Quantum Executive Director, Steven Beaumont, looks at different sectors in the construction industry and discusses how we can all relate to the problems they face more than you might think.
I began these articles some time ago and the theme was football and how if you think carefully, there are similarities with construction. I then went on to look at things we take for granted in everyday life and how construction has helped these things evolve. Remember the car and the road, the aircraft and the airport?
We have often discussed records, the importance of these to demonstrate what happened when we are talking retrospectively about something, we even talked about how it is possible to make a small movie to show how a particular issue became a problem and then a dispute. Telephones were mentioned recently and how we can use these to take pictures – which are records. So now, let’s talk about football again.
I like this sport and quite a lot too. Recently some eminent teams have been spending huge amounts of money and then they sack their manager. Something doesn’t seem right about all this. I mean why spend billions of Riyals to only sack the man who spent the money?
Construction is similar, a Project Director spends the money to build the project and sometimes he can spend more than he should. Sometimes the Project Director gets the sack, sometimes he doesn’t. It all depends on the circumstances and how much responsibility the Project Director had.
“The thing to note is that when a problem becomes a dispute and when the dispute is settled by tribunal, you need the correct holistic team who work seamlessly together”
Now I heard this week that the World Cup stadiums in and around Doha will be ready for 2020, which means the stadiums can be thoroughly tested before the World Cup in 2022. So this must mean the Project Directors are on top of the management, programming, procurement and construction. It means the teams building the stadiums have set out with known responsibilities and targets; this is similar to how members of a football team work. The Project Director will have a plan B, again this is similar to a football team where substitutions can be brought on and the team can to an extent be shuffled around. I say to an extent because you wouldn’t want to swap the attack formation with the line of defence now would you?
I saw something similar to this recently in a construction dispute. The dispute’s value was into the billions and the team brought together were very good and they knew how to produce the articles, exhibits, and statements to deliver the Contractors assertions. The problem became apparent when the legal representatives got involved, and changed what and how the team were working together. This caused lots of problems and arguments. I was asked why I thought this was and my answer was simple, you have the wrong legal representation. The team managing the day to day delivery of the data and information are fine, unfortunately the ‘manager’ isn’t.
The manager didn’t get the sack though before you ask.
The thing to note here is that when a problem becomes a dispute and when the dispute is settled by tribunal, you need the correct holistic team who work seamlessly together. Having the correct records and statements are of course essential, as is having a good team but so is the team selected to recover the time and money. However, if the manager isn’t the correct person then the dispute and the assertions made at tribunal can fall apart and cost billions.
So, let’s move back to the stadiums, the intention is correct, the determination is correct and now the correct project teams will complete the stadiums in, or by, 2020. This is how a construction project should operate and by everyone in the team aiming for the common goal of safe completion by 2020, the individual goals of the stakeholders to the project are also achieved. The perfect ‘Win Win’. It’s just the same as a football team, each member of the team has a job to do, and support his colleagues in the team. The manager of the team works with them and directs them on and off the field. When teams or stakeholders pull together like this there is every opportunity to win and achieve success. If, however, there are members of the team, or stakeholders, or managers who do not manage correctly then this lets the whole team down. So, here’s to the Stadium teams – work together to deliver!
“Having the correct records and statements are of course essential, as is having a good team but so is the team selected to recover the time and money”
Steven Beaumont, Executive Director
Steven Beaumont, a Quantum Executive Director, is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Steven has over 20 years of experience in both local and international construction project disputes and regularly delivers construction claims classes and lectures to industry professionals throughout the GCC. QGS is acknowledged as one of the leading management consultancies dedicated to serving the interests of national and international construction and engineering organisations.
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This article was previously published in the October 2015 edition of Business@Qatar Magazine published by the Gulf Times Newspaper