Choosing innovation

SPM consulting’s experience extends across all areas of infrastructure and major projects, providing highly specialized services with an elevated added value.

SPM consulting, initially called Intercons International consulting, was established in 1983. It specialized in design and feasibility studies, offering its planning services to the transport and public construction sectors, both on a national and international scale. A strategic choice was made in 1994, in order to cope with the complexity of large building sites and because of the global availability of more powerful IT resources. Since then, the company has been developing Projectmate, the first IT platform specifically designed for managing large engineering projects.

Projectmate

Projectmate was launched when supervision of the construction of the Bologna-Florence high-speed railway line started – a complex job lasting several years, requiring significant integration and cooperation, and which has so far produced a considerable amount of documentation. The platform has been refined based on the quality of what has been achieved in this and in a number of other job orders. Corporate performance has also improved accordingly, and in so far as part of a process enhancing both corporate culture and the expertise offered to clients. A new version of Projectmate 2.0, a new version of our IT platform, is currently being developed; it will provide more functions and a completely new design. Its release is scheduled in November, 2009 and will be previewed at the SAIE exhibition in Bologna, from 28th to 31st October.

Expertise in transport

Transport infrastructure is the sector SPM consulting chiefly operates in, its main areas of activity being rail (besides the Florence-Bologna railway, significant projects include the Turin-Novara high-speed line and the new Brennero tunnel), road (the Salerno-Reggio Calabria and Bre.be.mi motorways), public transport (Line 5 of the Milan underground and the Brescia Metrobus), air transport (Bologna airport enlargement) and port infrastructure. In this sector, more than in any other, the factors contributing to the complexity of a project, both inherent and extrinsic, are particularly relevant, thus making professional consultancy all the more valuable - especially when the company that offers it can provide targeted, specialized interventions and contribute to the overall management of the project, developing a comprehensive, in-depth view where details are mastered and understanding is never overwhelmed.

Managing the territory

Those strategic skills work also in other sectors in which the demand for innovation and process control is growing. Water infrastructures are a current example: they require a strong ability to identify effective status, actual performance and future interventions, while maintenance and construction may benefit from the introduction of state-of-the-art approaches. SPM consulting has a strong track record also in civil construction and urban planning, not to mention the [health and] safety supervision of Rome and Milan exhibition centres. Focusing on the interaction between a project and its territory is here, too, the key to sustainable, effective development.