Scenario A

Coxton Civil Engineering (CCE) was founded over twenty years ago by Aaron Coxton. From
small beginnings, they have grown to be a successful, mid-sized firm with hundreds of
employees. For several years now they have competed for and won contracts to undertake
civil engineering work on a range of sizable infrastructure projects. These successes are
fuelling continued growth, including the recruitment of additional staff.

You are one of their recent recruits. You have been hired as a graduate Projects Officer. This
is an entry-level position into the world of commercial project management. In time, you
will be working on some significant civil engineering projects, supporting Coxton’s existing
project managers and project directors. As you develop, you are expected to take on more
responsibility until you are managing such projects yourself. However, a rather different
project task has just been given to you – planning a business trip.

As part of a recent review, CCE decided it was time to revisit their whole approach to
marketing and branding. To date, they have identified an initial long-list of potential
marketing agencies and, from these, come up with a short list of three who have been
invited to make detailed pitches for the CCE work. Coxton are looking to award an initial
three-year contract.

Aaron Coxton, Executive Chairman of CCE, wants to get a feel for each of these agencies –
he is keen to find one which is a good fit for, and will work well with, Coxton. So, rather than
inviting them to Coxton Head Office in Hull, it has been decided that he and the other senior
colleagues involved will instead visit each agency.

You have an opportunity to demonstrate your project management skills as you have been
tasked with planning and organising the transport and accommodation details required to
visit each of the three shortlisted agencies during one trip. Further details about the
requirements of this task are as follows -

1. Coxton staff required are: Rita Ali, Head of Corporate Services; James Leach, Finance
Director; Robert Dixon, Managing Director; and Aaron Coxton.
2. Date: all three visits to take place in one trip during the week commencing Monday
30th January 2023.
3. You are to arrange the transport and accommodation for this trip. The journey will
begin in Hull.
4. You have not been given a precise budget for this project. Instead, you are required
to plan and cost two alternatives – one has been described as “mid-priced” and the
other “higher-priced”. However, Aaron has stated “don’t go mad though, we’re not
paying for flashy £1000/night hotel suites”. So, please avoid budget hotels, but also

Page 1 of 2
 avoid some of the really expensive options which are available in London – the brief
requires you to include a ‘higher priced’ option, not an ‘extremely high priced’ one.
5. Aaron has decided that, having been away for three nights, he and his senior
colleagues will all head home after the end of their final agency meeting. This means
one of them travelling back to Hull, two more travelling to Brough and the fourth
travelling to York. You therefore need to take account of this within your transport
planning.
6. Arrangements have been made to see the first agency at 09.00 on Tuesday 31st
January so you need to arrange travel from Hull and accommodation overnight on
the 30th. The agency is based at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14
5AB.
7. The meeting with the second agency is arranged for 11am on Wednesday 1st
February. Their address is 3 Forbury Place, Forbury Road, Reading, RG1 3JH. The
senior team will need up to 4 hours in Reading from the start-time mentioned.
8. CCE are meeting with the third agency at 10am on Thursday 2nd February. Their
office is located at 40 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1JA. It is expected that the
senior team will have finished by approximately 12.30pm.
9. Whilst working with agencies to create this shortlist, an employee from one of them
mentioned that they would expect a client such as Coxton to benefit from a return of
at least four times the cost of hiring the agency. The senior team are slightly
sceptical about such claims. However, James did think it offered an opportunity to
allow you to demonstrate another project management skill, calculating the net
present value of future income. Since CCE are planning on a spend of £200,000 per
year over three years with their new agency, you are required to work out the net
present value of the expected return on this spend. Use the four times multiple and
an interest rate of 5% in your calculations. Assume that the savings are realised in
the same years as each £200,000 is expended. Since spend, and savings, are
suggested to begin straight away, you should therefore base your calculations on
years zero, one and two.

Please remember that scenario information is provided to enable students to produce a

report in which they respond effectively to the requirements set in the question. You
should therefore ensure that you refer to the criteria set and the additional detail in the
relevant marking guidance sheet. Both the assignment question and marking guidance
sheets are available in our Module Handbook which has been posted on Canvas.

Page 2 of 2