Management of Facade Works in Mega Projects, Success Criteria & Risks

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1-Mega Project Definition

2-Distinctive Features of Mega Projects

3-Facade Related Features of Mega Projects

4-Success Criteria & Risks

1-MEGA PROJECT DEFINITION

What makes a construction project a mega project?

WHAT IS A MEGA PROJECT?

"Mega" comes from the Greek word "megas" & means great, large, vast, big, high, tall, mighty, & important. As a scientific & technical unit of measurement "mega" specifically means a million.

If we were to use this unit of measurement in economic terms, then strictly speaking megaprojects would be million-dollar (or euro, pound, etc.) projects, & for more than a hundred years the largest projects in the world were indeed measured mostly in the millions.

This changed with the Second World War,? Cold War, & Space Race. Project costs now escalated to the billions" (1)

2-DISTINCTIVE FEATURES of MEGA PROJECTS

How mega projects deviates from the other construction projects?

“…There are two major conclusions about megaprojects in general…” (2)

RISKS

"Risks can be reduced proactively through attention to many controllable project factors.?

Identifying & addressing these factors can decrease uncertainty for a project as well as reduce the occurrence of unanticipated events on the project, by illuminating those issues which have the greatest potential to influence & impact the outcome of the project." (2)

IDEALS

"are an often-overlooked but critical aspect of megaproject construction. Projects which are driven by strongly-held ideals are more successful at realizing mega-achievements than those projects with unclear or conditionally-held ideals.?

Furthermore, the level & intensity of ideals for a megaproject should correspond to the overall level of complexity of the project.?

That is, a project with extreme complexity can best be completed when there are corresponding ideals that make the undertaking worthwhile for all stakeholders. "(2)?

3-FACADE RELATED FEATURES of MEGA PROJECTS

SCALE & SCOPE

Determines the magnitude of the project

COMPREHENDING THE SCALE

Comprehending the scale of the project brings a project specific planning & management strategy hence this would be the first criteria to success. Scale of any project is the only fact which shall remain the same until the delivery of the project.

COMPREHENDING THE SCOPE

Scope of works should be ensured whether there are works except from the fabrication & installation in the contract, by example design & engineering, coordination, surveying & reporting, protection of the erected systems & cleaning etc.

PRE-QUALIFICATION

Pre-qualification of the specialist contractor should be assured against the scope & scale of the subject contract. Fabrication capacity & technology, team organization scheme, financial structure & credibility , erection team & capability , previous references of the vendors should be reviewed & reported in due diligence.

VISIBILITY

Since the visibility of any mega project by the public is obvious, its crucial that specifically the facades should perform well during the lifetime without any compromise from its performance.

TENDER DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS

Critical for budgeting, planning & execution

DESIGN & SPECIFICATIONS

Comprehending the design details & specifications in advance of the contract stage is crucial to accomplish the project & secure a profit.

COMPETITION

Competition is inevitable while quoting for the mega project contracts hence, the price breakdown & analysis of each scope item should be well studied during the tender stage.

PERFORMANCE CRITERIA

Performance criteria for the fa?ade systems should be reviewed properly & the performance assurance methods (software, certificate, laboratory test, site test etc.) should be well acknowledged during the tender stage.

MATERIAL SUPPLY CHAIN

Its vital to probe each bespoke material specification & dimensions, explore the availability in the market & see fabrication techniques in place during the pre-contract stage. Stock capacity & delivery schedules by the suppliers should be examined in advance of the quotation.

VISIBILITY

Public awareness about the project

Any mega project is distinctive with its visibility by the public during the construction stage, but what is more crucial is the building’s quality & performance throughout its lifetime during the public occupancy of the building.

While visibility of the project would be the best opportunity for the reputation of any stakeholder, this could easily turn to a? loss of prestige in case of a failure depending on the magnitude of the result.

STAKEHOLDERS & COORDINATION

Large teams of multi discipliner bodies?

In Mega projects, number of stakeholders might be more than expected, stakeholders and their team members may change.?

Communication methods in between the stakeholders should be set at the early stages? to ensure a smooth communication between parties.?

Coordination process and methods should be determined at the beginning.?

Weekly meeting schedules, review workflows, communication channels , contact lists and communication matrix should be arranged in advance.?

STAKEHOLDERS ORGANIZATION CORRELATED WITH FACADE WORKS

EMPLOYER’S TEAM

• Design Consultants?
• PMCM? Consultants
• Other Consultants
• Sub Teams??(Project Control, Planning,?Cost Control,? Inspectors etc.)

CONTRACTOR’S TEAM

• Facade Package Manager
• Facade Design / BIM? Team
• Facade Technical Office
• Facade Site Manager & Team
• Facade Specialist Consultant
• Facade QA/QC Team

FACADE CONTRACTOR’S TEAM

• Project Manager ? (Dedicated)
• Design / BIM? Team
• Planning Team
• Site Manager, Fabrication and Erection Team
• Document Control Team
• QA/QC Team
• Supply , Logistics, Storage etc.?

In Mega Projects, differing from conventional projects, main contractor should appoint a fa?ade package manager and a dedicated team for the fa?ade execution. Fa?ade package manager and the team? should be well qualified and resilient to manage the dynamics of the facade execution of the mega project.

It is strongly recommended to? the specialist fa?ade contractor to appoint an external fa?ade consultant from start to finish, this could help mitigating the risk of delays and losses throughout the design, fabrication and site execution stages of the facade scope of works that were undertaken.

It’s vital for a specialist fa?ade contractor? to select the appropriate suppliers and subcontractors in relevance to the mega project’s requirements. Its recommended to keep alternative sub-companies for specific items as a contingency plan. It should be noted that failure of any sub-companies would lead to a delay and loss for the specialist fa?ade contractor.

Mega project may require working with more than one suppliers / subcontractors for the same item due to the quantity of the sub-contracted items.? In such a case,? mobilization and work sequence should be well coordinated by the specialist fa?ade subcontractor.

APPROVALS & REVISIONS

Crucial for progress, key for success

FACADE WORKS EXECUTION SEQUENCE

• Design and approval process has a magnitude in the overall progress since they might cause adverse impact to the fabrication and erection schedules

• Since the mega projects have more public visibility, conceptual / visual mock-ups and benchmark installations for fa?ade works have? a significant importance in verifying the success of the project.

FACADE WORKS?PERFORMANCE TRACKING

Performance of the fa?ade specialist contractor should be traced regularly and interfered in case of any sign of potential failure in any step. Some remedy solutions could be as follows:

• Enhance the engineering team of the fa?ade specialist contractor.
• Supporting the specialist contractor with ? third party consultancies.
• Partially de-scope the works under the scope of? the specialist contractor.?
• Appointment of external specialist team by the main contractor on behalf of the specialist fa?ade contractor.

DOCUMENT & INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Tools to manage the project, people to manage the tools

• Due to size of the teams in mega projects, document sharing? is not possible through conventional methods (e-mail, external drive, cloud drive , web transfer etc. )
• An online document control system should be set at the beginning of the project, all the stakeholders should be trained, usage of alternative document transfer methods should be prohibited via contract closes.
• Since wide teams are working in mega projects,? any document or information might spread faster then expected. Hence,? accuracy of any information and document should be checked before sharing, if required, document should be stamped with the relevant status before sharing to avoid any confusion and abortive work.

SCHEDULE & MILESTONES

Strict timeframes mandated by contractual terms

TIME SCHEDULE & TARGETS?/ PROJECT TIME SCHEDULE

Fa?ade works time schedule should be reliable in itself and also compliant to the project’s overall schedule. While scheduling the fa?ade scope:?

• Lead times of the materials & systems -specifically the glass- should be well considered in correlation with the quantities.
• Erection sequence of the fa?ade systems should be planned in relation with the adjacent constructions and also in compliance with the project’s general site planning.?
• Fa?ade time schedule could be critical for the main contractor in regards to achieve a sealed envelope to facilitate progress for interior fit out works especially in harsh climates.?

HOLISTIC MANAGEMENT

Supply chain,? logistics, erection sequence and protection of all material & systems for both fa?ade and non-fa?ade construction items should be planned in compliance with the project time schedule and contingency action plans should be prepared in case of any risk of failure or delay.?

CRITICAL PATH & MILESTONES

In mega projects, schedule of the fa?ade works or some part of the fa?ade could be? in the critical path of the overall construction sequence / schedule of the main contractor and/or could be a milestone for the project as an obligation by the contract terms.

PROGRESS FOLLOW UP

Following up the fa?ade works progress and interfering? to the process is vital should any risk of delay is realized by any party. Such audit action plans are vital for the mega projects to keep the progress on the right path.?

4-SUCCESS CRITERIA AND RISKS

How to succeed in facade works & manage risks in mega projects?

SUCCESS CRITERIA IN THE? MANAGEMENT OF FACADE WORKS IN THE MEGA PROJECTS

• COMPREHENDING? THE? SCALE? AND THE? SCOPE? PROPERLY

• ACKNOWLEDGING THE DESIGN DETAILS AND SPECIFICATIONS

• PROPER SELECTION & MANAGEMENT OF FABRICATION & ERECTION TEAMS? AND? SUPPLIERS

• PROPER MANAGEMENT OF DOCUMENT AND INFORMATION CYCLE

• SECURING? THE? APPROVALS? ON? TIME

• PROPERLY? PLANNING? THE? FABRICATION? AND? THE? ERECTION? PROCESSES

• STICKING? TO? THE? SCHEDULE AND? TARGETS , MANAGING THE? PROGRESS ? PROPERLY.?

References

1) Bent Flyvbjerg, 2014, "What You Should Know about Megaprojects and Why: An

Overview," Project Management Journal, vol. 45, no. 2, April-May, pp. 6-19, DOI:

10.1002/pmj.21409

(2) Christine Fiori and Molly Kovaka “DEFINING MEGAPROJECTS: LEARNING FROM CONSTRUCTION AT THE EDGE OF EXPERIENCE

About the author

Mete KIYAN?

Architect Msc. Facade Specialist

is the founder of facadedesignmanager which is an architectural? design & project management consultancy specialised in facade works.?

Mete KIYAN recently delivered two mega airport terminal building enclosures, Istanbul Airport & Kuwait International Airport as the facade & roof design manager.?

www.facadedesignmanager.com

[email protected]