Sydney Australia’s iconic opera house is a study in the failure project of Australia. The original plan of the project is in four year timetable and it has a budget of AU$7 million budget. At the end the project took AU$102 million with 14 years to be completed. The construction of this project is not managed properly, therefore it is considered as one of the failed project. The project is failed as it was not followed the processes signify the project management along with accounting processes. The main focus behind this project is to design future National Opera House which can showcase creative as well as technical abilities of Australia (Sydney Opera House Failed Project 2017). This project is mainly failed due to cost and time overrun.
This project report analyzes the ranges used to control system for cost, schedule, scope and quality. It also analyzes the cost and time overrun which are identified during the project, extents to which the team of project execution can be responsible for issues related to cost and time overrun. All the project related factors of cost and time overrun issues are related with each other. The actions related to project management are analysed for better control of the project plan so that the project can get success. The project stakeholders are responsible for delivering the project on time to the project manager.
The project controls are termed as gathering of project data, administration of data and analytical actions used to compute in addition to control time as well as cost outcomes for the project work. Through proper communication of information it can assist to effective decision making related to the construction work. In the Sydney Opera House Project, cost control system is required to identify and lessen the business expenses for increasing profits and starting with the budget processes (Sydney Opera House Failed Project 2017). The project owner compares the project’s actual budget with the budgeted expectations. The actual project cost is higher than planned budget, therefore the management takes proper steps to control entire project cost (Kerznerand Kerzner 2017). Cost control is a key significant factor to maintain and grow the project profitability. Outsourcing is needed to control the project cost as the project can find cheaper way to perform the project tasks.The construction company can calculate net pay as well as tax withholdings for the workers that can save time plus expenses of workplace employer.
The first step to establish this construction project work is estimation of how long the project activities will take from time it starts and finishes. The total duration of this project activity is time for project work done plus it is associated with waiting time (Flemingand Koppelman 2016). The activity duration estimation is based on quality of the project resources expected to use on the project activities. Over the project lifecycle, it is involved with activities which can source delay and hastening tends to reject one another. The schedule project control leads to measure the project progress and compare to plan progress on timely and daily basis. The schedule control processes is involved to gather data on performance of project and compare with planned schedule performance (Harrisonand Lock 2017). A daily reporting period is established to compare progress with estimated project progress. Reporting of construction work is done on weekly and monthly basis based on project complexity and duration of work.
The project work requires managing scope so that the project can able to meet with its project goals. As the construction of Opera House is not able to meet with its time and scope, therefore scope is required to control. Scope control is required monitoring and controlling entire process group so that the work is controlled on time (Nicholasand Steyn 2017). For the construction project, the scope is that surface is prepared for building, foundations require lying and control system requires expanding before building work is started. The project becomes complicated as it requires various things to be considered. The contractor is required to map building site such that the suppliers and builders can know the part of project (Kerzner 2018). It can map with corresponds with the project scope. It is responsibility of general contractor to determine jobs require performing. A detailed plan is created with information so that the contractor can control project scope (Binder 2016). As the project leader and contractor will get formal approval from the stakeholders, and then well defined project tasks and requirements are used to work as per project goals. Possible project changes are forecasted based on project requirements as it can change the project scope and cause delay in time to complete the project work.
The control system for quality is required to maintain a better quality of the construction materials. The professionals of project controls are not concerned in direct management of project work and management of quality (Verzuh 2015). Quality inspections are the works which are undertaken by the project team members to finish entire project scope. There are consequences to get quality materials and administer contractors for monitoring the project outcomes.Mainly, the quality control system is required to focus on meeting with project’s requirements (Loveet al. 2015). Quality assurance is focused to provide confidences that quality needs are to be fulfilled. In the construction project of Opera House, the control system evaluates, inspects and tests the product to detect if it can fulfill client’s needs, if the project is free of defects and conform to the project specifications. Quality control system identifies the defects after the product is formed. The project manager provides quality assurance for this project when the product can meet with quality and compliance needs (Adam, Josephsonand Lindahl 2015). Quality assures for successful completion of the project work focused on time and cost.
The construction work of Sydney Australia’s Opera House Project is one of the key significant sector of the construction industry in Australia, faces significant overrun of cost as well as time. Both of those overrun cause delay in the entire project work. The purpose of this section is to study how cost as well as time overrun in the construction projects is based on forecasted cost, predicted time plus nature of the project (Miranda Sarmentoand Renneboog 2017). Following are the reasons behind cost and time overrun during the project such as:
Poor planning: Improper planning is considered as detrimental effects on the time and cost presentation of the construction project of Opera House. There is no resource scheduling in the project which leads to delay in entire project development stages. Improper planning of entire project work is lead to cost overrun and delay in project with longer duration and high project budget (Rahman, Ismailand Jaber 2018).The project is launched with no such finalized plans; however the project client changed floor planning from two theaters to four after staring of construction work. Each of different management team members have distinguished project goals and taken different decisions from others.
Financial problems: The construction project is not receiving proper budget as per planned, therefore it faces cost overrun. Proper budget is not allocated to each project activities based on the project requirements (Ali 2018). There are no management as well as accounting expectations which lead to wastage of the materials costs and project cost. There is undefined project budget due to which the management team begins escalation. The cost is escalated because of change orders and wrong survey of construction site.
Delay in land acquisition: In this construction project, land acquisition is to be completed before the project is being tendered. This project work is awarded with partial land acquisition by the project owners (Larsen et al. 2015). Delay in the acquisition of land as well as improper project planning considered to be an impact on cost and time of the work. Delay in land acquisition is driven based on some factors. One factor is that delays are resistance by local community (Deshmukh and Menkudle 2018). The compensation is offered based on value of the agricultural lands where the post construction is done based on project land values.
Unexpected ground conditions: The ground conditions are reviewed by the trial pits as well as sampling onsite. The definite site conditions for amount of the project are not determined until there is achievement of excavation. Unexpected sub surface conditions are required redesign of the project at some extents. There is also change in ground conditions which can lead to problems of moving machinery along with suppliers in the site, underlying excavations along with laying foundations (Adam, Josephson and Lindahl 2017). There is also an increase in cost and add time required for the construction work.
Shortage of the construction materials: Due to high development of the buildings work, there is shortage of the construction materials. The local market is not capable to provide demand of the building materials; therefore it is required to import the construction materials beginning of abroad (Sha’aret al. 2017). When it is not anticipated in real estimation of cost, delay in the project is occurred and prices of those elements are increased which lead to both cost and time overrun for the project work.
Inexperienced contractors: The contracted are being selected based on price, experience to undertake type of the construction project as well as track record to produce quality work by means of budget as well as on time. The contractors have lack of responsibilities as well as leadership to provide permission of buildings, secure the property and manage personnel on the site. Inexperienced contractors cannot be able to provide site surveying, disposing and recycling of the construction work (Azizand Abdel-Hakam 2016). It leads to delay and additional cost is raised as the project owner should re-tender remaining task to be conducted by the service provider.
Underestimation of construction cost: Before the project work gets approved by the contractor, the larger projects are underestimated due to lack of financing approvals. The projects are consisted of initial cost estimation errors which can lead to increase of fund for project completion (Amoateyet al. 2015). There is an increase in construction cost to become visible after the construction work commencements but the issue is raised through contract price estimation tender phase.
The cost and time overrun of project is held due to poor planning in design and execution phase. Therefore, the project execution team is responsible for those incurred overruns. In the construction project of Australia, times as well as cost are lifelines of the project, where the project manager can control time furthermore cost to make sure that the project is complete on time and within cost (Ahiaga-Dagbui et al. 2017). Project execution is a phase where the plan is designed prior to project phases. The project execution team can deliver project excepted results such as project deliverables and outputs. Following are reasons to which the project execution team is accountable for acquired time along with cost overrun such as:
A project execution team is responsible to execute entire construction project so that the project can compete within scheduled budget and time. Sydney Opera House Project is a large complex project because of communicational issues, uncertainties of time and lack of coordination on the firm resources (de Carvalho, Patahand de Souza Bido 2015). The project inhibits productivity as well as innovation in the business organization when the project execution team can cooperate with other team members. They have higher level of autonomy to make decisions for maximization of construction project success in terms of cost and time. The key components of the project execution are ability to work effectively in the project team. The execution team precedes the project plan and its project phases are distinguished for the project plan (Walker 2015). As the project execution team is not provided all required project requirements and not updated the project plan to the project team members, therefore it is difficult to understand what exact requirements of the project plan are. The project manager is not reviewed the project draft unless they can comprehend the main factors of cost moreover time overrun in the project (Cannonand Hillebrandt 2016). In a construction project of building, time, scope, cost and quality are main factors which are required to control for completion of project activities for project success and goal achievement.
Zheng et al. (2016) stated that it is key purpose of project execution team is absolute the project work definite in project plan and assemble with project objectives. Through the project execution phase, the team is not focused on the key processes such as management of people, followed project processes and communicated information to key project stakeholders and execution team members. Amirsayafi, Jin and Senaratne(2018) discussed that there are six gaps which would incur cost in addition to time overrun in the project execution phase such as absence of project understanding, misalignment by means of strategic goal and poor management of project changes. The execution team has lack of effective leadership to motivate the team members to work as per scheduled time and estimated cost for project success.
The project execution team cannot support the project manager to perform work of project to achieve the project objectives. The team is not provided resources as well as support to the project which can accountable to enable success of project work (Buvik and Rolfsen 2015). The project manager is not authorized to start entire project work. When the project work is tagged as closed, then hours and expenses are not approved. The project work is archived, and thenproject documentation is being closed with projected final project outcomes. The project executives are not defined the project strategies and lead the project with meaningful contribution of project work (Fadun and Saka 2018). Therefore, the construction project of Sydney’s Opera House was failed based on cost and time overrun.
Nasaruddin and Rahman (2016) analyzed that management of the resources in framework of the construction sector is a complex task. The factors which are identified for cost overrun and time overrun are poor planning, financial problems, and use of acquisition of land, unexpected ground conditions, shortage of the construction materials, inexperienced contractors and underestimation of construction cost. Those all identified problems are linked with each other as those all provides an impact on projected cost and time and therefore the project is not completed on scheduled time. When all those factors are mitigated, then the project is delivered as per client’s requirements in addition to expectations. The construction industry is consisted of greater impact on economy of the countries. It is a sector which can provide ingredients for development of the economy. Nicholas and Steyn (2017) stated that due to poor cost along with time management, the industry is faced huge amount of overrun of the project cost. Poor management of project cost as well as overrun is a problem and issue when it comes to cost of project in developed along with emerging countries.
In the construction project, there is an increase in project complexity and environment in which they are being constructed as greater demand on the construction manager to deliver the project work on schedule in planned budget along with higher quality of project materials (Love et al. 2015). A large infrastructure project of Sydney Opera House is delayed because of various project issues. Infrastructure project is playing a huge role in economical development of Australia. There is successful execution of the construction project which can keep in estimated cost and scheduled for delivery. The problem is that in the traditional construction contracts, the contract is being awarded with lower bidder to develop the construction strategy.
Aziz and Abdel-Hakam (2016) stated that cost overrun is where the clients can spend high amount of money for the project completion as compared to its estimated. Then the project work goes over the estimated budget. Buvik and Rolfsen (2015) discussed that schedule overrun is when the project gets delayed beyond the expected project time to complete the work. Due to lot of difficulties in the project work, more time is needed to complete the project work that it is initially planned. Most of the project work in Australia is being affected by the time overruns. Those can vary due to number of risks in the project work. Delay in acquisition of the land along with site handover is main reasons for the overrun of project cost in the pre-execution phases. Therefore, it is driven based on various factors. It is one of the main factors for delay in resistance by means of local community (Amoatey et al. 2015). Insufficient management of the scope of project and change in the project is prevalent to the infrastructure sector and there is also availability of the resources for the infrastructure sector. However, due to lack of resources assigned for the project work, the project is not completed within scheduled project time. In most of the construction project, time in addition to cost overrun is most significant issues in the building work (Zhou, Goh and Li 2015). Those issues are studies based on view of the stakeholders and focused on area or the country where the construction work is carried out.
In the complex project, the project management team is focused on the project controls focused on the costs as well as planning of schedule and controlling functions which assist the project team to develop the construction plan. The project management actions are taken in action for enhanced management of the project work and raise chances for successful release of the work. The project control is processes where the project manager can cooperate with the management staffs carry out to control the project work based on progress, quality as well as critical concerns of the project work. Verzuh (2015) illustrated that project control is project management function intended to achieve the project objectives as well as customer’s expectations in the scheduled timetable. It is involve with high level processes that the project management team can carry out to the project work. Project meetings is conducted to manage the project team accomplish with the project goals as well as project objectives. The project manager requires writing an agenda for meeting so that they can share the documents with the project participants of meeting. By controlling of quality of the project, it is probable that the project is to be completed and developed in line with the project expectations.
Quality control is involved in the business where the technical staffs are required to perform the activities like technical standards, setting of the business expectations and establish the requirements of the products. Quality control is started when there is proper initiation of the project work through the project lifecycle until there is proper development of product and hand over to the project client (Aziz and Abdel-Hakam 2016). Control system is ensured that the project activities as well as tasks are required at stage of the project lifecycle where there is sign off such that the project work can be continued.
The project management software is also used as program to run the desktop for the user. The software like MS project is used to streamline the project resources as well as processes of project management. It can execute the project work with ease where scheduling and budgeting of the project work is done properly. There is also close integration of the software for supporting proper decision making in the project. There is proper arrangement of the resources which are assigned for each activities of project. With simplified time management, the project team can enter and update the schedule and budget as per change in project requirements. From the project management software, Gantt chart is developed which can provide graphical illustration of the project schedule help to plan the project, coordinate along with track the project tasks within scheduled project plan. The software can eliminate cost and time overrun in the project so that the project is to be delivered on time and estimated budget (Amirsayafi, Jin and Senaratne 2018). The project manager can determine and calculate the start and finish date of the project so that there is proper tracking of starting and conclusion of the project work. The project manager can also track if the project is completed on scheduled time or not.
Conclusion
It is concluded that Sydney Opera House Project is failed due to poor project planning which will have an impact on the construction stages lead to lack of project plan, lack of coordination of the team members, poor communication among members of team and failure to identify the design of construction work on timely basis. The project work is required to have proper budget and time before requirements of the business is completed. The project work is viewed as failures which can overshoot the budget as well as time. The project is failed due to change in the organization’s priorities, inaccurate estimation of project needs and change in objectives of the project. The project professionals are used advanced technology to prevent time and cost otherwise it will reduce impact of the project work. The project management software such as Ms Project is designed for managing project resources like materials and subcontractors which will avoid details of production processes. Australian have options to access the project management software so that project time and cost is properly managed and it will not cause delay in the project completion time.
It is summarized from the entire study is that there is certain delay in the project which is occurred due to contracted work cause delay in the project. The main causes of project time and cost overrun are identified as poor project planning, lack of financial resources, lack of construction materials, unexpected ground conditions and others. There is also lack of management support in the project as the management team is not providing required products and services to the team members to complete the project work on scheduled time and estimated budget. There is high level of human role which can escalate on overrun occurrence for time in addition to cost. However, it is critical to handle needless project cost and extended completion time.
Following are the recommendations suggested to the project management team to cope up with the cost and time overrun in Sydney’s Opera House Project such as:
Use of project management software: The construction project team should use of project management software like Ms Project to schedule entire project plan and estimate total budget for the project. This software tool can help to analyze entire project plan based on project requirements.
Use customized agile project management:It is suggested as best approach for flexible managing the construction project work. Agile project management should overcome with change requirements, change in project timeline and change in project budget. Communication among the project team is managed properly for development builds at end of each sprints of the method.
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