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Posts with the 'Olympics' tag
The Secret of Success
Loughborough University were asked to produce a report on why the Olympics was so successful; identifying factors which have contributed to the London 2012 Olympic Park being delivered on time, on budget and with an exemplary health and safety record.
Their report "Pre-conditioning for success Characteristics and factors ensuring a safe build for the Olympic Park" highlighted the more human factors like respect, trust, clarity, pre-emption, challenge, consistency, collaboration, motivation, empowerment, communication, open-ness, fairness and assurance. Their practical influence on approaches to, and effectiveness of, leadership, worker involvement, cultural change, communication systems, risk management, monitoring and assurance are brought out.
At Ai Solutions we believe that interaction is key to successful management within CDM and many of our customers have already reaped the benefits of our collaborative approach. Much of what the report identifies should be common sense, the problem within the construction industry is the "silo approach" and the "its not my problem" style of thinking. The sooner we learn from the experiences at the Olympics the better.
If you would like to read the report please go to www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr955.pdf
CDM Lessons Learned from the Olympics
The HSE has published the results for their investigations (Project RR941) into the extent to which CDM helped or hindered the construction of London 2012 by reviewing how CDM duties were put into practice.
Key messages and findings from the report include:
- Millions of hours of work can be undertaken and a project delivered in a tight timescale without compromising health and safety
- Early and on-going planning, coordination and Contractor involvement were crucial
- Health and safety benefits could be linked directly to CDM 2007
- Business benefits could be linked directly to good health and safety performance and CDM 2007
- CDM 2007 needs to be embedded in projects from the outset and associated with quality management to ensure that it is aligned with business practices
These are all things that many of our readers will not be suprised by, but it is good to see this large project being described from the CDM point of view.
For more more information and to download the full report, see hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr941.htm
Free Olympics Health & Safety Event
The HSE will be running a free half-day seminar hosted by the TUC, focusing on the health and safety lessons learned from the London 2012 construction project in relation to leadership and worker involvement. The event will be held at the Congress Centre, London, 24 May 2012.
If you are interested in attending visit www.hse.gov.uk/events for more information.
Construction Funding Under Pressure
The market, which funds projects in areas such as railways, hospitals, airports and power generation, has apparently contracted amid pressures on bank balance sheets and regulatory changes according to the Financial Times.
If this is true it does not bode well for the Construction industry. We have seen a huge downturn in building in the UK and in some areas many smaller companies are going bust. It would be really nice to see an upward trend in construction.
Nevertheless, building still continues as the skyline in London shows. Let us hope the Olympics bring more funding into the market so that we can bottom out this downward trend.
Source: Financial Times
Knighthood For Olympic Construction Chief
Credit where credit is due, we understand that John Armitt, the chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, has been knighted in the Queen's New Year's Honour list for 2012.
This is in recognition of his contribution to construction and engineering, in particular the Olympic Park as well as his involvement in the Channel Tunnel.
If you would like to know who else has been honoured go to BBC News.
Olympics Safety Success - A One-off?
The SHP (Safety & Health Practitioner) reports that Mike Williams, the Principal Inspector of Construction for London said, that given the recent cuts to the regulator's budget and the consequent impact on how it carries out its proactive work, the success of the 2012 project "was, perhaps, a one-off".
Speaking at a health and safety forum held at the Olympics site in east London last week, Mr Williams described the level of health and safety achievement on the site as "fantastic".
Overall, he said, this approach was "constructive" and, while there were lessons to be learnt, and some minor incidents did occur, "the statistics can't be bettered".
We believe this is a fantastic achievment. Those involved need to be applauded for all their hard work and attention to detail along with better management of the construction process. It is good to see that excellence can be achiveved along with the health and safety of those involved in such a large project.
For more on this article see SHP Online.
Olympic Stadium Complete
We have probably all heard that the Olympic stadium is complete but what is good to hear is that it was completed on time and under budget without any major accidents.
This is fantastic news! A complicated project such as this completed in under three years is testament to the skill and professionalism of the UK construction industry, we send congratulations to all those involved.
For more on this story, including a video report see Construction work in the Olympic stadium ends
Source: BBC News
CLM's Olympic Delivery Fee Rises to £718m
Although CLM has been praised by Olympic chiefs for keeping costs down the Construction Enquirer reports that the CLM consortium, overseeing construction of the 2012 Olympics, has seen its fee for delivering the job rise to £718m.
Some sceptics state that this fee will end up being one tenth of the project value. CLM consists of Laing O'Rourke, Mace and CH2M Hill. O'Rourke and CH2M Hill both have a 40% stake with Mace owning the remaining 20%. Their incentive is to drive costs down in the programme, time will tell on this huge project.
For more on this see CLM's Olympic delivery fee rises to £718m
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