This paper was presented at the session titled `Unique bridges: unique renewals in the public eye'. Environmental Assessment (EA) legislation has governed the delivery of transportation and other major infrastructure projects for over 25 years in some, if not all, parts of the country. The original common intent of these Acts, in the various Provinces, was to guarantee Public participation in the study at hand and to ensure that a wide range of alternatives was considered during the development of project concepts. It is acknowledged by most that these basic goals have been achieved to-date. The challenge, it seems, is to continue to seek out opportunities to fully involve the Public at key stages in the process, while maintaining control over the scope of the problem under consideration. Some proponents have even used the relatively prescriptive language of EA guidelines to limit focus of transportation projects and this has occasionally resulted in mismatched solutions to the problem. Value Planning is emerging as an enhanced Public consultation technique, which can successfully overcome this challenge. Value Management (VM, sometimes known as value analysis or value engineering) is a powerful decision-making tool that has traditionally been applied to the design and construction phases of transportation projects. In some cases the methodology has been misused as, or thought to be synonymous with, cost cutting techniques. The VM approach differs from other decision-making techniques, including the scientific method used in typical EA projects, by focusing on projects functions rather than project components. It is the common language used in VM that allows, rather than precludes, all participants - technical and non-technical alike - to fully participate in the planning process. Value Planning, a subset of VM, offers significant advantages, in terms of Public/Stakeholder buy-in and an improved focus on what the project must truly deliver to successfully address the identified problem statement. This paper provides an overview of the Value Planning approach and concludes with a presentation of a recent successful transportation case study, to demonstrate how Value Planning was utilised to obtain an early Public buy-in and to define the direction of the planning project. (A)
Samenvatting