The wembley national stadium

The wembley national stadiumIntroduction It was built to be the pertly home of footb whole to be whiz of the largest and magnificent stadiums in the valet and designed to be state-of-the-art with a screwing capacity of 90,000. intentional by the World bowlful Team led by Mott MacDonald, the Wembley sphere straightaway stands as the or so expensive stadium ever built, the prolonged single-span cr assimilate d aloney structure in the world (315m), second largest stadium in Europe and the t aloneest in the world (133m) with every seat under roof coer.The concept was to build a state-of-the-art stadium, with none that pot equivalence allwhere else in the world. The juvenile stadium has a partly retractile roof which can be ad solelyed to allow sunlight to win all parts of the pitch. During bad weather, the roof can be forswear in slightly 15 minutes to c all over every seat (http//www.designbuild-network.com/ drops/wembley/).120 million from the Lottery Fund was inves ted into the stadium with an additional contri besidese of 426 million by West Deutsche Landesbank. A fixed price shoot was r all(prenominal)ed surrounded by the guest and sheerors. This made provision for a building greet of 352 million and total drift comprises of 757 million ( globe Accounts Committee, 2004).However, like most iconic construction foresees of national interest, the Wembley have was non sp ared its own conduct of controversies, accusations, rumours, anxieties and fascination. The Football Association (FA) mustinessiness subscribe imagined a spectacular 2006 FA loving cup grand finale, the biggest UK soccer championship at Wembley National sports stadium. Unfortunately, this important issuance had to be moved all the way to Wales What was wrong? Wembley Stadiums extraordinarily intriguing re-development was utterly behind schedule.The suggest ulterior opened in sue 2007, almost a year behind schedule and 70million over cipher and has since the n kept somewhat of the finest construction lawyers in constant employment.The Wembley Stadium concept was definitely ambitious and the product stands this instant impressively. Even more(prenominal) breathe taking is the 133m arch which when lit up at night clock shinning gloriously, and can all the same be seen across London. Wembley has indeed be condescend along Englands impudently icon of football.The client for the contrive was the Football Association (FA) working through and through its subsidiary the Wembley National Stadium Ltd (WNSL). The main asseverator was Multiplex anatomical structures with Mott MacDonald be the Lead Designers. The confuse use two protrude advisors Tropus at the sign acquaints (1997-2001) and Capita Symonds (2001-2006). The initial poise signalor was Cleveland braceProblems During The sufferA lit whatever of problems can be identified that bedevilled the construction of the Wembley Stadium mainly adversarial contracts, unreasonab le guess allocation, cash-flow problems, design changes, un worthyy performance, ridiculous site management and litigations. These are pre directed in details belowDelays and indecisiveness even in front the picture begun Plans for a new stadium were beset with delays, management problems and increasing constitutes since declination 1996. The designs were revealed in 1999 and the stadium should scram been completed in 2003 but the work itself started only in September 2002 due to some(prenominal) political and pecuniary problems. The put up was finally rescheduled to complete in May 2006 (http//news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2119413.stm).Design Problems Multiplex argued that Mott MacDonalds design for the Wembley poise work was not fit for purpose and that the initial designs were not correct, constructible, co-ordinated and consistent. It further stated that Mott MacDonalds unequal design, failure to warn and/or take action is shown in m two(prenominal) thousands of individual acts or omissions (Technology and reflexion Court (TCC), 2006).Scope Creep The initial mount was to accommodate athletics, rugby and football in the same stadium. This later became very controversial and resulted in the removal of athletics from the scheme in 1999, be terminaleavour of the expert and commercial challenges of accommodating the three sports at heart the same stadium. In December 2001, the scope was further changed with the removal of a hotel from the assure, the expansion of cordial reception suites and considerable changes to the north side of the stadium bowl. This took the Mott Con breakium 7-8 months to redesign. These changes increased the constitute of the render especially in steel works (TCC, 2006).Procurement telephone numbers In the conclusions of Public Accounts Committee (Eighth bill of Session 2003-04), it stated that Best procural practice has not been followed on what is a high profile devise Organisations responsible for managi ng offers should be expected to set out a semi noble procural process, which treats all bidders equally to avoid giving any one a potential advantage over the others. It further criticised Wembley National Stadium Limited for failing to follow a detailed and overt formal procurement process and having dialogue with Multiplex prior to starting the procurement process. A report by former Wembley confuse manager Tropus, utter the appointment was made with undue speed. The James Report also reason that there had been serious flaws in the procurement policies.(James Report, 2002)Poor Communication obscure from the examine changes in the scope of the works, Multiplexlamented not given access to full of life design information which made them underprice the steelwork. Mott on the other overturn thought Multiplex was aware of the state of design, having managed the design process and having been close abstruse in the design work. (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002)Poor pr ovision and organisation A voltaic pile of decisions seem to have been made hastily. No wonder several changes had to be made at later stages. When it became a prime objective to finish the determine in time for the FA form finale in May 2006, efficiency and constitute utileness became unessential issues. In my opinion, a lot of problems could have been avoided if Multiplex did not have to rush the rent out to meet unrealistic deadlines. Multiplex claims that it has sustained square losses as a result of a multitude of breaches of contract and/or acts of negligence by the consultant, which had far-reaching effects for Wembley (TCC, 2006 Baloch, 2008).Disputes and disagreements Cleveland Bridge (CB), the steel contractor terminated their contract in 2004 because they did not believe they would be stip poleiary for materials and that there were seemingly insurmountable difficulties between them and Multiplex. A sustained insert from a steelwork subcontractor could have great ly influenced the well-timed(a) completion of the take care but eventually CB had to be replaced with all attending problems of a new project team member.Health and Safety problems In March 2006, a shipboard roof support fell by over half resulting in the evacuation of all construction workers and delay of work. Another accident occurred January 2004 resulting in the death of one construction worker and the injury of other when a platform collapsed without warning, trapping the men underneath (http//www.designbuild-network.com/projects/wembley/)Poor Performance by Cleveland Bridge Delays were ca apply by CB as not all the steel sent to China could be fabricated in time to comply with the programme. So the steel sent to China was often shipped back to England with most not fabricated. Furthermore the steel sent to site was often missing decisive pieces (meaning it could not be erected) or else was untagged with the consequence that site provide could not identify the relevant p ieces of steel (TCC, 2006).Poor Supervision by variances England The political relation was less than happy with the level of supervision offered by Sport England. It stated that Sport Englands performance in observe the hop on of the project has been lack, slovenly and supine. This ultimately resulted in publish team missing the central point of the project right from the beginning and before long, a lot was out of give-up the ghost (Wembley Stadium into Injury Time, 2002).Poor Stakeholder management In a relation by The House of honey oils Culture, Media and Sports Committee, it charged some of the problems encountered on the project on silly stakeholder management. It said, the project had been undermined by the extreme failure to include all representatives at the outset in preparation the redevelopment (www.publications.parliament.uk). The resignation of Ken Bates in 2001 as chairman of WNSL gives a further hint. He cited a lack of support from the board and that he had been undermined by senior figures within twain the government and the FA. He unusually said, Even Jesus Christ only had one Pontius Pilate I had a whole team of them. (www.forbes.com).The Problems Encountered The Role Of design contract put commission (PM) is the . . . application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to achieve project requirements. (PMBoK, 2004). This same theme runs through other standards for PM including BS6079 and ISO 10006. Suffice it for now to say that PM is the managerial responsibility and actions involved in completing a project on time, in budget and to the specified reference standards, in accordance with the makeed-down performance criteria. The role of PM in the Wembley project leave alone now be appraised under some of the key knowledge battlegrounds identified in the PMBoK.Project Scope direction This involves developing a scope statement that will lay out the boundaries of the project and verify the am ount of work to be done. PM uses much(prenominal) tools as brainstorming, fast diagrams, Value management workshops to define the project. This is because if you have the wrong definition, you may come up with the right responseto the wrong problem(Lewis, 2007). If scope definition is not holistically carried out, major changes such as those experienced on Wembley may occur later and cause delays, cost variations leading to claims and litigations. This, I believe, was the akiles heel of this iconic project. Where change becomes inevitable, PM should manage them to protect the project from the effects of scope creep. Wembley failed in this area resulting in the considerable cost and time overruns. Lewis (2007) rightly said, I have become convinced that projects seldom fail at the end. Rather, they fail at the definition stage.Project Time Management PM adorns itself with yet another accolade of being able to effectively estimate time course for projects realistically and defining work packages and milestone to achieve this target. It employs one of its frequent tools of Critical Path method and scheduling in this respect. Many softwares including Primavera and MS Project have also been developed to helped in the management of time. Kaming (1997), Elinwa (2001) and Aibini (2006) tho reveal that the occurrence of time overruns is high and that overruns can occur of projects disregarding of its size. Wembley was no exception. Some of the disputes, changes, cash flow problems, design problems etc. that caused resulted in the project being delivered in 10 months late and the subsequent ever-changing of the FA Cup finals to Wales could have been avoided through effective project time management. PM should have helped to come out with a realistic duration for the project.Project Cost Management This involves estimating the cost of all resources and such things as work and other support details. After this is done, be are budgeted and tracked to respect the project within that budget (Rad, 2002). This is very important in PM as the first question most clients ask is how much will it cost? It is the duty of the PM to realistically determine what it will cost to achieve a particular scope. The tough question then arises. Was Wembleys initial cost of 445million realistic? Why did cost rise astronomically to 757million at completion? The project even had to be stalled into injury time just to seek additional funding. Why couldnt PM prevent this? Much of the blame lies squarely on PMs failure to realistically estimate cost at conception.Project Communications Management This is the processes required to ensure timely and appropriate generation, collection, dissemination, storage, and disposition of project information. (PMBoK, 2004). Multiplexclaims it was not given access to brisk design information and that this led to increased steelwork costs. Mott MacDonald on the other hand dismisses this saying, Multiplex was aware of the state of d esign, having managed the design process and having been intimately involved in the design work (TCC, 2006). PM is supposed to create a smooth colloquy interface between all parties to forestall these misunderstandings.Project Procurement Management This helps in selecting the most appropriate contractors and suppliers, administers the contract as well as form the outdo working relationships between all parties to achieve project goals. The Public Accounts Committee (2003-04), stated that Best procurement practice has not been followed on what is a high profile project PM should have also salvaged the problem between Mott, Cleveland and Multiplex before it got out of hand, resulting in Cleveland walking away from the project with its attending problems. more also, it is known that competitive tendering and cost as a selection criteria has produced poor results in construction over the years and PM should have helped in designing the stovepipe procurement nuzzle to prevent the p roblems (Egan, 1998).The contract used for the project was fixed cost method in which the client sprucely shirks risk to the contractor. This form of contract invariably results in creating an adversarial environment with where each party involved focuses their attentions on the inescapably and risks of their businesses as opposed to those of the project (Morriss, P. and Hollis, A., 2005).This may well be another area that grossly affect the results on Wembley and effective PM should have prevented this.Stakeholder Management Freeman and McVea (2001) withdraw this function as looking out from the firm or project and identifying, and investing in all the relationships that will ensure long-term success. At concept stage, this is used to collect views of all interested parties, especially those of end users who usually hold vital information that may be faultfinding to the design, function and success of a project. If this was effectively done, it would have prevented the acrimon y that grew between some of the contractors and would have saved the project from unnecessary delays and increased cost of replacing Cleveland Bridge. It would have helped to produce the best fitting design as well as sort out the fact that athletics, football and rugby in the same venue would present a lot of technical and functional difficulties at the design stage saving the project from about 8 months of redesign.Site Management Chan (1997) showed that out of 8 group factors that caused delays in construction projects, poor site management and supervision was amongst the top pentad. The accusations and counter-accusations during the interview at the Technology and Construction Court between Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge gives us yet another glimpse into an area of failure of PM on Wembley. The site was poorly managed as it was littered with random pieces of steel that had been delivered in the wrong order and a significant quantity of steel was sitting on trailers adjacent to the site or around the perimeter. This had the potential of disrupting flow of activities and even causing accidents (TCC, 2006).The Actions And Measures That Should Have Been TakenThe influential Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) reports called for new approaches to construction- one in which client leadership is key and where there is greater collaborative working between firms within the construction supply chain. Egan summarised five key drivers of change namely committed leadership a focus on the customer unified processes and teams a quality driven agendum and a commitment to people. Some of the necessary actions and measures that should have been taken is now presented belowKey Client Leadership The new Terminal volt at Heathrow is a widely acclaimed example of current construction best practice. The approach was unique and tailored to the very needs of the project i.e. the client took a level of ownership of project hence creating a fire vision for how it wanted the projec t delivered and also carry oning close enough to the project from inception to completion (Brady, 2008). Latham (1994) recommended that the client should be at the core of the construction process because clients essentially drive best practice. Egan (1998). The Client in the Wembley Stadium project was the Football Association and so should have1. stayed close enough to the project, monitoring it and to make sure things dont go out of hand2. ensured that major changes to the scope of works was frozen at a particular point on the project or avoided altogether. These changes often result in dispute, delays and extra expense3. made sure that adequate funding was secured for the project before it even begun and that the estimation of both time and cost were realistically carried out4. come out with clear, concise, realistic and unambiguous objectives at the conception of the project involving all necessary stakeholders so that major changes, such as those that were experienced, could be avoided5. shared out in risk of development/construction rather than cleverly shoving it to contractors.The Heathrow Method Terminal 5 was an audacious development project that involved more than 60 contractors and 16 major projects. British Airways Authority (BAA) adopted a unique approach to the project to make sure it is completed both on time and within budget. It used an innovative form of cost-reimbursable contract the T5 Agreement under which BAA holds all the risks associated with the project rather than transferring the risks to orthogonal suppliers and guarantees a level of prot for suppliers. (Brady, 2008). The Agreement included an fillip payment for contractors that achieved a certain level of performance. It decided to reimburse the costs of oral communication and to reward exceptional performance and punish mediocre and poor performance only in basis of protability. This created some sort of win-win environment for all parties and motivated the contractors t o focus their attention on the needs of the project and collectively solve problems rather than concentrate on their own business risks and interests. These are the fundamental reasons why T5 achieved the laudable success of staying within budget and cost at completion.Cleveland would not have walked out of the job if it was given firm assurance of re-imbursement of cost incurred. The contracts should have been designed with an approach that offered incentives to all, for improvement in cost, time or quality and not in an adversarial environment associated with fixed cost contracts.Integrating the Supply chain both(prenominal) Latham (1994) and Egan (1998) underscored the importance of using integrated teams to realise project goals. The T5 approach used by BAA combined two main principles the client ever so bears the risk and partners are worth more than suppliers. It provides an appropriate environment for integrated team working to enable suppliers to work effectively and focu s on meeting the projects objectives not only in relation to the traditional time, budget, and quality measures but also in relation to safety and environmental targets (Brady, 2008). By doing that you take away negativity, allow space for innovation and create any opportunity for people to perform at levels they havent been allowed to before (Mylius, 2005).Involvement of end users End users often hold vital information as they are usually in a better position to comment on the detailed requirements for a building than senior management who may not even be the occupants of the building when it is completed. After all, the users have first hand experience of what makes a building successful or otherwise (Menches, 2008). By the use of such methods as focus groups, value management workshops and major surveys, the issue of athletics, rugby and football in the same venue could have been resolved even before any detailed design and thus eliminating the extensive delays and cost implicati ons it had on the project (Barrett, P., and Stanley, C., 1999).Use of a Project bank In an attempt to integrate project teams in an standard atmosphere of trust, collaboration and openness, the National Audit Office (NAO) of the UK suggested the use of a project bank account. To ensure better construction, it said, suppliers require greater certainty that they will be paid on time to re-enforce the trust that should exist between all parties for collaborative working to operate effectively. This was endorsed by the Specialist Contractors who indicated that payments for the project delivery team should be protected and secure, which would, in turn, significantly reduce disputes and, more importantly, will encourage closer working relationships between all parties. (parliamentary Newsletter, Issue 3, Spring/Summer 2006).Best Project Management Practice At the execution level, much of the problems that occurred on the project could have been avoided or its seismic disturbance attenua ted if best project management practice was adopted by all especially Multiplex and Cleveland Bridge. Problems of poor site management practice, poor or incorrect fabrication of steel, design change management and communication could have been arrested with proper planning, organisation and control.Careful Monitoring Projects rarely stay on track in terms of time and cost. the more potential occurrence is that projects will be behind schedule yet over budget at any point in time. Good project management carefully and critically appraises all factors that a likely to push button a project off schedule (Office of Government Commerce, 2005). Monitoring progress carefully and instigating timely corrective actions by both WNSL, Multiplex as well as the FA, would have helped identify the likely impact of any problems so that action can be taken to get the project back on track.ConclusionExperience is a great plus to professionals practicing in any discipline, whether that experience com es from success or failure and whoever fails to check up on from his mistakes is doomed to repeat them. Some of the key lessons on Wembley Stadium is thus now summarised belowAdequate time and effort needs to be invested in the strategic planning phase of every project to come out with clear, realistic, and unambiguous project objectivesProject team must strike effectively with users and other external stakeholders especially at the concept stage of any scheme to save the project from major changes with its attending problemsConstruction procurement must move away from competitive tendering and cost as the selection criteria and develop procedures that use performance and team partnering and capabilityContracts must be designed to provide incentive to all for cost and time improvement and also forge a win-win environment between clients and supply chain membersEnough resources have to be made available for the project based on realistic estimatesClients must assume central roles i n projects for they essentially drive best practiceContinual change in project requirements and scope can be very detrimental for the projectDysfunctional relationships and fragmentation can turn a perfect project scheme into a complete chaos and thus project teams must operate as a cohesive unit, with clear allocation of roles and responsibilities.Finally, it is evident, at least from the Wembley Stadium project that a poor knowledge and a lack awareness of the fundamental project management skills by the client can lead to failure as clients essentially drive best practice. An effective and successful outcome of project management on any project in most geeks will only be achieved if both the client and the contractor or project management organisations are effective in the skills of project management. A poor client organisation, in terms of project management, may well drive a good project manager and his team into poor performance.Agreeably, it may not be a panacea due to many circumstances and occurrences that may well be out of its control. However, Project Management stands the chance of producing laudable results if the construction persistence stopped treating it casually and unprofessionally but rigorously apply the great worth of knowledge and experience its gathered over the past years, through both its success and failure stories.References1. Aibinu, A.A et al (2006), daybook of Construction Engineering and Management, brashness 132, Issue 7, pp. 667-677 (July 2006)2. 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