The overriding concerns that caused delays and cost escalation in the Essay

The overriding concerns that caused delays and cost escalation in the construction of the tunnel link between England and France - Essay Example The main purpose of the research is to present that the twentieth century witnessed developments on many fronts at the same time including construction. A number of hallmark projects were commissioned in the twentieth century such as New York’s Empire State Building and others that served to boost mankind’s confidence in taking on large projects. A large number of mega projects spanned progress in the twentieth century but taking on and executing these projects represented large challenges. The early parts of the twentieth century saw randomised approaches to project management in order to deal with large projects. However, as time proceeded and human experience increased in dealing with large projects, the approach to such projects became more and more structured. A large amount of advancement has occurred on the fronts of project management although there is still much ground to be covered. Initially project management was largely restricted to dealing with the techni cal aspects of projects especially the larger projects. In time it was found that project management needed to deal with other aspects of projects such as financing, scheduling, quality initiatives and others. Development on these fronts has been steady and has resulted from learning from various mega projects. The unique nature of mega projects means that the same ideas are not equally applicable to different projects even though they may hold similar grounds. One project that sparked the imaginations of mankind was the Channel Tunnel project that was initiated to build a fixed link between England and France. Historically the English Channel has represented a major obstacle to crossing over into United Kingdom. In order to deal with this challenge some kind of a system was required that could facilitate the movement of goods and people between both nations. This project was all the more critical for England because it did not have a direct link to mainland Europe. Such a link was necessary to ensure trade and commerce between England and mainland Europe. Prior to the tunnel’s opening, the only modes of transport available included ferries and airplanes. Both modes of transport were not only expensive but were at times dictated by weather over the English Channel making crossing or flying difficult. Early ideas to deal with this challenge included large iron bridges with spans of many kilometres. However, the technical challenges facing the creation of such spans and bridges were large and rather insurmountable. Constant tries on the British and French sides finally saw the emergence of a tunnel system beneath the English Channel that could finally connect both countries with ease. The movement from mere ideas to a practical working system represented one of the largest challenges undertaken by mankind. The creation of the Channel Tunnel was confronted by myriad challenges such as costing, planning, execution, finance, teamwork, quality, safety and sch eduling amongst others. When the project was finally completed, it was found that the project was delayed as well as overpriced when compared to original estimates. This paper analyses the overriding concerns that caused delays and cost escalation in the construction of the tunnel link between England and France. 3. Problems 3.1. Pre-Planning The creation of such a gargantuan tunnel system to accommodate trains and shuttle services required taking over challenges on many fronts. The primary challenge to initiate the Channel Tunnel project was garnering the right kind of political will to create this project. The political will garnered to initiate the C