ABOUT US
The Laboratory
The Project Evaluation Laboratory (PEL) was officially founded in 2015 and is a unit of the DICIV (Department of Civil Engineering) of the University of Salerno, aiming at developing research and support activities in industrial and infrastructural project management and evaluation. It collects the sectoral experiences acquired in the last 25 years in the Area of Appraisal, directed by Prof. Nicola Morano, the first and only one national Emeritus Professor of teaching subject ICAR22-Estimo (Appraisal) as coded by the Ministry of Education, University and Research. The PEL currently provide scientific advice and operational support and follow-up to projects dealing with evaluation of properties and economic-financial investments, as well as with industrial and infrastructural initiatives of companies and institutional entities. In addition, PEL pure research and modelling projects provide company owners and institutional entities with the appropriate tools to meet their operational needs and requirements.
Skills
The Laboratory has two souls. The first one focuses on the estimation problems whereas the second one deals with the evaluation profiles. In both cases, the best operational experiences flow back in a rigorous scientific architecture, combining the experiential background with disciplinary principles acquired and implemented in years of studies on the basic issues and frontier of the matter.
For both the socio-economic disciplines, the implementation of models for the control of risk to ensure reliable evaluations and analysis is considered of primary importance.
The educational and informative activity is coordinated by the PEL through the Antonio Genovesi Prize, which coagulates both public and private academic and professional skills, for the promotion of the evaluation culture and for the implementation of land development projects. The PEL hold a membership with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Appraisal
In the Appraisal field, the PEL carry out the evaluation of ordinary residential or commercial buildings and complexes and spacial larger entities such as industial sites, power plants, water and wastewater treatment plants, infrastructures through the use of direct methods (MCA, linear and nonlinear regression analysis, neural networks, etc.) and indirect methods (capitalization of income, the analysis of financial flows, etc.). Great attention is paid to the set up of the basic data for the development of comparative estimation samples, obtained with the application of a single procedure which can identify the economic and commercial needs that fall in the spatial and time horizon of interest.
Economic Evaluation
In the evaluation field the PEL deals with the economic and financial evaluation of plans, programs and investment projects, according to the typical logic of the Cost-Benefit Analysis, which can tell one whether or not it is convenient – in monetary terms – to undertake project initiatives; according to the multi-criteria vision if, in the Economic Study, the purely financial effects, with a focus on Social Investment Impact. The construction of the business plan and the definition of main performance indicators (Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Payback Period) is always accompanied by appropriate sensitivity analysis, aimed at stabilizing the solution algorithms and results.
People
Laboratory is headed by Prof. Gianluigi De Mare, associate professor of Appraisal. Prof. De Mare is a member of Academic Platform of the Parilament Assembly of the Mediterranean.
Prof. De Mare leads the Appraisal Discipline whereas Prof. Antonio Nesticò (associate professor of Appraisal) is in charge for the Evaluation Discipline.
The teaching/research team is completed by Maria Macchiaroli (environmental engineer), Luigi Dolores (building engineer), and Gabriella Maselli (building engineer). All three have obtained the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Salerno.
External collaborations are Renato Benintendi, a 33 years’ experience CEng FIChemE, with a strong academic qualification and member of the Academic Platform of the Parliament Assembly of the Mediterranean (he is responsible for the international relations with educational, institutional and private entities and is located in the London area); Emilio Coppola, an architect of over than 26 years’ experience with a multidisciplinary approach in the field of urban revitalisation, landscape architecture and interior design (he is responsible for the relations with Professional Associations); Rosa Maria Caprino, a 15 years’ experience in economics, is responsible for the relations with local and national Italian institutions and companies.
