Investment and business case
A robust business case is central to achieving investible projects and goes a long way to securing the right outcomes.
It establishes agreement on objectives, identifies risks, and weighs costs: is the project good value when all the benefits are taken into account, or would it be better to invest in something else?
What can we do for you?
By bringing together all the strategic information that is key to success, a well-grounded business case can have a transformative effect on securing investment and delivering successful outcomes.
Our skills combine business case and multidisciplinary technical expertise. This means that the advice you’ll receive is informed by deep understanding of infrastructure and buildings across all sectors, and across the project lifecycle.
That whole-life project knowledge makes us different. It enables us to add value for you when deciding whether to invest. And it can help you win support from investors and lenders, regulators, and planning authorities — as well as your own staff, customers, and stakeholders.
Improved project performance
We help you take a holistic view of your long-term objectives and any external pressures, so that the chosen solution will achieve your desired outcomes.
Better value and reduced risk
Engaging stakeholders early can be critical to achieving smooth progress through the business case development and approvals process. By identifying all the key stakeholders and meeting them regularly, we ensure that proposals receive rigorous scrutiny, expert input, and critical analysis. The result is improved value for money and risk management.
Futureproofing
We futureproof business cases by taking upcoming or possible changes to legislation and regulation into consideration. We not only help you with compliance but also identify opportunities to enhance future project performance.
Environmental and social performance
We have in-house expertise and industry-leading tools spanning environment, nature and biodiversity, carbon emissions, climate resilience, social inclusion, and more — helping you protect against blind spots in your business case, reducing risk, and maximizing opportunity.
Building strong investment and business cases for global projects
We have a multidisciplinary skill set and draw on industry-leading guidance and approaches. We can help you to:
- Identify the need for a project by examining your drivers — the needs and expectations of your business and stakeholders.
- Prioritize projects for investment, weighing the benefits of a project against its costs to determine if it represents a sound investment.
- Undertake optioneering and project selection.
- Decide to proceed.
- Secure provisional funding approval, presenting the necessary evidence and providing project advocacy.
- Navigate statutory processes and detailed design.
- Ensure the objectives set out in the business case are realized through project delivery.
Our experience
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Cardiff Council’s 21st Century Schools and Education program, UKWe were the council’s strategic partner in bidding for two rounds of Welsh government funding for school building and improvement. We helped shape a portfolio of projects and worked with individual schools to maximize the value of investment.
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Leeds flood alleviation, UKWorking for Leeds City Council, we studied the social and economic impacts of flooding, paving the way for the second phase of the city’s defense program. We examined three levels of risk: 1:75-year flood, 1:100, and 1:200. We assessed the social and economic impacts of each on businesses, jobs, housing, tourism, transportation, critical telecommunications, and electricity infrastructure. We calculated that the benefits would be up to £775 million over ten years.
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Ontario Line, Toronto, CanadaWe were appointed in 2020 as part of the technical advisory team that has prepared the overall project for procurement. Our key inputs have included producing the business case for the line and developing reference design and technical requirements for the alignment, tunnels, stations, and track, as well as for a variety of other elements.
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Stadium for Cornwall, UKTruro City Football Club and the Cornish Pirates rugby union team each needed a new home in order to fulfill their aspirations of progressing to higher leagues. We developed the business case for Cornwall Council to construct a single stadium to house both of them, with costs and benefits shared by the local further education college and a community organization. The business case justified the council’s own investment and match funding by the UK government.
