10 Proposed Infrastructure Projects for London to Retain Its World Class Status

London hasen’t reached the density of Hong Kong, but it’s certainly heading that way as the cities population continues to expand. The “London Infrastructure Plan 2050″ aims to tackle the problem and outlines the spending needed for the capital to remain one of the world’s leading cities.

London Mayor Boris Johnson Has Said £1.3tn of Investment Is Needed over the next 35 Years in Order for London to Retain Its World Class Status

“This plan is a real wake up call to the stark needs that face London over the next half century. Infrastructure underpins everything we do and we all use it every day. Without a long-term plan for investment and the political will to implement it this city will falter.”

London School of Economics Professor Tony Travers Said: “the London Infrastructure Plan Is a Necessary Step Towards Understanding the Needs of the ‘10 Million City’ Which London Will Soon Become.

Transport is the biggest focus of the “London Infrastructure Plan 2050” as the population hit 8.5 million in 2014 the largest it has been since 1939. By 2050 it is predicted to exceed 11 million, growing at a rate of 41,000 a year.

Some infrastructure project proposals are already in development, others may not be approved at all, however, these are some transport developments suggested for London by 2050.

1. Air con on the Tube, £900m

It was find in the beginning, in fact, conditions were so pleasant in 1906 that the city proclaimed the underground ‘The coolest place in hot weather’. But that was before deep lines and millions of passengers.

Better Late than Never, London’s Tube Is Getting Air-con

In summer, temperatures on parts of the London Underground can become very uncomfortable due to its deep and poorly ventilated tube tunnels: temperatures as high as 116 °F were reported in the 2006 heat wave. New Tube trains, which allow better access for customers, are being rolled out on the Circle line as part of the introduction of 53 new trains on both the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines. By the end of 2016 there will be a total of 191 walk-through, air-conditioned trains covering 40% of the Tube network running on the District,Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines.

2. Inner orbital tolled tunnel, £15bn-25bn

Mayor sets out plan for 22-mile ring-road tunnel under London, which is considered by many to be one of the most ambitious infrastructure scheme ever proposed in the city.

The tunnel will cost an estimated £30 billion to construct and will remove tens of thousands of cars from the crowded streets of London and avert traffic gridlock. With subterranean dual carriageways linking key routes, from the A40 Westway to the A12 in the east, and the A1 route north to the A2 running south.

London Major Boris Johnson, who commissioned work to develop the idea, believes it could dramatically improve quality of life for residents. He said: “I would love the views of Evening Standard readers on this. There are big arguments in favour. There are obviously arguments against.”

Transport for London is working on the concept.

Transport for London has invited Alstom, Bombardier, CAF, Hitachi and Siemens to tender to supply 250 new trainsets for the London Underground

3. Northern Line extension, £1bn

Works commenced on London Underground’s £1bn Northern Line extensionfrom Kennington to Battersea via Nine Elms in the UK in 2015.

Tunnelling work is scheduled to start in early 2017 and will take six months to complete, while the project is expected to be completed in 2020.

The project will reduce journey times to the West End and the city to less than 15min.

4. Cycle Super Highways, £2bn- £4bn

London’s New Superhighway Linking East and West London Will Open on 30 April, Says the Capital’s Mayor Boris Johnson

The route, which links Barking, Canary Wharf and Tower Hill to Westminster, will open less than a week before his term is set to end.

Chris Boardman, the former Olympic champion and policy advisor to British Cycling, said: “This YouGov poll shows us, yet again, that the vast majority of the public want to see more cycle tracks on main roads.

“If this kind of evidence isn’t enough to give politicians and transport authorities the confidence to act, I don’t know what is.”

Last month, Boris Johnson pressed ahead with plans for three cycle superhighways.

5. Bakerloo and Overground extensions, £2.5bn-3.5bn

The extension of the Bakerloo line could help regenerate South East London from Old Kent Road to Catford, improve routes into London and relieve congestion on the main rail services into London Bridge.

6. Crossrail 2 and 3, £23bn- £30bn

TRANSPORT chiefs say it is “full steam ahead” for Crossrail 2 after the Government made an £80million pledge towards the project – but it will be months before passengers find out if a station will be built at Balham or Tooting.

Construction work is due to begin on the rail link in the early 2020s, which would enable the service to be operational by 2033.

7. New Stations, £500m and 24/7 Night Tube service

New stations at Cricklewood, Beam Park in Rainham and Thames Wharf could be built to support redevelopment in these areas. It has also been claimed that night services on the Piccadilly, Central, and Northern Lines are then due to start in September, with all major lines being served by the weekend night tube by September 23.

8. Another channel tunnel, £1bn

The “London Infrastructure Plan 2050″ suggests an additional cross-channel rail tunnel would provide high speed links from the UK to the rest of Europe for passengers and freight.

9. 13 new crossings in London, £1-2bn

The vision for east London includes 13 proposed new river crossings include Gallions-Thamesmead, Belvedere-Rainham, Woolwich- Royal Docks to replace the Woolwich Ferry, as well as the Silvertown tunnel.

Boris Johnson states “By creating more links between the north and south of the river, we won’t just improve day-to-day travelling across the capital, we’ll unlock areas for development and create thousands of jobs and homes.

Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf: Pedestrian and cycle bridge (feasibility).
North Greenwich to the Isle of Dogs: a passenger ferry linking North Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs (Blackwall) (conceptual).
Silvertown tunnel: Twin bore tunnel connecting Silvertown on the north side to the Blackwall Tunnel Approach on the south side (preparation).
Charlton: a passenger ferry crossing linking the Royal Docks and Charlton Riverside (conceptual).
Crossrail: New rail line linking Woolwich with Custom House and onward to Canary Wharf, central London and Heathrow Airport (construction).
Gallions Reach: Multi-modal crossing linking Thamesmead with Beckton along a safeguarded alignment (consultation).
Belvedere: Multi-modal crossing connecting Belvedere with Rainham (consultation)
Barking Riverside to Thamesmead: London Overground tunnel extension from Barking Riverside to Thamesmead (conceptual).
Lower Thames Crossing: New road crossing linking Essex and Kent (progressing).
Diamond Jubilee: Pedestrian and cycle bridge linking Fulham with Battersea (planning permission granted).
Crossrail 2: New railway line connecting Hertfordshire and Surrey via central London and providing a new cross river link between Victoria and Clapham Junction (consultation).
Vauxhall, Nine Elms and Battersea: Pedestrian and cycle bridge (feasibility).
Garden Bridge: New pedestrian crossing linking the South Bank to Temple station (planning permission granted).

10. Thames Estuary airport, 18bn-25bn

A new Thames Estuary Airport has been proposed at various times since the 1940s. Economic considerations have ruled out a new coastal airport, while political considerations have ruled out a new inland airport, leaving planners with an as-yet-unresolved dilemma.

‘Bizarre proposal’ states Rehman Chisthti, MP for Gillingham and Rainham “The airport in the estuary was not the right thing do so we all worked together to oppose it. It’s really good news and we’re really pleased that common sense has prevailed.”

However,Boris Johnson refloats idea of Thames Estuary airport 18 months after it was rejected by Airports Commission. Mr Johnson believes a hub in the east of the capital would offer around double the number of long haul and domestic routes served by Heathrow while exposing 95 per cent fewer people to significant aircraft noise.

‘Grain isn’t the answer’ states Rodney Chamber, Leader of Medway Council “We have said all along that it should never have even been considered as it would have resulted in the mass destruction of habitat and wildlife that could never be replaced.”

March 24, 2016July 1, 2022

How to Cope with a Mis-Sold Job

Everyone knows a story about a smart and talented professional who has lost his or her passion for a role, who no longer looks forward to going to the office yet remains stuck without a visible way out. Getting on the career ladder is a great thing, you start off at the bottom and work your way up, but sometimes you can get stuck and do not even realize it.

“One in Five Employees Claim They Were Mis-sold Opportunities When They Joined Their Organisation – Kelly Global Workforce Index (Kgwi).”

Commenting on the findings, Debbie Pettingill, Director, Kelly Services UK and Ireland said

“Employee retention will become an increasing challenge for employers as we move out of the recession. As we move into a more candidate driven market, this trend is likely to accelerate. Our findings indicate that this problem is being exacerbated by the misrepresentation of job role or company culture at the interview stage, leading to the dissatisfaction of new hires.”

Most of us know what we are trying to escape a “mis-sold” job resulting in a narrowly defined career, inauthentic or unstimulating work, numbing corporate politics, and perhaps blackmail including direct threats of being used as a scapegoat. A job where you are both overlooked and underappreciated. One may ring true for some of you.

“Fewer than Half of Uk Employees Are Happy with the Way Their Careers Are Progressing According to New British Research.”

Why Would A Company or Person Block Your Move?

Well, this could be because of his or her personal insecurity i.e. as the team works well, why rock the boat? Comfort zone: sometimes the team gets too comfortable? Golden child syndrome: you’re working your butt off and your sponsor or other senior is reaping the recognition from your amazing deliverables?

Working a job you don’t like can leave you feeling stuck, forgotten by God, and asking yourself questions like:

Why hasn’t God opened another door for me yet?

Why is God not moving?

Why would God leave me here in this job I hate?

But the truth is God has not left you. He’s not holding back on you. When you feel God is silent, that’s exactly when He’s moving! Your situation does not change God. He still loves you and is with you no matter what.

Instead of looking at our situation from a perspective of fear and worry, we need to look at it through faith and hope.

What Can You Do About it?

Don’t fret, you can handover your work or completely leave the organisation and still stay sane. You might worry that announcing your intentions will cause your company grief, but ultimately you have to do what’s best for you no matter what!

Think and pray long and hard about how you’re going to drop this bombshell as you will need to give notice. A sound method is required to overcome the assault and possible backlash – including of course more prayer and fasting.

So how are you going to approach it? What’s your reasoning going to be? How are you going to get them to understand exactly why you’re doing this? What do you need to do in order to prepare for the big day?

Easy, you’re going to read this guide.

Strategy 1 – Remote Working Arrangement

This could be a great approach if 80% of your work can be undertaken remotely. However, while there is a very logical argument to be made in favor of working from home, many people equate remote work to a lack of productivity and laziness. These people do not realize that the switch from an office to working from home can actually lead to significant increases in productivity.

Strategy 2 – What’s in It for Me?

What’s in it for me? That question sounds a little selfish, doesn’t it? Maybe you aren’t being compensated fairly, or you’re not happy with the effort vs return. When you know your client and team needs you and you’re willing to stay for a price, don’t mess around. Give them the real number or offer that will make it worth your while to stick it out for awhile.

Strategy 3 – The Budget Cut

The re-structuring. The downsizing. The dreaded budget cut. Whatever name you want to give it, this can be terrifying for a lot of professionals. However, if you’re already thinking about leaving, so maybe it doesn’t have to be such a scary thing. In fact, maybe it can be extremely positive for both parties.

Strategy 4 – The Ease Out

Still feeling weary about leaving the organization. Propose easing yourself out of the post. Pick a time frame, maybe four weeks or so, and come up with a plan for slowly taking yourself out of the position. This also allows you some time to slowly ramp down your time commitment.

Strategy 5 – Burning Bridges in the Industry

“Sometimes it’s about networking and being nice to people and not burning any bridges – but remembering to draw line where you must.”

There’s no harm in an early exit from a job you never plan to mention again or an interim role where you have clearly agreed on a start and finish date. But if your manager is well connected to your industry you should try to leave on a good note. Why? Because it’s a small world and the next hiring manager may put in a call to his or her former colleague (a.k.a., your new manager) to get the unofficial scoop. It happens, so if you’re going to leave anyway then try to fulfill your end of the deal.

Strategy 6 – Get Moving Fast

Imagine, for example, that you were hired to help the company manage multiple programmes and projects across the globe, but a recent change in leadership means all efforts moving forward will be focused locally.

If you’re spending your days just trying to find ways to be productive or are undertaking a role you never signed up for, you have every right to pursue new opportunities. Of course, the first course of action should normally be to discuss this with your manager to see if there are other roles you can take on. But if you know that this isn’t going to happen in the new world, get moving fast.

Strategy 7 – Your Dream Job Awaits

“When you’re being interviewed, always treat the interview as a 50-50 thing,” says Andy Dallas, a director at Robert Half International, recruitment consultants. “Ask what you can expect to be doing in your first week, month and three months. Ask what a successful year looks like.”

Dream jobs don’t come every day. So, if you have a chance at yours, take it quickly and congratulate yourself for being strong enough to leave when you were unhappy.

Strategy 8 – Remeber to Be Patient

We will not always be in a job we desire. Maybe you are fresh out of school and are working a job that has nothing to do with the degree you just earned. Maybe you are in a situation where you are working at a job where you are overqualified, overworked, and fed up. Maybe, for the most part, you love your job but get discouraged by the mundane tasks that take up time from doing the aspects of your job you love most.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” – James 4:10 NIV

Here’s the thing: God will still use this season to grow, develop, and prepare you. Any season that humbles us is preparing us for what God has next.

Any thoughts to share?

March 20, 2016July 1, 2022

Bridge House, Croydon, Is Prefab Really Prefabulous?

Prefabricated homes have been available for years and date back at least a century. The Sears Roebuck index made and offered prefab homes to the public as early as 1908, and Prefab was later explored by famous twentieth-century architects, such as, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Frank Lloyd Wright, who saw the method as a likely solution to the dilemma of housing in modern society. Interest in Prefab grew in the first half of the twentieth-century, with the outburst of manufacturing expertise and the creation of the assembly line.

Historically the mention of prefabricated houses invokes memories of housing built to cover in the temporary a deficiency of housing in the UK following the World Wars.

The Government promised ‘homes fit for heroes’, however, negative public attitudes surfaced towards prefabricated housing because of substandard building materials used and poor workmanship.

A staggering 1 million of these homes were built during the 20th century and more than half a century on, many are still standing despite no foundations. A few are listed while others have been demolished.

Today people remember the shabby mobile classrooms as in, bitter cold in winter and like an oven in summer. Therefore, memories have rendered the concept of prefabricated houses an unattractive idea. Talk about the term prefabricated housing to an architect, and their eyes will beam with visions of fascinating contemporary homes. However, talk to the ordinary person on the street and people immediately think that we are going down the same path, a pretty hard image to shake off. The very factors that are presented as positive advantages of prefabricated homes became liabilities in the eyes of homeowners who wanted a durable appreciating asset.

An example can be found by looking at the prefabricated houses on Catford estate built by German and Italian prisoners of war in 1946.

‘They were not built to last and need regular maintenance. They are just large sheds really and taking up a lot of space. They should really be demolished.’ (Drake 2008)

Over the ten years, Lewisham Council has tried to develop the site many times and a review found none of the dwellings met Decent Homes Standard.

So why do more and more developers choose prefabricated construction?

First and foremost – Speed. “It may take a bit longer in terms of design, preparation and planning but site based activities are taking up to 30% less time and allowing homes to reach the market sooner. Other reasons cited include, in order of preference:

Design Quality
Cost
Previous Experience
Funding

Source: Design and Modern Methods of Construction. The Housing Corporation and CABE 2004″

Bridge House (Example)

Croydon Vision 2020 is a regeneration programme by the London Borough of Croydon for the centre of Croydon in South London. The Old Town Masterplan focused on the area between the High Street and Roman Way, one of the oldest areas of Croydon.

Formerly the site of a telephone exchange, Bridge House is a £20 million development that has provided 27 private and 48 affordable apartments, above ground and mezzanine retail spaces.

The block wraps around an existing multi-storey car park and offers the opportunity for cafs and shops to open onto the new square. A mix of green and brown roofs, to support biodiversity, form part of a series of environmental measures and the scheme is to be of modular construction.

The Croydon chose the modular approach principally because of the speed of construction offered. The project began on site in the spring of 2006 and the 75 flats were stated to have been erected in approximately 26 days, vastly outperforming the time taken by traditional construction.

Client: Howard Holdings plc

Architect: AWW

Structures: Walsh Associates

Principal Supplier: MC First

Subscribe to Blog via Email

March 18, 2016October 24, 2017

Growing Your Online Ministry

About 2000 years ago, Jesus left His followers with the command to go and tell the world about Him. Ever since that moment, the message of the gospel has traversed the Earth in almost every way you can imagine!

It goes without saying that every church or ministry is seeking to establish their presence online. After all, what would be the point of having a website if you were not looking for more engagement from it.

But what is tragically sad, is the fact that so many church and ministry websites don’t seem to move past delivering the events calendar and various media elements they have placed online. “the university Student who lends a hand, isn’t that enough?” No! The reason is, if you are not actively pushing these elements to all mainstream social networking sites, your presence will not grow?

The Content Struggle

When it comes to growing your online ministry, one of the areas that seems to get overlooked the most is in providing and delivering engaging articles that provide answers to questions that many people are going through in life today.

This is where people within your congregation or ministry can play a huge part in helping to deliver this type of content.

Heard It Through the Grapevine?

How many people have you seen posting short novels in their what-apps groups? So why not have those people put their thoughts together and place it in a well thought out article. Seriously, it is just that simple! You should make it so everyone will want to provide your ministry or church website with content. Think about how many teens you have in your church or ministry.

How many of them have cell phones and are taking selfies and live video’s at rates like never before. What is it? It’s content. We have seen churches utilise Facebook Live to make mock music video’s with various members of their congregation. And it’s still Gains Attention!

Keep your content fresh and growing your online ministry will fall into place and begin sprouting and growing into something unique and beautiful.

March 17, 2016October 4, 2021

The Garden Bridge Project, London

Computer rendering of the planned bridge, created by engineers Arup

Thomas Heatherwick’s Garden Bridge has moved one step closer to reality with the appointment of building contractors Bouygues Travaux Publics and Cimolai. Building work is now scheduled to start this summer 2016, but opponents and locals are still not convinced.

Why Is London’s Garden Bridge worth as Much as Five Lancashire Museums? Ask’s Joanna Lumley

The Opponents

For those of you who aren’t aware of the project, it’s intended to be a plant-covered pedestrian bridge across the River Thames between the South Bank and Temple. The Bridge was designed by Heatherwick after being conceived by British actress Joanna Lumley.

Coined as a “wondrous green oasis floating above the River Thames”, the £175m 367-metre-long Garden Bridge, backed by London mayor Boris Johnson, has sparked a huge amount of controversy in London with calls for the project to be halted from a number of local politicians. This includes Vauxhall MP Kate Hoey and three councillors from the London Borough of Lambeth, even though planning permission was granted by both local authorities in late 2014.

Writing in the Guardian, Ian Jack contrasted the £60m taxpayer support for the project with the closure of five Lancashire museums – two of the which are nationally important and forty libraries. Jack described the bridge as unwanted and unnecessary and the closures as “cultural disembowelment.

In November 2014, it was claimed that the bridge would be off limits to groups of eight or more people and cyclists, and closed between midnight and 6am. Critiques fear that the £175m bridge, which already has £60m in official grants and loans, will require a bailout if costs rise or efforts to drum up further private money fail.

Halt London Garden Bridge Project, Says RIBA President

An study by The Architect’s Journal found that Heatherwick was present for at least five meetings with London’s mayor Boris Johnson prior to the contest. The AJ also claimed that a manager for government body Transport for London (TfL) had reported anomalies in the design competition.

“It’s Now Abundantly Clear That the Design Competition That Transport for London Held in Early 2013 Was Nothing of the Sort,” Aj Deputy Editor Will Hurst Told Dezeen

Kate Hoey, the Labour MP whose Vauxhall constituency is on the south side of the bridge, has said “it is quite clear they haven’t raised nearly as much money as they originally thought.” However, The Garden Bridge Trust which was launched on 1 November 2013 to oversee the project argued that its perfectly ordinary for large infrastructure projects to begin work while fundraising determinations continue, however, in Project Journal’s experience such ambitious construction projects commonly overrun in terms of budget and time. For example, an extension to the Tate Modern art gallery was scheduled to open in 2012 at a cost of £215m. It will instead open this year at an estimated cost of £260m.

The Garden Bridge Trust has now raised an additional £85 million.

The Project

The Garden Bridge project began as a seamlessly innocent idea, a beautiful new garden floating above the River Thames, sounds amazing. Imagine crossing a river surrounded by wildlife in the middle of London City. Imagine a morning commute through a peaceful garden. Well, the Garden Bridge Trust intends to make this a reality. However, who will benefit the most, the rich, middle class, or the poor?

The bridge is planned to be 30 metres (98 ft) across at its widest point. It would run from the roof of Temple station as a continuation of Arundel Street on the north bank to Queen’s Walk by the London Studios, where a large public green open space would be redeveloped to provide a commercial building associated with the project. The bridge will feature trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. Its construction would require 32 mature trees in the avenue on Queen’s Walk, on the South Bank.

“The Garden Bridge Will Be an Extraordinarily Special Place, Either to Race Across, Relax in or Look Back at the Rest of the City’s Sights.” Thomas Heatherwick

The bridge is officially scheduled to open late 2018. Hoey said it would be “particularly inexcusable” for any more public money to be committed when her constituency was struggling under government cuts.

If you’re wondering why the bridge is being built in the first place, or why Jane Duncan is asking for the project to be terminated, read Ian Jack’s opinion piece ‘Why is London’s Garden Bridge worth as much as five Lancashire museums? Ask Joanna Lumley’ a particularly powerful and unforgiving piece, and for us, the truth.

March 16, 2016July 1, 2022

15 Shocking Project Management Statistics

The project management landscape is changing with an increased emphasis on productivity, reporting, and information technology. A number of studies have been completed that look into the success and failure rates of projects.

Below are 15 shocking statistics that reveal how project management has changed and is performing across various industries over the last 5 years.

There is projected to be 15.7 million new project management roles to be added globally across seven project-intensive industries by 2020 reaching an economic impact of over $18 trillion, across seven project-intensive industries including Manufacturing, Finance & Insurance, Information Services, Utilities, Business Services, Oil & Gas and Construction (Project Management Institute)
75% of IT executives believe their projects are “doomed from the start. (Geneca)
The healthcare industry is projected to increase project management roles by 30%, a higher growth rate than any current project intensive industry between 2010 and 2020. (Project Management Institute)
A third of all projects were successfully completed on time and on budget over the past year. (Standish Group)
80% of “high-performing” projects are led by a certified project manager. (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Insights and Trends: Current Programme and Project Management Practices 2012)
One in six IT projects have an average cost overrun of 200%. (Harvard Business Review 2004)
44% of project managers use no software, even though PWC found that the use of commercially available PM software increases performance and satisfaction. (Pricewaterhouse Coopers)
More than 90% of organizations perform some type of project postmortem or closeout retrospective. (The Standish Group: CHAOS Research Report 2013)
On average, it takes 7 years in the profession to go from entry-level to managing large, complex projects. (ESI International: Annual Salary Survey 2013)
The average large IT project runs 45% over budget, 7% over time, and delivers 56% less value than expected. (Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2015)
Only 64% of projects meet their goals. (Project Management Institute: Pulse of the Profession 2015)
60% of companies don’t measure ROI on projects. (KPMG New Zealand: Project Management Survey 2010)
The United States economy loses $50-$150 billion per year due to failed IT projects. (Gallup Business Review)
In just a 12 month period 49% of organizations had suffered a recent project failure. In the same period only 2% of organizations reported that all of their projects achieved the desired benefits. 86% of organizations reported a shortfall of at least 25% of targeted benefits across their portfolio of projects and many organizations failed to measure benefits so they are unaware of their true status in terms of benefits realization. (KPMG – Global IT Project Management Survey 2005)
According to an IBM study, only 40% of projects meet schedule, budget and quality goals. (Harvard Business Review 2004)

If you have any other project management statistics please share them with us.

March 14, 2016July 1, 2022

Raines Court, Hackney

Protected from the weather and supported by industrial control systems, factories can produce a range of components from simple panels to fully fitted-out modules which are ready to be assembled on site. And here is where the arguments start: advantages include more consistent working conditions and therefore better quality of performance and finishes, less wastage of materials, fewer journeys to site, less disruption of the local neighbourhood, faster construction times, better health and safety. These are some of the benefits which factory built homes can bring.

"Modular Eco-House System" in cooperation with Vita Giannini 3Ddesign by Antonis Manolessos — “Modular Eco-House System” in cooperation with Vita Giannini 3D design by Antonis Manolessos

“If we don’t keep investigating prefab, we risk squandering a lot of resources and not delivering enough housing.” says Andy Matthews of architect Proctor & Matthews.

An extended experiment into the potential for delivering high-quality housing through off-site construction methods Raines Court is one of the largest prefabricated schemes built to date in the UK. Raines Court consists of 61 shared ownership flats (11×3-bed, 41×2-bed, 1×1-bed plus 8 x live/work units) for public sector key workers and local people in Hackney on moderate incomes on the site of the former dairy products distribution yard on Northwold Road, Stoke Newington. The main components are modular units complete with fixtures and fittings, tiling, bathrooms, kitchens, heating, transported by lorry from York and craned into position. With its steel-framed modules, zinc-clad faÃƒ§ade and splashes of vivid colour, Raines Court wears its modular form proudly.

Public opinion is divided on its success as a result of this but it has won several architectural awards and there is no doubting the generous layout and provision of the flats.

At six-storeys in a largely low-rise neighbourhood, the scheme is a radical, bold insertion that establishes a civic presence.

This estate was the second Peabody development constructed using prefabricated modules manufactured and was completed in 2003.

Client: Peabody Trust

Architect: AHMM

Structural Engineer: whitbybird

Contractor: Wates

Principal Supplier: Yorkon

Completion: 2003

Cost: £8.9 Million

Awards:

British construction Industry Awards: Best Practice 2004

Housing Design Award 2004

RIBA Award for Architecture 2004

Housing Design Award 2001

Housing Forum Demonstration Project 2001

March 10, 2016March 7, 2023

7 Tips You Need to Be a Super Project Manager

March 6, 2016July 1, 2022

You Were Never Made to Be ‘Productive’

Compared to people in other industrialized nations, Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacation days, and retire later in life. Busyness, once seen as the curse of the disadvantaged, has become equated with status and importance. Our work increasingly defines who we are.

“Godly rest (distinct from play, relaxation, or sleep) is inextricably tied to our identity as children of God.”

The solution perhaps is to be “Lazy Intelligent”? That sounds like something an unsuccessful, lazy slacker would say, isn’t it? Actually, it’s the opposite. One of America’s most influential and controversial science fiction authors Robert Heinlein uttered these words during his time. Despite his nod to laziness, Heinlein went on to pen hit titles such as Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land.

Productive laziness is not about doing absolutely nothing at all. It’s not about just sitting around and drinking coffee or engaging in idle gossip while watching the non-delivered project milestones disappear into the horizon. In fact, this behavior would lead to a very short-lived project management career.

Laziness Is Not Synonymous with Stupidity

Instead, productive laziness should be viewed as a more focused approach to management. Adopting this mindset means concentrating efforts where it really matters, rather than spreading yourself thing over unimportant, non-critical activities that in some cases don’t need to be addressed at all.

According to the Pareto Principle — Also Known as the “80/20 Rule” — 80 Percent of the Consequences Stem from 20 Percent of the Causes.

While the idea has a rule-of-thumb application, it’s also commonly misused. For example, just because one solution fits 80 percent of cases, that doesn’t mean it only requires 20 percent of the resources needed to solve all cases.

The principle, suggested by management thinker Joseph M. Juran, was named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, who observed that 80 percent of property in Italy was owned by 20 percent of the population. As a result, it was assumed that most of the result in any situation was determined by a small number of causes.

Rest Is at the Center of God’s Design

Every smart but lazy person should consider the 80/20 Rule each day. For managers, the principle is a reminder to concentrate on the 20 percent of work that really matters.

Contrary to belief, 80 percent of success is not just showing up. In fact, only 20 percent of what you do during the day will produce 80 percent of your results. Therefore, it is important to identify and focus on that 20 percent during the working day.

When genius and laziness meet, the results can be magical. Being just the right combination of smart and lazy can bring you to have a real edge over others. Interestingly enough, smart lazy people are generally better suited for leadership roles in organizations. These people make great strategic thinkers and leaders. They do things in a smart way in order to expend the least effort. They don’t rush into things, taking that little bit of extra time to think and find the shortest, best path.

They question, contradict, and show dissent against inefficient methods or unnecessary tasks.

“Whenever There Is a Hard Job to Be Done, I Assign It to a Lazy Man; He Is Sure to Find an Easy Way of Doing It. — Bill Gates”

Bill’s not the only guy, who believes that laziness doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. German Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke was the chief of staff for the Prussian Army for 30 years. He is regarded as one of the greatest strategists of the latter 1800s among historical scholars and is the creator of the more modern method of directing armies in the field.

Moltke observed his troops and categorized them based on their intelligence, diligence and laziness. If soldiers proved to be both lazy and smart, they were promoted to leadership because they knew how to be successful with efficiency. If soldiers were smart and diligent, they were deployed into a staff function, focusing on the details. Soldiers who were not smart and lazy were left alone in hopes they would come up with a great idea someday. Finally, soldiers who were not smart but diligent were removed from ranks.

Like Moltke’s army, the lazy manager is all about applying these principles in the delivery and management of work. You’re likely not stupid since you’ve landed the management position, but how are your lazy skills? Applying smart-lazy tactics will not only allow your work to be more successful, but you will also be seen as a successful individual and a top candidate for future leadership roles.

Think return on investment (time spent versus money earned ratio) rather than busy work and don’t restrict yourself to a certain way of doing things just for the sake of the status quo.

These people make great strategic thinkers and leaders. They do things in a smart way in order to expend the least effort. They don’t rush into things, taking that little bit of extra time to think and find the shortest, best path.

In the wise words of Bill Gate’s and American automotive industrialist Walter Chrysler, “Whenever there is a hard job to be done, assign it to a lazy man or woman for that matter; as he or she is sure to find an easy way of doing it.”

For an overachieving people-pleaser like me, thinking of rest as an innate part of who we were created to be—not as a discipline or something to be earned—is compelling. It is yet another form of God’s infinite grace, one that’s needed today more than ever.

Co-Author Peter Taylor

Described as “perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring speaker in the project management world today”, Peter Taylor is the author of two best-selling books on ‘Productive Laziness’ – ‘The Lazy Winner’ and ‘The Lazy Project Manager’.

March 3, 2016December 6, 2022

Fighting Gender Discrimination in The High-Tech World

New research suggests that tech-savvy women might face gender discrimination in jobs at high-tech firms, partly due to mismanaged projects.

It shows gender discrimination is still as prevalent in the UK as it was 20 years ago, and comes as International Women’s Day will be celebrated this week on March 8, for the 103rd year.

The book “The Recruitment, Retention and Advancement of Technical Women: Breaking Barriers to Cultural Change in Corporations” by the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, a Palo Alto-based nonprofit organization focusing on the role of women at high-tech firms.

“More than a Quarter of Women Have Experienced Some Form of Gender Discrimination in the Workplace, a New Study Shows.”

Tech firms typically rely on a “hero mindset” to save poorly organised runaway coding projects. As a result, employees with family responsibilities (generally considered to be women) are left out, the report said.

The Research Also Suggests out of 1,500 Office Workers in the Uk, 26% of Women Felt That Having Children Held Them Back in Their Career

The research also suggests that there is evidence of bias against women in recruitment and job assignment in places where high-tech corporate cultures thrive on this “hero mindset” that “rewards a ‘last minute’ crunch where 24/7 work becomes necessary to ‘save’ a project.” However, these environments fail to acknowledge family responsibilities and flexibility needs, the report said.

This fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants workday culture represents a pattern that’s grown mainly because an organization poorly defines project management and requirements.

For example, Silicon Valley’s sometimes frantic fire-fighting pace and in-your-face communication style produces many technical cultures that often “leave women feeling isolated and crushed,” notes the report.

The study also reflects what 59 senior business and tech managers — both men and women from companies like Cisco, Facebook, Goldman Sachs, Google, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft and Symantec — shared during a closed forum organized by the Anita Borg Institute. According to the report, it’s common in the high-tech world to find the modern equivalent of the “good old boys network” that tends to hire “people who are like them.”

Technical women these days are “still a rarity,” said Dr. Carolyn Simard, author of the report. She added that in the United States, women earn just 18 percent of computer science degrees in college. That figure is sharply down from the 37 percent observed in 1985. Yet technical demand is still expected to grow as much as 32 percent by 2018.

The Institute published a second report titled “Senior Technical Women: A Profile of Success,” which surveyed approximately 1,800 participants from seven unidentified high-tech firms in Silicon Valley.

It found that women now hold about four percent of the senior-level technical positions at high-tech firms and an estimated one-quarter of all tech jobs. On higher levels, women are more likely to end up in a managerial position compared to men (36.9 percent of women compared to 19 percent of men), who are more likely to hold “individual contributor positions” in technical coding jobs.

The second study also found that men and women in technical jobs value most of the same attributes for success, such as being analytical, questioning, risk-taking, collaborative, entrepreneurial, assertive, working long hours and being sociable.

Far more often than men, women generally have “primary responsibility for the household,” the study showed. However, senior-level tech women are much more likely to have a partner who holds primary responsibility for the household and children (23.5 percent of partnered senior women) compared to entry or mid-level women (13.4 percent). Senior-level tech women are also more likely than their male counterparts to forego a partner and children because they believe they might hinder their careers.

To improve work-life balance and stop any perceived gender bias against women in the high-tech world, the Anita Borg Institute is pushing a few ideas that will generate debate and controversy.

“The Equality Act 2010 Makes It Unlawful for an Employer to Discriminate Against Employees Because of Their Gender.”

One recommendation suggests that because there is evidence that women are eliminated in the hiring process at the resume review level, companies might consider “that all women candidates should at least get an interview.”

With backing from firms like HP, Google, Facebook, Intel and Intuit, the Anita Borg Institute even suggested that it might be possible to create a software tool designed to weed out any unconscious bias against hiring or promoting women in the tech world.

This “software tool for detecting bias” was proposed at the Institute’s forum. It can use language recognition to zero in on everything from performance evaluations to letters of recommendation that exhibit gender bias. An online tool like this can be found at Harvard’s Project Implicit.

“We envision building on such research to create a system where specific language can be fed and analyzed for the existence of bias,” the report said. “Using machine learning and text analysis methods would help organizations and individuals address the existence of bias before the damaging language is formally used in recommendations or evaluations.”

Additionally, the software would be a “high-impact diagnostic tool for calibrating organizations with regard to hiring and promotion decisions.”

March 2, 2016September 26, 2021

Bhargava the Founder of 5-hour Energy Wants to Put People Power to Good Use

February 27, 2016July 1, 2022

35 Powerful Quotes That Will Inspire You to Be Successful

Being a both a Christian and a leader can be an emotional ride, with ups, downs, joy, and disappointment. Words have power and these inspiring and motivating quotes are guaranteed to challenge the way you think and perhaps even change the way you live.

We hope they resonate with you as much as they have with us. Sometimes a little piece of advice or wisdom from a brilliant mind can help you motor through even the most difficult of times.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ’- Maya Angelou
It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it. ’- Lou Holtz
What happened, happened, and it wouldn’t have happened any other way. Lewis Carroll
Choose a job that you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life. ’- Confucius
Fools give full vent to their rage, but the wise bring calm in the end. ’- Proverbs 29:11
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. —Vince Lombardi
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. ’- Napoleon Hill
Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great. ’- Mark Twain
The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. ’- Ralph Nader
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. ’- Proverbs 27:17
If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way. ’- Napoleon Hill
What is not started will never get finished. ’- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
When you cease to dream, you cease to live. ’- Malcolm Forbes
Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs. ’- Farrah Gray
Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. ’- Unknown
Winners never quit, and quitters never win. ’- Vince Lombardi
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. ’- Unknown
Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. —Charles Swindoll
The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand. ’- Vince Lombardi
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes. ’- Maggie Kuhn
It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. ’- Warren Buffett
Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. —Eleanor Roosevelt
When someone tells me “no,” it doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them. ’- Karen E. Quinones Miller
If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else. —Booker T. Washington
You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. ’- Henry Ford
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. ’- Unknown
I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions. —Stephen Covey
Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. ’- Unknown
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck. ’- Unknown
I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination. —Jimmy Dean
If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat! Just get on. —Sheryl Sandberg. — Proverbs 15:1
A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. —George Addair
The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. —Amelia Earhart
A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold. — Proverbs 22:1

Bookmark this page and come back to it when you need some inspiration and motivation.

February 20, 2016July 1, 2022

66% of IT Projects Fail

Is Britain a nation of slient Christians?

Only one in three software projects will turn out to be successful. According to Standish Group’s 2015 Chaos report, 66% of technology projects (based on the analysis of 50,000 projects worldwide) end in partial or total failure. More surprisingly, these statistics have been the same for the last five years, the report shows. Furthermore, 17% of large IT projects go so badly that they can threaten the very existence of a company.

On Average, Large It Projects Run 45% over Budget and 7% over Time, While Delivering 56% Less Value than Predicted

Despite such failures, huge sums continue to be invested in IT projects and written off. For example the cost of project failure across the European Union was Ã¢”š¬142 billion in 2004.

It Projects Always Come with an Element of Risk, but There Are Huge Gains to Be Had If We Can Just Avoid Some of the Factors That Contribute Frequently to Project Failure

What makes a IT project successful, though?

According to the Standish Group, a successful project is on time, on budget and has satisfactory results (value, user and sponsor satisfaction, and meets target requirements). Other measures of success are widely known and accepted as true such as getting requirements right, providing effective leadership, and having full support and engagement from sponsors and users. Without these, it’s unlikely that any project would succeed.

But there’s more to success than what is widely known and, apparently, rarely followed. To reduce the risk of failure for your tech project, here are six key actions to take on the road to success.

1. Executive Vision and Involvement

Without a Executive Senior Sponsor Its Easy for Projects to Fail with the Organizational Resistance That Accompanies Large Change

Executive involvement is a primary variable in predicting the success of an IT project. Having a leadership team aligned across an organization articulating the purpose, value, and rationale for a project goes a long way towards getting stakeholders and end-users pulling the proverbial rope in the same direction.

2. Have a clear view of scope and timetable

Oftentimes, a tech project flops because its developers fail to plan and rush forward with an idea. However, some project managers plan so meticulously that they end up falling behind and lose momentum. The best approach is somewhere in between.

Interviewing team members, documenting requirements, prioritizing what is “mission critical” versus “nice to have,” getting agreement across stakeholders can feel like a never-ending cycle. As a result, requirement gathering has fallen out of fashion with many organizations in the past few years.

However, the ideal starting point for a successful technology project is to have a set of fundamental requirements with sufficient detail to develop against.

Requirement Gathering Is Labour-intensive and Challenging but Remains the Roadmap and Measuring Stick for Software Projects

This approach allows you to maintain sight of the business benefits as well as engaging stakeholders and responding to their feedback. In combination with a clear business case, a well-defined set of requirements also simplifies design and testing, two areas where projects tend to go sideways.

Ensure that requirements for the project are clearly defined and agreed upon among stakeholders and that you have a way to track, measure, and manage changes in requirements as appropriate during the project.

3. Define how you will deliver

When it comes to delivering a major project, one size does not always fit all. All products are customizable to some degree, so what might have worked in one company may not work in another company.

That being said, why reinvent the wheel if it’s already proven successful? Sometimes it can be more beneficial to use an existing off the shelf solution. Whichever direction you take, choose the delivery mode that works best for your company.

4. Risk Identification and Management

Every project has risk and there are many factors out of your control. People leave the organization, for better or worse, leadership changes, budgets get cut, however, many risks to projects can be mitigated or even eliminated with some forethought and on-going management. For example, do you have the resources you need to deliver the project (resource risk). Are project goals clearly understood and requirements clearly defined (scope risk). Do you have a realistic project plan and timeline (time risk).

Mitigating Risk Is a Combination of Science and Art, and Always a Balancing Process

5. Test your product again and again

A technology project is something that should overall support your business. It should not be something that dictates and forces you to change your operations. If this is happening, you should shift gears and focus on tweaking the technology, rather than lowering expectations and adopting less ideal requirements.

Adequate testing is a must for any tech project. While some features may be fine with automated testing, the best approach is to have a dedicated testing team. Testing activities should mirror those with the development team throughout the project’s lifetime. With thorough testing, a project should deliver with less design flaws or missing requirements.

6. Prioritize simplicity and performance

Developers often leave the external look and feel of a product to the wayside thinking these things are not necessities for the consumer to enjoy. However, user experience is absolutely critical to the success of the project.

Developers must consider things like storage, network requirements, processing speeds and overall performance in order to satisfy the customer. If users are going to have to wait for an extended period to allow information to load, there must be a good reason for the wait, otherwise they won’t return for future products.

Simplification and Improved Efficiency Is What Adds Value

Ultimately, using the product should be a smooth and intuitive experience. Additionally, tools and alternative routes must be placed logically without being intrusive. The process can be complicated, but the finished product should emit simplicity. After all, that’s what makes companies like Apple so successful. Simplification and improved efficiency is what adds value.

February 15, 2016July 1, 2022

A Day in the Life of a Project Manager

Managing Daily Routines: A Day in the Life of a IT Project Manager

We all know that project managers are responsible for managing projects through to completion while remaining on time and within budget, but how exactly do they do it? What does a typical day look like for a project manager?

Here’s a sample of what a typical day might look like for a project manager.

The Early Bird Gets the Worm, Success Comes to Those Who Prepare Well and Put in Effort

8.30 am: Starting the day
After settling in for the day’s activities, it’s time to plan out the day. Start up the computer, email clients, draft team schedules, organize time sheets and create the to-do list.

To-do lists help managers and their teams stay on track. If a manager notices that one team member has yet to deliver an assignment, they can address this issue first thing in the morning; otherwise, delays can build up and affect the project. Likewise, lists help managers see the next course of action for projects.

9:15 am: Time to get moving

Efficiency is a must and there is no time to be wasted in project management. After a quick review of project plans and to-do lists, the manager must be prepared to get his team moving right away.

Round up team members, review the project’s current position and emphasize the next course of action. In order to get the team moving on assignments, strong project managers set deadlines throughout the day.

Morning team meetings are also necessary to make sure each member understands the project and their assignments. It’s also a time to answer any questions for clarity or to get feedback or concerns from individuals.

While daily group meetings can be important, they are not always necessary and can be counter-productive. If the team is on the same page and everyone is ready to tackle the tasks of the day, spend a short period re-grouping so that the team can get on and complete their assignments. There’s no need to spend hours planning and reviewing.

10 am: Meetings, meetings, meetings
More than one project manager will be more than likely in the office and they will all need to work together for the benefit of the programme. This is why meetings with other managers and higher ups are necessary in a project manager’s day.

Meetings allow each project manager to go through the status of their respective projects and to track the weekly schedule and other deadlines. It is also a time to address any business-critical tasks that might come up.

It’s worth considering that only 7% of communication is spoken. The other 93% is made up of tone (38%) and body language (55%). So although facts and figures are easily communicated via email, letter or phone, an actual discussion or negotiation is best handled where you can see the other person and therefore are able to see for yourself what their tone and body have to say on the matter.

10:30 am: Tackling the small stuff
Meetings will be on and off throughout the day for project managers, which is why it’s important to tackle the small tasks in between appointments. Small tasks include wrapping project reports, booking future meetings, answering correspondences with other colleagues, reviewing items and team reports among other things.

It’s also important to schedule post-mortem meetings with the project team to review the success of projects in order to apply any lessons learnt to future projects.

11 am: Project kick-off meeting
When one project ends, another begins, which means it’s time for yet another project kick-off meeting. Kick-off meetings can take on various forms, depending on the type of business. However, they all share the same basic needs.

Every individual involved with the new project should be in attendance and have the latest version of project specifications in written form. As project manager, it might be wise to send this to team members several days before the kick-off meeting to ensure everyone has time to review.

During a kick-off meeting, it’s important to review the overall goals for the project, both commercial and technical details, break down functional requirements, and spend time for discussion and questions. By allowing team members to communicate questions and share ideas, it opens the lines of communication and may bring up potential concerns that might have been missed in the initial planning stages.

Conclude kick-off meetings with a definition of the next steps and be sure individuals are aware of deadlines and their assignments.

11:30 am: Reviewing project specs, budgets and scheduling submissions
Other important tasks to tackle in between meetings include reviewing specifications and budgets and schedules for future projects. If a project begins that day, now would be a good time to apply the finishing touches to the project documentation before presentation and approval.

When it comes to establishing project estimates and budgets, a project manager must bring all of his experience into play in order to create a realistic budget that includes wiggle room for factors such as project complexity, team experience and skill levels, stakeholders involvement, time needed, third-party services needed, and contingency allowances among many other things.

It’s Not Easy to Squeeze in a Lunch Break, but It’s Often Necessary for the Project Managers Health and Sanity

12 pm: Lunch
In the midst of the seeming chaos that is project management, be sure to fuel up for the rest of the day’s work. Lunch is also a great span of time to check in with team members to make sure they are still on target for later-day deadlines.

2 pm: Launching the next project
After digesting lunch, it’s time to launch the next project. Get the whole team ready to go live and present the project to the client and begin testing aspects of the project in a live environment. It’s a time to spot problems and address them and review schedules and deadlines and other project needs.

3 pm: Time for everything else
The final two hours in the office are spent addressing everything else on the project manager’s plate. A project manager must be good at multi-tasking and whatever duties couldn’t be accomplished throughout the day are reserved for the final hours. Most of the time, lower priority tasks are reserved for afternoon hours. These tasks could include project update meetings with various departments, logging finances, reviewing monthly project schedules, approving time sheets, writing weekly reports, sorting purchase orders and communicating with suppliers. There are so many other small to-do list items that project managers are responsible for, but are often overlooked.

Spending Time at the End of the Day as Well as the Beginning to Review and Plan Will Only Help You Succeed as a Project Manager

5 pm: Review the day, plan for tomorrow
Before heading home, review the day’s list and what’s been accomplished. Anything that has been added or was left unfinished should be scheduled for the next day or sometime throughout the week. Reflect on your team’s work and clear the email inbox. Use a filing system that makes sense for you and be ruthless about deleting stuff. The beauty of an empty inbox is a thing to behold. It is calming, peaceful and wonderful.

February 12, 2016July 1, 2022

65% of Mega-projects Fail

There’s a reason why Mega-projects are simply called “Mega-projects.” Extremely large in scale with significant impacts on communities, environment and budgets, mega-projects attract a lot of public attention and often cost more than 1 billion. Because of its grandiose, a successful mega-project requires a lot of planning, responsibility and work. Likewise, the magnificence of such projects also creates a large margin for failure.

Mega-projects Come with Big Expectations. But a Project’s Success Is Often in the Eye of the Beholder

Despite their socio-economic significance mega-projects – delivering airports, railways, power plants, Olympic parks and other long-lived assets – have a reputation for failure. It is thought that over optimism, over complexity, poor execution, and weakness in organizational design and capabilities are the most common root causes of megaproject failure.

Blinded by enthusiasm for the project, individuals and organizations involved with mega-projects often miscalculate the complexity of the project. When a mega-project is pitched, its common for costs and timelines to be underestimated while the benefits of the project are overestimated. According Danish economist Bent Flyvbjerg, its not unusual for project managers who are competing for funding to massage the data until it is deemed affordable. After all, revealing the real costs up front would make a project unappealing, he said. As a result, these projects are destined for failure.

For example, building new railways spanning multiple countries could prove to be disastrous if plans are overly complex and over-optimized. Such a large-scale project involves national and local governments, various environmental and health standards, a wide range of skills and wages, private contractors, suppliers and consumers; therefore, one issue could put an end to the project. Such was the case when two countries spent nearly a decade working out diplomatic considerations while building a hydroelectric dam.

Complications and complexities of mega-projects must be considered thoroughly before launch. One way to review the ins and outs of a project is through reference-class forecasting. This process forces decision makers to look at past cases that might reflect similar outcomes to their proposed mega-project.

Poor execution is also a cause for failure in mega-projects. Due to the overoptimism and overcomplexity of a project, it’s easy for project managers and decision makers to cut corners trying to maintain cost assumptions and protect profit margins. Project execution is then overwhelmed by problems such as incomplete design, unclear scope, and mathematical errors in risk assessment and scheduling.

Researchers at McKinsey studied 48 struggling mega-projects and found that in 73 percent of the cases, poor execution was responsible for cost and time overruns. The other 27 percent ran into issues with politics such as new governments and laws.

Low productivity is another aspect of poor execution. Even though trends show that manufacturing has nearly doubled its productivity in the last 20 years, construction productivity remains flat and in some instances has even declined. However, wages continue to increase with inflation, leading to higher costs for the same results.

According to McKinsey studies, efficiency in delivering infrastructure can reduce total costs by 15 percent. Efficiency gains in areas like approval, engineering, procurement and construction can lead to as much as 25 percent of savings on new projects without compromising quality outcomes. This proves that planning before execution is worth its weight in gold.

We Tend to Exaggerate the Importance of Contracting Approach to Project Success or Failure

Finally, weaknesses in organizational design and capabilities results in failed megaprojects. For example, organizational setups can have multiple layers and in some cases the project director falls four or five levels below the top leadership. This can lead to problems as the top tier of the organizational chain (for example, subcontractors, contractors and construction managers) tend to focus on more work and more money while the lower levels of the chain (for example, owner’s representative and project sponsors) are focused on delivery schedules and budgets.

Likewise, a lack of capabilities proves to be an issue. Because of the large-scaled, complex nature of mega-projects, there is a steep learning curve involved and the skills needed are scarce. All the problems of megaprojects are compounded by the speed at which projects are started. When starting from scratch, mega-projects may create organizations of thousands of people within 12 months. This scale of work is comparable to the significant operational and managerial challenge a new start-up might face.

In the end, it seems that if organizations take the time to thoroughly prepare and plan for their mega-projects, problems like overcomplexity and overoptimism, poor execution, and weaknesses in organizational design and capabilities could be avoided. After all, mega=projects are too large and too expensive to rush into.

February 10, 2016January 15, 2024

‘Creation From Catastrophe’ a New exhibition looks at how architects are doing more to prepare us for disaster – but is it enough?

Out of the ashes rises great opportunity. That is the theme of the new exhibit “Creation from Catastrophe — How Architecture Rebuilds Communities” at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Featuring a number of impressive projects dedicated to rebuilding communities after a disaster, the exhibit explores the evolving relationship between man, architecture, and nature.

In an interview with Dezeen magazine, curator Jes Fernie said the exhibit reveals an “expanded idea of what architecture is and what architects can do.”

From Floating Schools to Unseen Plans for an Alternative London, a New Exhibition Showcases the Good, the Bad and the Ugly Architectural Responses to Urban Disasters

The exhibit, which opened on Jan 27 and runs through April 24, spans nearly four centuries riddled with successful disaster relief projects. It features designs for rebuilding after London’s Great Fire in 1666 as well as plans for water communities in Nigeria, which could be affected by unpredictable coastal water levels in Africa’s near future.

Here are five other unique projects you can follow up on when visiting the Catastrophe exhibit this spring:

1. The Reliance Building, Atwood, Burnham and Co., North State Street, Chicago, 1890-1895
While devastating, Chicago’s Great Fire of 1871 paved a new way for architectural design. Considered by many to have birthed the Chicago School architectural style, the disaster also led to a new type of architectural design: the skyscraper.

In an effort to create fire-retardant buildings, designers utilized tools such as steel frames and sheet glass coverings. The Reliance Building, constructed by Atwood, Burnham, and Co, is one of the first post-fire buildings that fathered a design very similar to the modern day skyscrapers we know.

The Architect Bringing Cheap, Super-Light Disaster Shelters to Nepal

2. Housing for Nepal earthquake victims, Shigeru Ban, 2015
Simple, traditional homes in Nepal were the ones that withstood the catastrophic earthquake in 2015. As a result, Pritzker Prize-winning, disaster-relief architect Shigeru Ban designed housing structures for the victims.

Ban’s modular housing concept is modelled on the traditional homes that survived the earthquake. His design uses wood frames for the structure, cardboard tubes for the truss system of the roof, and debris from the disaster as infill for the wall. Thatch and plastic sheeting provided an extra layer of protection on the rooftop.

3. Women’s Centre in Darya Khan, Pakistan, Yasmeen Lari, 2011
Pakistani architect Yasmeen Lari (the first woman architect in Pakistan) showcases architecture’s role and influence in society. Throughout her career, the 75-year-old designer has built over 36,000 homes for earthquake and flood victims throughout Pakistan. She is also the founder of Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, which allows architecture students to train local residents to rebuild their homes and communities after a disaster using natural resources like bamboo and mud.

One of her well-known projects includes the Women’s Centre in Darya Khan, Pakistan. Lari holds a deep affection for Pakistani women, who are typically displaced and struggling with the care of their children following a natural disaster. The layout allows women to unite and socialize and keep their children safe. And in the event of a flood striking, the first floor is high enough so that waters cannot reach it.

Sustainable post-tsunami reconstruction master plan for ConstituciÃƒ³n

4. Post-tsunami sustainability plan for ConstituciÃƒ³n, Chile, Elemental, 2014
After 2010’s deadly earthquake shook the coastal cities of Chile, plans for rebuilding and protecting cities like ConstituciÃƒ³n became a priority. In an effort to work with nature and the community, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena’s firm Elemental, proposed the intriguing method to plant more trees along the coast to absorb waters and prevent flooding.

The idea is that there is an opportunity to do something that would have long-term positive impacts, rather than a temporary fix that might be ruined by another major earthquake or tsunami in the area. The project will hopefully address short-term needs as well as potential long-term problems.

Ideas for rebuilding Hoboken, New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy.

Resist. Delay. Store. Discharge. A Comprehensive Urban Water Strategy

Resist. Delay. Store. Discharge. A Comprehensive Urban Water Strategy

5. Rebuilding of Hoboken, New Jersey after Hurricane Sandy, OMA, 2012
Following the disastrous Hurricane Sandy that struck the Northeastern United States in 2012, about 80 percent of Hoboken, New Jersey homes were flooded, leaving the community wondering how to rebuild itself with an emphasis on flood defense.

That’s when Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas’ firm OMA offered a solution that would combine hard infrastructure and soft landscaping, integrating coastal defense and natural drainage to protect against future flooding. The ideas between OMA’s and Elemental’s projects are very similar in that they look to work with nature rather than avoiding it.

Fernie told Dezeen that OMA offers a multi-pronged approach: resist, delay, restore and discharge. It acknowledges the complex water system and works with it, he said.

Godinterest

Posts