Management of the Holyrood building project (PDF ... - Audit Scotland

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3.8 Construction management is
quite different to a traditional building
contract. The main benefit is shorter
timescales. Construction
management compresses the overall
design and construction programme
by allowing procurement and
construction to proceed before the
design of all packages is completed.
It is intended for use when there is a
compelling value for money case for
completing a building project at the
earliest possible date (eg, to benefit
from forecast high rental incomes, or
to achieve unmoveable opening dates).
3.9 Under construction management
contractors commence works before
all design is completed. There are
risks in this, for example in
proceeding with the foundations and
substructure of a building without a
complete understanding of the
superstructure design. Because the
client contracts with the trade
contractors directly there is no main
contractor to accept and manage
risks from programming and
coordination of contractors. The
design team must envisage the
totality of the design, accommodate
any uncertainty in later, dependent
packages and progress long leadtime
items (eg, lift packages) early in
the procurement process. There
needs to be experience, team spirit
and cooperation to manage the risks.
3.10 The advantage of construction
management is that the design of
packages of work may be changed
up to the point when the contract is
awarded without necessarily
incurring additional costs for those
packages. Once packages are let,
their content should be fixed.
Unforeseen change after a contract
is let is likely to incur delay and
additional costs.
3.11 The audit examination does not
provide a detailed assessment of all
the changes made during the
Holyrood project. That would be an
enormous undertaking. The
Corporate Body has estimated there
have been some 10,000 proposed
change orders issued over the
course of the project. Many of these
changes could be small and some
may have arisen before the Stage D
approval. However the very
significant impact of change in each
contract at awarded is evident from a
simple comparison of the cost of the
contract at tender/contract award
stage and the current forecast
outturn (Exhibit 20).
The complexity of the Holyrood
project has involved major
challenges in programming the
construction
3.12 Before tenders for the main
building work in the east of the
Holyrood site could be obtained, the
design team had to develop the June
2000 Stage D design into detailed
package designs to provide sufficient
information for tendering. This was a
very large task for the design team
and the construction manager.
• The Stage D design was not a
fully developed and coordinated
design. The client accepted this
as an architectural Stage D,
though some elements, for
example the foyer roof, were no
more than concept design (Stage
C). The client recognised the
structural and service design
information was not equivalent to
Stage D. Despite the complex
structures and organically shaped
buildings, only comparatively
small-scale drawings were
provided at Stage D. Exhibit 21
(overleaf) illustrates design
development of the foyer roof
since the Stage D design, and the
extent of the initial uncertainty.
• Programme 3C which envisaged
completion by December 2002
was issued on 22 July 2000.
There were very short timescales
for subsequent design details to
be provided. For example, the
target date for sending out the
tenders for the assembly building
superstructure package – the
largest and most costly package –
was 11 August 2000. This was
just seven weeks after the Stage
D design was approved without a
Stage D engineering design.
3.13 In addition to the challenges of
the design programme particular
difficulties arose because:
• unforeseen structural and
conservation matters affected
Queensberry House. There were
delays in securing agreement on
the reconstruction that was
required to take into account the
fact that Queensberry House was
a listed building and securing the
required listed building consents
• because of the complexity of
much of the work, the
interdependency of many
elements and congestion on the
site, there were unforeseen
problems and delays. Exhibit 22
(overleaf) illustrates a few examples
of these unforeseen difficulties.
3.14 The construction manager’s
responsibilities are detailed in its
contract with the Corporate Body. Its
responsibilities include:
• liaison and consultation with all
parties
• coordinating the services of the
design team with the execution
and completion of the project by
the trade contractors
• securing agreement to the cost
plan by the client and the cost
consultant as soon as practicable
• ensuring that the project is executed
and completed within the cost
plan and construction period
• programming at all levels of
construction