Contents
Study reports present the complete technical, commercial and environmental case for a project at the appropriate level of detail for the project phase.
A study report will typically cover a project’s:
- Business case – market analysis, economic benefit or impact, commercial models considered, revenue expectations, potential investors, contracting strategies;
- Physical context – geography, topology, geology, water, weather, climate;
- Land & tenure – Current land use and ownership, acquisition strategy, cessation of current use and pathway for transition to different land use, general approvals pathway (e.g. State vs Federal);
- Ecology – flora and fauna, endangered, threatened or vulnerable species present;
- Human factors – stakeholder engagement, cultural heritage;
- Basis of design – an overview of the design process and options considered;
- Facility description – a description of the completed facility based on the preferred options, including the mine plan for mining projects;
- Connecting to the market:
- For an electricity project, the general physical context of the Project, e.g. the regional transmission and distribution network, the transmission network service provider, the regulatory framework, the connection process, connection options considered;
- For a mining project, beneficiation options considered, the selected sale products, outbound supply chain for minerals, e.g. rail, road, sea;
- Project execution plan – an outline of the project execution plan and the process for its development (see below);
- Operations – the Project’s operating model, e.g. operating and maintenance strategies considered in the design, environmental obligations;
- Schedule – the basis of schedule and key milestones for the Project; and
- Cost estimate – the basis of cost estimate and calculation of contingency.
A study report is cross-disciplinary and will draw from the work of multiple consultants, particularly environmental and engineering. It is usually informed by multiple secondary studies, surveys and investigations such as geological, geotechnical, ecological, groundwater and surface water, social, cultural heritage, market and economic, and by a prefeasibility or feasibility design process. All these investigations need to be reflected in the study report.
Report length and density vary, but a feasibility report can easily run 700 to 900+ pages (200,000 to 300,000 words plus graphics) and take a year or more to produce. A realistic estimate for building a feasibility report for a major project is 1,300 to 1,500 person-hours (on top of the secondary studies).
Reports and information supplied by subconsultants are generally provided in their own house style, with little scope for customisation.
It is important, however, for a study report to be presented with a consistent ‘voice’ and style. Part of Corvative’s role is to establish that voice, and ensure that the final study report is clear, concise, and appropriate for its expected audience. This includes:
- Creating a study dictionary, including definitions used, and styling conventions such as spelling, capitalisation and hyphenation;
- Setting a master style or preferred style guide if the organisation does not have its own, e.g. the Australian Government Style Manual, the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, the Chicago Manual of Style;
- Setting tone, e.g., formal, informal, authoritiative, optimistic, neutral, tentative;
- Setting assumed prior knowledge (the level of explanation required), e.g. none, casual, informed, expert;
- Creating a citation database for consistent attribution throughout;
- Setting up the filing structure and the collaborative environment for documents worked on by multiple authors; and
- Developing and implementing tools for consistency checking and quality assurance.
