To describe T5 as a project risks misunderstanding of its
scale. Sixteen individual projects, consisting of 147 sub-projects,
have contributed to delivery of BAA’s flagship terminal.
On any project there is scope for costs and schedules to run away
from the construction team. With so many different components – and
with projects and sub-projects overlapping – the risk of slippage
was significant. And with overlapping critical paths, there was
potential for delay on one project causing gridlock for the
whole.
Mott MacDonald played a key role in keeping T5 delivery on track
through management of project and programme delivery. Each project
and sub-project had its own schedule, with its allocated place
under the master T5 programme.
The art of communication
Each scheme had a project leader responsible for ensuring progress
against the delivery timetable, and a development manager who
ensured that the project brief was delivered to the letter.
Weekly meetings were held between the project team, consisting of
designer, contractor and the tier one and two suppliers, the client
and stakeholders – London Underground, Heathrow Express Operating
Company, Network Rail, or other project teams. These ensured that
information was exchanged effectively and that all parties were
kept abreast of any issues affecting delivery and with the
potential to impact on adjacent or overlapping projects. The weekly
meetings also served to let everybody know the objectives and
expectations of others. The requirement to report weekly also put
parties under peer pressure to honour commitments in a timely
fashion, ensuring that actions were executed swiftly following
agreement.
The intense focus on communication was unusual on construction
projects at the time.
Ten core processes
Project and programme management was structured around 10 core
processes:
- Project requirements: Accurate briefing to assure
delivery of appropriate solutions, involving definition of project
requirements and methods for updating and communicating those
requirements to the project teams.
- Stage approvals: Sub-projects had to demonstrate that
all key stage deliverables had been satisfactorily completed, with
assurance in place, before proceeding to the next stage of
works.
- Change management: Process by which all variations to
the programme would be reported, reviewed, understood and
approved.
- Execution planning: Teams set out in detail what they
intended to do, how they would do it, who would be involved, when
tasks would be accomplished, and how much they would cost.
Sub-project execution plans, once signed by the client, authorised
contractors to proceed with work and obliged BAA to pay for
it.
- Commercial management: Promoting optimum value for money
through performance incentivisation, project insurance and cost
verification.
- Health and safety: Individuals were appointed as duty
holders under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
1994 for each project or sub project.
- Risk and opportunity management: By mapping risks and
seeking ways of mitigating risk it was possible to improve
buildability and win time against schedule.
- Cost management: Focused management and clear
communication, resulting in consistency in project reporting,
improved cost predictability and certainty.
- Schedule management: Defining a series of key events
over the course of project delivery and ensuring that each is
suitably resourced.
- Performance measurement: Recording and analysis of
performance in terms of cost, time, quality, safety and environment
to enable early identification of the need for corrective action.
Defined the process for performance measurement across all T5
projects and sub-projects to ensure that a consistent approach was
applied to all stages.
