On The Panama Canal Under The French
1. As a Construction Manager/Project Manager pick out one issue on each of the following. Explain the issue, and tell me what you would do as the CM/PM. Explain the management process, How would you use this process and How do you feel your management process would change the outcome of the project? Be specific. At least one page each.
i. On the Panama Canal under the French:
The French came across many issues during the construction of the canal. The following are the issues that the French came across:
• The construction of a waterway across the Isthmus was confounded to failure because the project fell into the hands of promoters and speculators.
• A contributory cause was the very high mortality rate among the French employees on …show more content…
the Isthmus. This added to the extra cost of administration which resulted in an unstable labor force.
• The best engineers left the Isthmus after short service or died; and these constant changes made it difficult to pursue any regular plan to keep up an effective organization to carry on the work. The company had to persuade men by giving them high wages and offer special inducements to take the chance of one in five of surviving an attack of yellow fever which they were liable to contract.
• The work was in charge of a rich and powerful government since public opinion would not have allowed the work to have been carried on at such an appalling cost of life. The time when enterprise was started the method of transmission of malaria and yellow fever was unknown, and, even if the French had taken the sanitary precautions prevailing at that time, they could not have stamped out these two fevers which gave the Isthmus the reputation of being the unhealthiest place in the world for a white man.
• As a private corporation, it could not enforce sanitary regulations even if they wanted to do so, for, unlike the United States, it did acquire absolute jurisdiction over the Canal strip, but was at the mercy of the Colombian courts.
• The French plan for a sea-level canal was fraught with problems, the most significant of which was the one billion cubic yards of excavation required to reach sea-level at the Continental Divide.
• The French route also included fourteen crossings of the Chagres River. During storms, this muddy channel swelled to a raging torrent, drowning excavation sites and destroying machinery.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• I would use Multi-prime Contracting as a delivery method for the project; a system which is frequently used for large projects is that the Employer appoints a Construction Manager/Project Manager, either in-house or as a Consultant, together with a number of separate Contractors for different parts or trades in the Works. Different Contractors work both concurrently and sequentially on the same site.
• I would use phased construction in bid phases for work such as site work, site utilities, and one or more general construction packages for the buildings and/or other facilities. I will have the benefit of time savings, cost savings, and better control with the help direct contracts.
• I will arrange for the invitation of tenders for the separate works packages for contracts to be entered into directly with the employer.
• The contractual risks which are not passed on to the individual works contractors will be carried by the employer.
• The aims of these arrangements are to increase the involvement of constructors during the design stages of a project and to reduce the overall period from inception to completion.
• An advantage of these arrangements over the traditional methods is considered to be that the designers can concentrate on their design work while leaving the supervision of construction to the management teams.
ii. On the Panama Canal under the US?
The US came across many issues during the construction of the canal. The following are the issues that the US came across:
• The building of the Panama Canal involved three main problems under the US construction that was: engineering, sanitation, and organization.
• The engineering problems involved digging through the Continental Divide; constructing the largest earth dam ever built up to that time; designing and building the most massive canal locks ever envisioned; constructing the largest gates ever swung; and solving environmental problems of enormous proportions.
• The American construction effort, which began in 1904, used the most modern technology in unique and innovative ways to make construction of the canal possible, but initially very few workers had the knowledge of operating the equipment, machines and were not so familiar with the construction techniques.
• Stevens and Wallace had different mindset for the construction and deigning of the canal. Wallace had recommended a sea-level canal, but Stevens favored a lock
canal.
• The engineers working on project were not stable with their working. The first two chief engineers, both civilians, resigned after short tenures.
• Also the slopes in the cut were very unstable, and work was hampered by constant slides that buried machinery, increased the volume of excavation, and extended construction by almost two years. These slides and the limitations they impose on the width of the channel were major constraints of the Canal.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• The US used the design build approach for the construction of the canal. I would rather go with the traditional method of project delivery system i.e. the design-bid-build.
• It is characterized by executing the major phases of a project in a linear sequence.
• I as a CM would engages a design consultant, which prepares the design of the complete facility, including construction drawings, specifications, and contract packages.
• Once completed, the design package will be presented to interested general contractors, who would prepare bids for the work, and execute contracts with subcontractors to construct various specialty items.
• The contractor is then responsible for constructing the facility in accordance with the design and specifications. It may subcontract all or a portion of the work to specialty contractors who perform as subcontractors under its general supervision.
• I would manages the overall process and administers all contracts in the traditional approach.
• The advantages of having this delivery system is it is widely applicable, well understood, and with well-established and clearly defined roles for the parties involved. Furthermore, it offers the construction manager a significant amount of control over the end product, particularly since the facility’s features are fully determined and specified prior to selection of the contractor.
• Also it will help me with knowing the price information before construction starts and in securing any necessary financial commitments.
iii. On the World Wide plaza?
The Dominic Fonti came across many issues during the construction of the World-Wide Plaza. The following are the issues they came across:
• World-Wide Plaza was delivered 10% over budget and 4 months late on the 24-month schedule.
• Most of the problems of the World-Wide Plaza which caused the overrun arise from the design decisions by the SOM to achieve visual effects.
• In particular, the choice of specialist cladding materials made HRH’s estimating task very difficult.
• There was a running argument between David Childs and one of the partners from the ZCWK Associates who was trained as an architect who preferred more pink shade of the brick. The argument went over for several months and this delayed the schedule.
• Bricklayers were not allowed to use the plumb line of the specially shaped brick designed very slow and difficult due to union rules.
• Lack of completion of the tenders for the brick and the copper roofing delayed the project furthermore.
• A misalignment between the top of the brickwork and the eaves of the copper roof because of the inconsistent information on drawings led to expensive refabrication.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• I would use design build approach for the construction of the building. The other delivery methods often give rise to disputes among various project participants— with the owner acting as referee—in D-B, many of these disputes become internal team issues, which do not affect the owner.
• I would to plan, implement, and control the entire project through completion, occupancy, or startup.
• However formulated, the DB team performs the complete design of the facility, usually based on a preliminary scope or design presented by the owner.
• At some early point in the project my team would negotiate a fixed price to complete the design and construction of the facility.
• The design-build approach minimizes the obligation of the owner to schedule and coordinate the overall project.
• It also reduces the potential exposure to complex claims by reducing the number of parties involved and at the same time provides for incentive/shared savings opportunities.
• Like the CM-at-Risk method, the design-build approach allows construction expertise to be involved in the design phase. It also allows for fast-tracking and/or phasing the project which is a key advantage not found with the traditional method, but provides the owner with the option to use the traditional linear phasing for its project if it so desires.
i. On the Panama Canal under the French:
The French came across many issues during the construction of the canal. The following are the issues that the French came across:
• The construction of a waterway across the Isthmus was confounded to failure because the project fell into the hands of promoters and speculators.
• A contributory cause was the very high mortality rate among the French employees on …show more content…
the Isthmus. This added to the extra cost of administration which resulted in an unstable labor force.
• The best engineers left the Isthmus after short service or died; and these constant changes made it difficult to pursue any regular plan to keep up an effective organization to carry on the work. The company had to persuade men by giving them high wages and offer special inducements to take the chance of one in five of surviving an attack of yellow fever which they were liable to contract.
• The work was in charge of a rich and powerful government since public opinion would not have allowed the work to have been carried on at such an appalling cost of life. The time when enterprise was started the method of transmission of malaria and yellow fever was unknown, and, even if the French had taken the sanitary precautions prevailing at that time, they could not have stamped out these two fevers which gave the Isthmus the reputation of being the unhealthiest place in the world for a white man.
• As a private corporation, it could not enforce sanitary regulations even if they wanted to do so, for, unlike the United States, it did acquire absolute jurisdiction over the Canal strip, but was at the mercy of the Colombian courts.
• The French plan for a sea-level canal was fraught with problems, the most significant of which was the one billion cubic yards of excavation required to reach sea-level at the Continental Divide.
• The French route also included fourteen crossings of the Chagres River. During storms, this muddy channel swelled to a raging torrent, drowning excavation sites and destroying machinery.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• I would use Multi-prime Contracting as a delivery method for the project; a system which is frequently used for large projects is that the Employer appoints a Construction Manager/Project Manager, either in-house or as a Consultant, together with a number of separate Contractors for different parts or trades in the Works. Different Contractors work both concurrently and sequentially on the same site.
• I would use phased construction in bid phases for work such as site work, site utilities, and one or more general construction packages for the buildings and/or other facilities. I will have the benefit of time savings, cost savings, and better control with the help direct contracts.
• I will arrange for the invitation of tenders for the separate works packages for contracts to be entered into directly with the employer.
• The contractual risks which are not passed on to the individual works contractors will be carried by the employer.
• The aims of these arrangements are to increase the involvement of constructors during the design stages of a project and to reduce the overall period from inception to completion.
• An advantage of these arrangements over the traditional methods is considered to be that the designers can concentrate on their design work while leaving the supervision of construction to the management teams.
ii. On the Panama Canal under the US?
The US came across many issues during the construction of the canal. The following are the issues that the US came across:
• The building of the Panama Canal involved three main problems under the US construction that was: engineering, sanitation, and organization.
• The engineering problems involved digging through the Continental Divide; constructing the largest earth dam ever built up to that time; designing and building the most massive canal locks ever envisioned; constructing the largest gates ever swung; and solving environmental problems of enormous proportions.
• The American construction effort, which began in 1904, used the most modern technology in unique and innovative ways to make construction of the canal possible, but initially very few workers had the knowledge of operating the equipment, machines and were not so familiar with the construction techniques.
• Stevens and Wallace had different mindset for the construction and deigning of the canal. Wallace had recommended a sea-level canal, but Stevens favored a lock
canal.
• The engineers working on project were not stable with their working. The first two chief engineers, both civilians, resigned after short tenures.
• Also the slopes in the cut were very unstable, and work was hampered by constant slides that buried machinery, increased the volume of excavation, and extended construction by almost two years. These slides and the limitations they impose on the width of the channel were major constraints of the Canal.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• The US used the design build approach for the construction of the canal. I would rather go with the traditional method of project delivery system i.e. the design-bid-build.
• It is characterized by executing the major phases of a project in a linear sequence.
• I as a CM would engages a design consultant, which prepares the design of the complete facility, including construction drawings, specifications, and contract packages.
• Once completed, the design package will be presented to interested general contractors, who would prepare bids for the work, and execute contracts with subcontractors to construct various specialty items.
• The contractor is then responsible for constructing the facility in accordance with the design and specifications. It may subcontract all or a portion of the work to specialty contractors who perform as subcontractors under its general supervision.
• I would manages the overall process and administers all contracts in the traditional approach.
• The advantages of having this delivery system is it is widely applicable, well understood, and with well-established and clearly defined roles for the parties involved. Furthermore, it offers the construction manager a significant amount of control over the end product, particularly since the facility’s features are fully determined and specified prior to selection of the contractor.
• Also it will help me with knowing the price information before construction starts and in securing any necessary financial commitments.
iii. On the World Wide plaza?
The Dominic Fonti came across many issues during the construction of the World-Wide Plaza. The following are the issues they came across:
• World-Wide Plaza was delivered 10% over budget and 4 months late on the 24-month schedule.
• Most of the problems of the World-Wide Plaza which caused the overrun arise from the design decisions by the SOM to achieve visual effects.
• In particular, the choice of specialist cladding materials made HRH’s estimating task very difficult.
• There was a running argument between David Childs and one of the partners from the ZCWK Associates who was trained as an architect who preferred more pink shade of the brick. The argument went over for several months and this delayed the schedule.
• Bricklayers were not allowed to use the plumb line of the specially shaped brick designed very slow and difficult due to union rules.
• Lack of completion of the tenders for the brick and the copper roofing delayed the project furthermore.
• A misalignment between the top of the brickwork and the eaves of the copper roof because of the inconsistent information on drawings led to expensive refabrication.
My perspective as a CM for the project:
• I would use design build approach for the construction of the building. The other delivery methods often give rise to disputes among various project participants— with the owner acting as referee—in D-B, many of these disputes become internal team issues, which do not affect the owner.
• I would to plan, implement, and control the entire project through completion, occupancy, or startup.
• However formulated, the DB team performs the complete design of the facility, usually based on a preliminary scope or design presented by the owner.
• At some early point in the project my team would negotiate a fixed price to complete the design and construction of the facility.
• The design-build approach minimizes the obligation of the owner to schedule and coordinate the overall project.
• It also reduces the potential exposure to complex claims by reducing the number of parties involved and at the same time provides for incentive/shared savings opportunities.
• Like the CM-at-Risk method, the design-build approach allows construction expertise to be involved in the design phase. It also allows for fast-tracking and/or phasing the project which is a key advantage not found with the traditional method, but provides the owner with the option to use the traditional linear phasing for its project if it so desires.