Martin Lekarapa (MPM graduate) and Dr Schalk Grobbelaar received the award for best paper in the proceedings of the recent ISEM2023 Conference for their study which focused on examining the difficulties in budget development for heritage building projects.

Project cost is an important performance consideration for new and maintenance building projects. However, due to the high uncertainty associated with heritage building projects, they tend to encounter a higher variability in cost. Thus, budgeting methods that include appropriate risk analysis may improve the likelihood of meeting project cost expectations. The Monte Carlo Method can be used for this purpose since it can provide a confidence level associated with a budget for a specific project. This study investigated the factors influencing project cost overruns, the methods used for preparing budgets and how professionals involved with heritage building restoration perceive the application of the Monte Carlo Method. The study was limited to a single organisation. Still, the findings illustrate that professionals perceive organisational factors to be influential in budget overruns and that even though the Monte Carlo Method is not widely utilised, it could possibly improve budget forecasting.

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