Wanli Works
Experience

The work we offer, already done.

Our team has delivered this work from the owner's, the consultant's and the contractor's side, in public and private organisations. These are examples of the experience we bring; they are not Wanli Works client engagements.

Owner-side control of a national housing portfolio

Saudi Arabia · Government housing and PPP

A national affordable-housing programme delivered through public–private partnerships needed control over private developers the owner did not directly manage: their approvals, sales, construction progress and handover.

  • Managed seven developments worth US$1.5 billion (9,210 residential units) from initiation and design through marketing, sales, construction and handover
  • Helped set up the programme PMO and its construction permit, sales licence, utilities, labour and action trackers
  • Helped design the PMO–developer interaction model, separating relationship management from project management and linking developer incentives to plan delivery
  • Coordinated master plan, design and cost approvals, building permits, sales licences, utility connections and title deeds
  • Managed developer incentive agreements, escrow-linked payments, pandemic cost impacts and price escalation
  • Reported portfolio performance to the chief executive and the minister, including gap analysis against annual targets and re-baselined programmes

One development was the first in the programme to hand over 100 units, and later the first to complete all of its units.

Enterprise PMO and sector policy for a housing authority

Saudi Arabia · Government housing

A national housing organisation needed one enterprise view of plans and performance, and its ministry wanted a stronger private development sector.

  • Helped roll out and operate an enterprise PMO governance framework and handbook
  • Supported the annual planning cycle across business sectors and subsidiaries, and the executive performance dashboard reviewed with the chief executive
  • Developed developer financing options, an international benchmark of how seven countries attract private developers, and an accreditation process for building-technology providers

Public-sector capital portfolio governance

Australia · Transport and local government

Australian public-sector capital portfolios need one forum for decisions, a fair way to rank projects against limited funding, and assurance that projects are ready before they move on.

  • Set up and ran a portfolio control group for a capital infrastructure portfolio, with decision papers, risk reviews and stage-gate requirements
  • Designed a weighted capital works prioritisation framework covering financial return, strategic alignment and community impact, and ran the annual prioritisation and budget cycle
  • Implemented a portfolio management system as the single source of truth, with monthly portfolio reporting to the executive leadership team
  • Ran assurance through stage gates, health checks and lessons-learned reviews, and raised systemic issues to enterprise portfolio committees
  • Built project manager capability through framework training and coaching

Commercial growth for a fit-out contractor

Saudi Arabia · Commercial fit-out and construction

A fit-out contractor needed commercial, estimating and engineering functions that could keep up with growth.

  • Set up the commercial, estimation and engineering functions from scratch
  • Delivered more than 140 contracts for international EPC, project management and cost consultancy firms acting as clients or client representatives
  • Projects included a national head office, government offices and fit-outs for international retail, hospitality and fitness brands
  • Led tendering, contract negotiation, variations and claims, and rolled out ERP and estimating systems

Revenue grew from US$2.6 million to US$37 million in four years.

Building and running a contracting business

Saudi Arabia · Construction

A civil, electro-mechanical and finishing contractor, built from the ground up by a foreign investor.

  • Grew the business to about 180 staff and revenue of about US$4 million a year
  • Delivered four six-storey residential buildings, electro-mechanical works for a five-star resort (US$3 million), government clinics, a police station and retail fit-outs
  • Held full accountability for delivery, financial governance, business development, subcontractor negotiation and site safety

Client-side project management of hospitality and public-realm developments

Saudi Arabia and Syria · Hospitality and public realm

Large hospitality and public-realm projects where the client needs one project manager controlling design, approvals, procurement and cost.

  • Client-side project manager on major mixed-use and public-realm developments in Riyadh, including a A$120 million public-realm project: front-end planning, tender packages and evaluation criteria, steering committee reporting, and stakeholder briefings on milestones and risks
  • Design project manager for a A$164 million five-star hotel (205 keys, 53,000 m²), including coordinating the redesign of MEP systems during construction
  • Managed design from concept to completion for an urban consultancy: chaired design coordination meetings, ran value-engineering workshops and prepared RFP and RFT documents
  • Quantity surveying and cost planning for A$259 million and A$55 million hotel and resort developments

Capital program assessment and governance for school infrastructure

Australia · Education

A government school capital program where many school-proposed projects must be assessed for scope, funding, risk and policy compliance before they move to delivery.

  • Assessing and coordinating a portfolio of school capital projects: scope, delivery pathway, funding, procurement, technical risk and policy compliance
  • Taking projects through business case assessment, pre-planning and transition to delivery, with school leaders, school councils, regional teams and technical specialists
  • Identifying and escalating risks such as contamination, asbestos, accessibility, approvals, latent conditions and cost escalation
  • Reviewing budgets, estimates and funding evidence to support value-for-money decisions
  • Building a portfolio dashboard that reconciled the program register with corporate systems and surfaced missing and inconsistent project records

Project delivery and contract administration in Australia

Australia · Residential and social housing

Renovation and upgrade projects, often in occupied buildings, where programme, cost and variations have to be tightly controlled.

  • Delivery of A$1.3–3.6 million renovation and upgrade projects for a state housing agency and private clients in Melbourne
  • Programmes, tender packages, subcontract scopes and procurement
  • RFIs, variations, extension-of-time claims and monthly cost reports under Australian standard contracts
  • Defects tracking and quality compliance through to handover

Talk to us about your portfolio

Tell us where control is slipping. We'll tell you what we would look at first.

Contact Wanli Works