Ensuring the chosen delivery solution is in line with global best practice and local market capabilities.
On infrastructure projects, benchmarking involves using data from other projects to better inform project development and decision making. It’s critical as too often inaccurate estimates on capital and lifecycle cost and expected benefits can lead to unrealistic expectations and a failure to deliver desired outcomes.
Experience shows that consistent and effective benchmarking helps underpin government and industry decisions on project selection and delivery. It plays an important role across the entire project lifecycle but is particularly important at the start of the process, when incorrect or poor choices can derail a project’s chance of success. At this early stage, there is unavoidable uncertainty (on cost, carbon, schedule and expected outcomes) as the scope of the project is still being defined and
multiple options are being considered.
Benchmarking helps to provide an additional level of informed challenge and assurance during this critical phase, leveraging data and experience from previous projects.
We provide robust delivery benchmarking services that inform project development and decision-making on major infrastructure projects. By benchmarking against comparable projects, organisations can set realistic expectations and avoid the pitfalls of inaccurate estimates, which can derail capital, lifecycle cost projections, and expected benefits.
Our experience shows that consistent, data-driven benchmarking underpins both government and industry decisions on project selection and delivery. While benchmarking is valuable across the entire project lifecycle, it plays a critical role at the early stages, where uncertainties around cost, carbon footprint, timelines, and outcomes are
the greatest. In this phase, benchmarking helps mitigate risk by offering an informed, data-backed challenge and assurance process, ensuring that key decisions are
grounded in real-world insights.
Our benchmarking services are always tailored to the requirements of the project, sector, and client. We aim to uncover lessons learned, identify risks, and highlight opportunities that may otherwise be overlooked.
We conduct benchmarking in two focused phases: an initial desktop review of comparable projects, followedby targeted industry interviews to validate findings and
add practical, on-the-ground insights. Our support equips clients with a clearer path forward, enhancing project success from the outset.
Market sounding is a crucial exercise in the early stages of testing ideas for proposed delivery frameworks on infrastructure projects. It involves engaging with key stakeholders, including potential delivery partners, investors, regulators, and end-users, to gather feedback and assess the feasibility and viability of proposed project approaches.
Market sounding helps project sponsors and managers understand market dynamics, gauge interest, identify potential barriers or challenges, and refine their strategies accordingly.
The process of market sounding typically involves conducting structured interviews, workshops, surveys, or focus groups with relevant stakeholders. These engagements provide opportunities to explore different delivery options, solicit input on project requirements, constraints, and preferences, and gather insights on market conditions and trends. By actively listening to stakeholders’ perspectives and concerns, project teams can identify opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and risk mitigation, ultimately enhancing the project’s likelihood of success.
Critical success factors in market sounding include engaging a diverse range of stakeholders representing various perspectives and interests, ensuring confidentiality and trust in the information-sharing process, and maintaining open communication channels throughout. Additionally, effective facilitation and analysis of market sounding feedback are essential to distilling actionable insights and informing decision-making. By leveraging market sounding as a strategic tool, project teams can optimise their delivery frameworks, mitigate risks, and build consensus among stakeholders, ultimately laying a strong foundation for successful infrastructure project implementation.
We understand the critical role that market sounding plays in shaping successful infrastructure projects.
As an essential early-stage activity, market sounding helps project sponsors and managers test delivery frameworks by engaging with key stakeholders—such as potential delivery partners, investors, regulators, and end-users. This process allows teams to assess the feasibility of project approaches, gain market insights, and refine strategies before
moving forward.
By facilitating structured interviews, workshops, and surveys, we ensure that market dynamics are properly understood, potential barriers identified, and opportunities for collaboration and innovation explored. METAPHIC’s market sounding approach not only gauges interest but also uncovers valuable feedback that can mitigate risks and improve the project’s viability.
Our tailored market sounding exercises focus on drawing insights from a diverse range of stakeholders, fostering open communication, and ensuring confidentiality throughout the process. The feedback we gather enables project teams to align with market conditions, optimise delivery frameworks, and build stakeholder consensus—all key factors in securing successful outcomes.
With a proven track record in delivering structured and insightful market sounding exercises, we empower project teams to lay a strong foundation for successful infrastructure delivery, ensuring that strategies are both practical and informed by the broader market environment.
