The Owner's Representative Role

Project delivery continues to be a challenge to many of the world's resource and heavy industrial companies. The owner's representative role has been identified as one of the important means for an organization commissioning a project to improve the chances of project success. The owner's representative or team is a person or persons appointed by the owner's organisation to represent the owner's interests in a project. This work investigates the role, with reference to South African mining construction projects, specifically covering the responsibilities and characteristics of the owner's representative, the owner's organisation and project factors impacting on the role. The key message is that the project environment, specifically owner's organisation and project factors that may impact on the role, must be investigated before implementing the owner's representative role.