Amogh N P
✦ In loving memory of Amogh N P — Architect · Designer · Visionary ✦
Wall-mounted building-services control panels in a clean, newly finished building interior — the systems that testing and commissioning proves before handover.
Unit VProject Management

Concept to Commissioning

Feasibility, regulatory strategy, EPC and handover.

≈ 45 min + studio task

Scheduling is the middle of a much longer story. Before a line is drawn comes the feasibility study; then real-estate and regulatory strategy (land, FSI, bye-laws, RERA, clearances), facility programming, and design management. The works may be delivered as EPC — one contractor for engineering, procurement and construction, turnkey — and it all ends in testing and commissioning, proving every system works before handover.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to — mapped to the course outcomes for Project Management:

1
CO5 · Understand

Explain the feasibility study and its technical, financial, legal and market dimensions.

2
CO5 · Understand

Describe real-estate and regulatory strategy — land, FSI, bye-laws, RERA, clearances.

3
CO5 · Understand

Explain facility programming, design management and the EPC delivery model.

4
CO6 · Understand

Sequence testing and commissioning through to handover.

Should we build at all?

Origination — feasibility to design

A feasibility study tests viability before commitment; the regulatory strategy clears the land and the envelope; and programming sets the brief that design management then delivers.[1, 2]

Feasibility — should we build at all? Technicalcan it be built? FinancialNPV · IRR · payback Legalland & use clear? Marketis there demand? Operationalcan it be run? Environmentalclearance? → Detailed Project Report (DPR) Feasibility is the cheapest place to kill a bad idea — before a single line is drawn.
DiagramA feasibility study tests a project through technical, financial, legal, market, operational and environmental lenses

Should we build at all?

A FEASIBILITY STUDY tests viability before money is committed across several lenses: TECHNICAL (can it be built on this site?), FINANCIAL/ECONOMIC (does it pay? — NPV, IRR, payback, benefit–cost ratio), LEGAL/REGULATORY (is the land clear and the use permitted?), MARKET (is there demand?), OPERATIONAL and ENVIRONMENTAL. In Indian practice its findings are consolidated into a DETAILED PROJECT REPORT (DPR). A project that fails feasibility should be stopped here — the cheapest place to kill a bad idea.[1, 2]

EPC to handover

Delivery & commissioning

EPC bundles engineering, procurement and construction under one turnkey contractor; testing and commissioning then proves every system against design intent before the building is formally handed over.[2, 3, 4]

EPC vs design-bid-build Design-bid-build (DBB) Designer Contractor two parties · owner bridges them EPC / turnkey One contractor Engineering · Procurement · Construction single point · lump-sum · fixed date EPC transfers maximum risk to the contractor and dominates Indian infrastructure — at a price premium.
DiagramDesign-bid-build splits design and construction; EPC bundles engineering, procurement and construction under one turnkey contractor

One contractor, fixed deal

EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) is a delivery model where ONE contractor takes responsibility for design engineering, procurement of materials/plant and construction — usually TURNKEY, at a fixed lump-sum price and fixed completion date ('LSTK'). It transfers maximum risk to the contractor and gives the owner single-point accountability and cost/time certainty, at a price premium. It dominates Indian infrastructure (power, highways, process plants). Contrast it with traditional DESIGN-BID-BUILD and with a PMC (project-management consultancy) running the owner's interests.[2, 3]

Concept → commissioning Feasibility ApprovalsRERA · FSI Programming Design + build Testing &commissioning Handover Scheduling (Units II–IV) is the middle of a much longer story that starts before design and ends only when every system is proven to work. The project ends when the building WORKS and is handed over — not when construction stops.
DiagramThe project life — feasibility, approvals, programming, design and build, testing and commissioning to handover
DBB vs EPC

At a glance

AspectDesign-bid-buildEPC / turnkey
Design responsibilityDBB: owner / consultantsEPC: the single contractor
Cost & time certaintyDBB: lower (variations likely)EPC: higher (lump-sum, fixed date)
Risk onDBB: sharedEPC: mostly the contractor
Owner's controlDBB: high (designs it)EPC: lower (cedes design)
Common forDBB: buildingsEPC: Indian infrastructure / plants
Vocabulary

Key terms

Feasibility study

A pre-commitment test of technical, financial, legal and market viability.

DPR

Detailed Project Report — the consolidated case for an (Indian) project.

RERA 2016

The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act — registration/regulation of sale projects.

Facility programming

Defining spatial/functional requirements (the brief) before design.

EPC / turnkey

One contractor for engineering, procurement and construction; fixed price/date.

Commissioning

Testing and proving every system works before formal handover.

Apply it

Studio task

Pick a real building near you (a mall, a hospital, an apartment block). Sketch its journey from concept to commissioning: what would its feasibility study have tested, which clearances and RERA steps it needed, whether EPC or design-bid-build suited it, and what systems its commissioning would have proven before opening. End with one sentence on why the project did not truly “finish” when construction stopped.

Check your understanding

Self-assessment

1. The CHEAPEST point to stop a non-viable project is —

2. In an EPC / turnkey contract, design responsibility sits with —

3. Commissioning a building means —

In a nutshell

Recap

Feasibility tests technical, financial, legal and market viability before commitment — consolidated into a DPR.
Regulatory strategy — land title, FSI/bye-laws, RERA, clearances — is sequenced early, alongside design.
Facility programming sets the brief before design; design management coordinates consultants and controls change.
EPC delivers engineering + procurement + construction under one contractor, turnkey and fixed-price.
Testing & commissioning proves every system works before handover — the project ends when the building works.
The evidence

References & further reading

  1. [1]K.K. Chitkara, Construction Project Management (McGraw Hill, India) — project life cycle, feasibility, design management.
  2. [2]Sam Kubba, Green Construction Project Management and Cost Oversight (Elsevier) — feasibility, delivery, commissioning.
  3. [3]FIDIC, Conditions of Contract for EPC/Turnkey Projects (Silver Book) — the EPC delivery model.
  4. [4]ASHRAE / CIBSE commissioning guidelines & NBC 2016 — systems testing, commissioning and handover.

Further reading

  • K.K. Chitkara — Construction Project Management.
  • Sam Kubba — Green Construction Project Management and Cost Oversight.
  • PMI — PMBOK Guide (project life cycle).

Sources gathered and fact-checked June 2026. Published values vary by source, sample and method — treat as indicative and confirm against the cited standard before structural use.