THE KEY TO MASTERING COMPLEXITY

What does it take to deliver complex infrastructure projects successfully? For decades UK construction was plagued by an apparent inability to undertake flagship schemes without them being late or over budget. Recently, with projects such as the Olympics and High Speed 1, the industry has turned this around. But it's a reputation hard won and easily lost.

Bechtel's Ailie MacAdam has 30 years' experience with construction and project management giant Bechtel. For the UK Infrastructure Summit, she distilled her experience on projects including High Speed 1 and Crossrail to give an insight into what underlies a successful project. She concluded: "It's all about deliverability and constructability."

Other key aspects needing a sharp focus are the question of how a project under construction integrates with existing infrastructure around it, as well as engaging with stakeholders and retaining their confidence.

"I see deliverability as being the bigger umbrella with constructability fitting under it," she says. Deliverability covers questions such as do you have an aligned agenda with the stakeholders? Do the cost, the programme and the scope make sense? Do you have a supply chain that can respond to the cost and the scope and the programme? "Otherwise you get into a situation where the project is launched and the supply chain just doesn't have the capacity to respond."

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