Project Management
CASE STUDY:
Newtown, South Africa, is a suburb of Johannesburg that boasts a rich cultural heritage. As part of an attempt to help rejuvenate Newtown, the Nelson Mandela Bridge was constructed to link important roads and centres of commerce in Johannesburg. Spanning 42 electrified railway lines, the bridge (Figure 1) has been acclaimed for its functionality and beauty.
Lack of space for the support pylons (towers) between the railway lines dictated that the bridge design would have a long span. This resulted in a structure with the bridge deck supported by stay cables from pylons of unequal height. The pylons on the northern side are 48 meters high, and those in the southern side are 35 meters high.
The pylons are composite columns consisting of steel tubes that had to be filled with concrete after being hoisted into the vertical position. The decision was made to pump the concrete into the tubes through a port at the bottom of each tube. This had to be done in a single operation. Although the technology of casting concrete this way was not new, the columns were the highest in South Africa, and filling them would set a world record for bottom-up pumping of self-curing concrete.
The pump for the concrete was placed at ground level between the electrified railway lines, which exposed workers to the risks of being near continuous rail operations. The pumping method posed the risk of the stone and the cement in the concrete mixture segregating in the pylon tubes before the concrete solidified, which would compromise the strength of the concrete. Another risk was that the pump might fail and result in the concrete solidifying in an uncompleted pylon, rendering further pumping of concrete from the bottom impossible. Two contingencies were considered: an additional pump on standby, and completing the process by pouring concrete from the top of the pylon.
The concrete had to be transported by trucks to the site, which risked interrupting the concrete supply owing to traffic congestion in the city.
Despite working over a busy yard with trains running back and forth, no serious accident occurred at any time in the 420,000 man?hours project. The pump never failed, and construction finished on time. The stay cables?totalling 81,000 meters in length?were installed and the bridge deck lifted off temporary supports, all while the electrified railway lines beneath remained alive. Upon completion of the bridge, some felt that the costs incurred to reduce the risks had been excessive; others held that the risks were too high and not enough had been done to reduce them.
Figure 1: The Nelson Mandela Bridge, Johannesburg.
REQUIRED
Assume that you have been appointed as the project manager for a new proposed large-scale project investment such as the Nelson Mandela Bridge. A preliminary feasibility study is complete but you now have the task of a detailed feasibility analysis and convincing the Highways agency (The executive government body responsible for roads and highways) to commit to the project. If the project receives the go ahead, you will have the task of appointing designers and construction contractors to design, construct, and commission the project.
PART A: KEY STAGES INVOLVED IN DELIVERING MAJOR PROJECTS
With specific reference to the project life cycle, evaluate the key stages that are involved in the delivery of major projects. Include in your discussion an evaluation of the key decisions (and relevant decision criteria) which project managers or their clients must take into account to ensure successful delivery of such projects.
PART B: RISK INDENTIFICATION, ANALYSIS AND MANAGEMENT
With specific reference to the Nelson Mandela Bridge Project, identify the obvious risks and how they were addressed or how they could have been addressed.
Furthermore, discuss the major potential sources of risk generally inherent in such major construction projects. Your assessment should include an identification of the key sources of risks and uncertainty and a quantitative evaluation of the likely exposure (High, Medium, or Low) of the project participants to these risks and uncertainties. Include in your assessment strategies that should be employed to manage these risks.
PART C: PROJECT PROCUREMENT
There are many options available for procurement of major construction projects. The main differences between the options include the payment mechanisms and the risk allocation between the project participants. Discuss the key features and risk allocation inherent in the different procurement methods and recommend with reasons a procurement strategy that you would consider most appropriate for such a major complex construction project.
PART D: USE OF IT IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Discuss with examples, where appropriate, the role that IT can play to improve the project management processes in the delivery of major building projects such as the Nelson Mandela Bridge project.
PART E: RECOMMENDATIONS
Provide a brief but clear set of recommendations which project managers and their clients must take into account in order to overcome project challenges that they are likely to face when delivering complex building projects such as the Nelson Mandela Bridge project.
NOTES
1. Your report should not exceed 3000 words.
2. All textbooks, journal papers, articles, websites accessed etc, should be included in your Bibliography, and any subject matter which is used in your submission should be included in your reference section using the Harvard system.
3. Marks will be allocated for Content, Structure, Coherence, References, and Bibliography (depth of research and currency) and overall presentation.
4. Reference to the student?s experiences in the industry (if any) and professional perspectives is encouraged, where it serves to support or illustrate the arguments and discussions within the text.
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