Park Profile
Turning dreams into reality
nFusion is an independent project management firm specialising in the delivery of cultural and entertainment destinations. Park World editor Becci Knowles speaks to managing director Martin Zurauskas to find out more about the journey to opening day.
What is your background in the industry? Having trained as an architect at the university of Adelaide my career in the entertainment and leisure destinations industry began over 30 years ago. While a lead consultant project manager at
WATG, I was responsible for managing the design completion and construction of LEGOLAND Windsor in the UK, right through to opening. I went on to lead the development of
LEGOLAND Parks handling site selection, feasibility, project delivery strategy, design, and construction as the vice president of development at LEGOLAND Global Family Attractions. In that role, I also established the in-house design and project management teams responsible for the delivery of parks and brand retail stores. Over the past several years as a project management consultant for themed destinations, I have led teams responsible for attractions development in locations spanning over thirteen countries, with brands and developers such as Marvel Studios, Paramount, Dubai Holding, Danjaq, KidZania, Mubadala, Nickelodeon, MGM, Meraas Holding, Ocean Park, TDIC, Cartoon Network, Lotte, London Resort Holdings, MTR Hong Kong, Gems Education among others.
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I understand that many projects never come to completion, why is this and how does nFusion’s ‘big picture perspective’, ensure a project’s success? A common stumbling block is that developers do
not take all necessary steps to determine that a project is feasible before spending high amounts of capital on developing a creative vision and producing beautiful renderings. Developers and other stakeholders can get into
the trap of falling deeply in love with a particular vision for a project and the idea of making the project grander, bigger, and better than anything else out there – which is essentially impossible, especially if they are not one of the top handful of major players in the industry. This ‘love’ blinds them to holistic thinking, making
it difficult to scale the development to a particular site, demographics, and demand. Developers can end up investing all of their time and money into what sits on top of the dirt, and not what is below the dirt. This error can result in rapid project failure. To combat this risk, the creative must be carefully
and realistically framed for the location and budget of the stakeholders.
Our team’s backgrounds in traditional and specialty design and construction, combined with real-world knowledge of what it takes to deliver a project, are a critical tool in achieving success for our clients. By taking a ‘big picture perspective,’ we help our
clients reach delivery by ensuring critical elements of planning, design, implementation, and opening are aligned with each other and scope, timeline, and budget.
You have the contract, what happens next? At nFusion, we take a 4-Gate approach to development and expansion projects, in order to ensure that budget is allocated properly, timelines are met, and a project does not fall out of alignment at any stage in the process. This involves determining scope and feasibility
before concept is finalized (Gate 1 – Is it feasible?), marrying a concept and design with due diligence before committing approximately 95 percent of the funding (Gate 2 – Is it deliverable?), detailing design and determining procurement strategy before shovels meet the ground (Gate 3 – Is it buildable?), and ensuring the project is completely integrated and pre-opening activities are underway before
JANUARY 2019
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