Project feasibility and commercial appraisal
Whether a project is worth doing, and what has to be true for it to work — assessed across sectors before capital is committed.
The four questions a bankable case answers
Sector context changes what the answers look like, not what has to be established. The appraisal is built around four questions that apply to any capital or operating decision.
- Is there demand that has been established, not assumed?
- Which customers, in which segments, buy this product or service today — from whom, at what delivered cost and to what specification.
- Can the operation actually deliver it?
- Process route, capability, capacity, the operating ramp and what has to be true for the plant or service to perform as the model assumes.
- Does the economics survive the ramp?
- Capital, operating cost, working capital and cash flow tested across the period before the project reaches steady state.
- Which assumptions decide the answer?
- The sensitivities that change the conclusion, and the evidence that would confirm or remove each one.
Scope of work
An analytical engagement. We assess, model and advise; design, engineering and formal assurance remain with the specialists appointed to provide them.
What you bring
- Existing studies, models and technical reports
- Cost quotations, supplier terms and volume data
- Customer, contract and order evidence where it exists
- Operating data from comparable activity, where available
- Management's own view of the proposition and its risks
What you receive
Depending on the agreed scope:
- Project definition and the decision it supports
- Demand, capability and cost evidence assessment
- Editable financial model with stated assumptions
- Sensitivity and scenario analysis on the decisive variables
- Feasibility report with a staged implementation roadmap
How the model is delivered
Every figure in the model is either sourced, assumed or calculated, and it says which. Assumptions are labelled and can be changed; calculations are transparent, so you can see how a change in one input moves the result rather than taking the output on trust.
How the work runs
Frame the decision
Agree the question the analysis must answer, the decision it informs and the date by which it is needed.
Gather and test evidence
Assemble what exists, separate evidence from assertion, and identify the gaps that matter.
Build the model
Construct the commercial case with every assumption stated, so it can be interrogated rather than accepted.
Test the sensitivities
Establish which variables decide the outcome and how much the conclusion depends on each.
Report and roadmap
Deliver the assessment, the model and the sequence of actions that follows from it.
What the appraisal looks like by sector
Illustrative examples of the work. They are not client engagements and describe no completed project.
Manufacturing
Testing whether a proposed production line has demand it can actually serve, and whether the case survives the utilisation ramp rather than only steady-state operation.
Hospitality & Tourism
Building a property case from the guest segment up — seasonality, channel mix, net room yield and the working capital the ramp requires.
Construction & Built Environment
Comparing options on whole-life cost and resource performance rather than capital cost alone, with the study period and functional requirement fixed first.
Recycling & Resource Recovery
Establishing what a facility would actually sell, as distinct from what it would collect, before capital is committed.
Selected industry applications
The sectors below are the ones whose own pages list this service in their support mapping. Each link goes to that sector's page, which sets out the decisions and the surrounding support. It is a selected set rather than an exhaustive boundary — the service can apply more widely than the hubs currently describe.
If you are still shaping the scope, the project scoping guide walks through the questions that make a brief usable. No email required.
Plastics & Packaging
Test the commercial case for a packaging project or capacity expansion against demand, material availability, operating costs and investment requirements.
View the Plastics & Packaging sectorFood & Beverage
Test demand, production assumptions, input costs and investment requirements for a new food or beverage project or expansion.
View the Food & Beverage sectorHospitality & Tourism
Assess demand, occupancy assumptions, operating costs and investment requirements for a hospitality project or expansion.
View the Hospitality sectorManufacturing
Test the commercial case for a new production project or expansion against demand, capacity, input availability and operating economics.
View the Manufacturing sectorConstruction & Built Environment
Assess the commercial case for a project or material-recovery investment, making demand, cost, phasing and operating assumptions explicit.
View the Construction sectorWhat this engagement does not include
- Engineering design, technical sign-off or specification of plant and equipment.
- Legal opinions, formal assurance, certification or accreditation of any kind.
- Food-safety certification or regulatory approval.
- Any guarantee of funding, finance or investment outcome.
- EPC contracting, construction management or delivery of physical works.
Where a project requires engineering, legal, assurance or delivery work, that work must be provided by appropriately qualified specialists under a separately agreed scope. Our role is the analytical work that informs the decision.