveness, risk, schedule, and long-term flexibility.

Select the Preferred Property: Document the basis for selection and obtain authorization to proceed.

Negotiate and Execute the Transaction: Complete legal review, negotiations, contingencies, approvals, and transaction documents.

Real Estate Decision

WHERE SHOULD WE INVEST?

Typical Outcome: RIGHT LOCATION / SOLUTION

A real estate solution that supports organizational needs today and into the future.

PROJECT DEFINITION PHASE — WHAT?

Define the project before committing to design and delivery.

Once the strategic basis for action—and, when required, the real estate solution—has been established, the initiative moves into Project Definition. The objective is to define the project sufficiently for the owner to understand: What is being authorized? What should it accomplish?What will it include? What should it cost?How long should it take? How will it be delivered?What risks remain? Is it feasible?

These questions form the foundation of Project Definition.

6. Project Organization & Governance

Establish how the project will be organized, governed, and managed.

Define:

Project governance

Owner organization

Project charter

Decision-makers

Stakeholders

Roles and responsibilities

Decision rights

Project committees

Reporting relationships

Approval processes

Communication protocols

Owner resources

Advisors and consultants

Information-management procedures

Typical Outcome: CLEAR GOVERNANCE

The right people, roles, responsibilities, and decision processes are established before major commitments are made.

7. Programming & Project Definition

Define what the owner, users, operators, and stakeholders require from the project.

Understand Users and Operations

Identify users and stakeholders

Understand current operations

Document workflows and processes

Identify operational problems

Explore future operating models

Consider technology and automation

Identify organizational change

Define Goals and Requirements

Project goals

Measurable objectives

Owner requirements

User requirements

Operational requirements

Functional requirements

Technical requirements

Regulatory requirements

Establish Standards and Performance Requirements

Space and workplace standards

Performance criteria

Sustainability

Resilience

Security

Flexibility

Adaptability

Quantify Needs

Staffing

Utilization

Space requirements

Area programs

Equipment

Support spaces

Adjacencies

Functional relationships

Develop and Test Alternatives

Compare different operational, programmatic, capacity, renovation, new construction, phasing, and expansion scenarios.

Define SuccessEstablish measurable criteria that can later determine whether the project achieved its intended outcomes.

Typical Outcome: CLEAR REQUIREMENTS

Well-defined needs, scope, performance expectations, and success metrics.

8. Scope, Schedule & Budget

Convert requirements into an executable project framework.

Scope

Define:

Project boundaries

Included and excluded work

Major project components

Quality expectations

Owner-furnished items

Phasing

Enabling projects

Dependencies

Schedule

Establish:

Major milestones

Approvals

Design duration

Procurement duration

Construction duration

Long-lead requirements

Occupancy and transition

Phasing

Overall project timeline

Budget

Develop:

Order-of-magnitude cost estimates

Project cost model

Construction costs

Soft costs

Owner costs

Escalation

Contingencies

Financing impacts

Most importantly, reconcile:

SCOPE + SCHEDULE + BUDGET + QUALITY

Typical Outcome: FEASIBLE PROGRAM OF REQUIREMENTS

A viable investment with transparent costs and value.

9. Delivery & Procurement Strategy

Determine how the project should be organized, procured, and delivered.

Evaluate appropriate delivery approaches based on:

Cost

Schedule

Risk

Owner control

Collaboration

Market conditions

Project complexity

Delivery alternatives may include: 

Design-bid-build,

Construction management,

Design-build,

Integrated approaches,and

Other owner-specific models.

Develop the procurement approach:

RFQ/RFP strategy

Evaluation criteria

Selection procedures

Interviews

Contracting approach

Select appropriate:

Consultants

Designers

Specialists

Contractors

Other project participants

Clearly allocate:

Responsibilities

Risk ownership

Accountability

Contractual requirements

Typical Outcome: MANAGEABLE RISK

Key risks and responsibilities are understood, allocated, and supported by mitigation strategies.

10. Feasibility & Business Case Confirmation

Test the project one final time before authorization.

Strategic Predesign should not simply validate a project that has already been assumed. It should provide enough information for the owner to determine whether the project should proceed at all. The “do nothing” alternative should remain available when appropriate.

Test Feasibility

Evaluate:

Technical feasibility

Operational feasibility

Financial feasibility

Schedule feasibility

Regulatory feasibility

Organizational feasibility

Confirm the Business Case

Update assumptions using the increasingly reliable information developed throughout predesign.

Confirm:

Strategic value

Organizational benefit

Capital requirements

Operating impacts

Financial return or value

Funding

Risk

Timing

Identify Remaining Risk:  Document unresolved issues and determine whether the remaining uncertainty is acceptable.

Review Alternatives: Confirm that appropriate alternatives have been considered—including, where relevant, modifying, deferring, or not proceeding with the project.

Prepare the Recommendation: Bring together:

Evidence + Analysis + Alternatives + Costs + Benefits + Risks + Requirements + Implementation Strategy

OWNER AUTHORIZATION

SHOULD WE PROCEED?

Strategic Predesign culminates in an explicit owner decision.

The owner may choose to:

Authorize the project

Authorize it with conditions

Modify the project

Defer the project

Request additional analysis

Select another alternative

Decide not to proceed

This distinction is important. A project does not simply emerge from predesign as a collection of requirements. It emerges as an authorized investment decision. That concept is directly reflected in your working document.

CROSS-CUTTING CONSIDERATIONS

Disciplines that strengthen every phase.

Six considerations operate across the entire Strategic Predesign process rather than as isolated steps.

Risk Management

Identify, assess, mitigate, and track risk throughout the process.

Stakeholder Engagement

Engage the right people at the right time.

Data & Analytics

Use evidence, benchmarks, research, and market intelligence to inform decisions.

Sustainability & Resilience

Integrate environmental, social, operational, and governance considerations into decision-making.

Communication

Maintain clarity, transparency, documentation, and alignment throughout the process.

Decision Points

Use structured reviews and approvals at key milestones.

THE RESULT

Better decisions before major commitments are made.

A successful Strategic Predesign process produces a project that is:

STRATEGICALLY ALIGNED

Supports organizational objectives and priorities.

RIGHT LOCATION / SOLUTION

Provides an appropriate real estate solution for today and the future.

FINANCIALLY SOUND

Represents a viable investment with transparent costs and value.

CLEARLY DEFINED

Establishes understandable scope, requirements, performance expectations, and success measures.

MANAGEABLE RISK

Identifies major uncertainties and establishes appropriate mitigation strategies.

WELL-INFORMED, ALIGNED & AUTHORIZED

Provides the owner with the information and organizational alignment needed to make a responsible investment decision.

READY TO PROCEED

Authorized to move into design and delivery.

The outcome language above follows the six results identified in your working document.

WHAT MAKES STRATEGIC PREDESIGN DIFFERENT?

Predesign is sometimes described simply as the activities that occur before design.

Strategic Predesign is broader.

It connects organizational strategy, business needs, real estate, programming, financial analysis, project definition, risk, and implementation planning into a coherent owner decision-making process. It helps organizations avoid beginning with the question:

“What should we build?”

and instead begin with:

“What are we trying to accomplish—and what is the best course of action?”

Strategic Predesign is the owner’s decision-making process for determining whether, where, what, and how to invest before committing significant capital.

Explore Further: Predesign Services & Activities · Methods & Tools · Digital & AI-Enabled Predesign · Case Studies · Future of Predesign