PPMP20010

Executing and Closing Projects

A Case of Sydney Opera House
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Reference style: Harvard
Executive summary

The project report is a detailed analysis of the case of Sydney Opera house in Australia. The
report has first identified the issues faced by the project. The report discussed that the key
issues faced by the project were lack of experience of the project team members and lack of
effective planning for time and budget. The analysis of execution and control strategies states
that project was not in the hands of professionals and experts which is the main reason of
failure of project. The project architect did not realized the importance of time and budget
which resulted into cost and time overrun. Though the use of computers made the process
faster but no experienced programmers were involved in it. Finally the report has also
suggested strategies such as involvement of expert committee, monitoring committee and
conflict resolution committee could help in making the project successful.
Table of Contents
1. Project Snapshot................................................................................................................................3
2. Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3
3. Major Issues.......................................................................................................................................3
4. Control System..................................................................................................................................5
4.1 Analysis of Cost and/or Schedule Overrun..................................................................................6
4.2 Analysis of the Project execution team........................................................................................7
4.3 Analysis of relationship between overruns and the stakeholder.................................................8
5. Analysis of possible actions for success.............................................................................................9
6. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................11
7. References.......................................................................................................................................12
1. Project Snapshot
This project report on executing and closing projects is focused on the project of Sydney
Opera house. It is a detailed analysis of causes of failure of Sydney Opera Project and how
the issues that have resulted into failure of the project could be corrected. The project
discusses the major issues in the project and control system used by the project team
members to make the project successful. It is a detailed analysis of Cost and/or Schedule
Overrun, aanalysis of the Project execution team and aanalysis of relationship between
overruns and the stakeholder. The project also describes the possible actions for success of
the project.

2. Introduction
Sydney Opera House is one of the most prominent location of Australia which is considered
as a global icon. After announcement of this project in 1955, various companies came
forward to build this project (Abyad, 2019). There were around 200 entries from 32 different
countries of the world that came forward for the construction and designing of this project.
The main purpose behind construction of Opera house was to use it for meetings, lectures,
orchestral concerts, ballet performances, and many other functions. A Danish architect, Jorn
Utzon was finally selected to work on this project. Failure of this project is a lesson for
architectures and project managers in future which would help them to explore the factors
responsible for the failure of construction projects (Abyad, 2019). This project report has
discussed the issues, control system and possible actions that could help the project to be a
successful project. This report has emphasized on making critical analysis of the determinants
of the project from the point of view of time, budget and cost of the project.

3. Major Issues
There were a large number of issues that resulted into the failure of the project. This section
of the report has identified the key issues that have become the major reason for the failure of
the project.

 Lack of understanding the importance of time and budget

In general, time, quality and budget are considered as the key factor that play an important
role in making the project successful. It is the responsibility of the project manager to set
clear goals for what they want to achieve through this project and should make step-wise
planning for completing these goals (Geraldi and Davies, 2021). In case of Sydney Opera
house project, project team was assigned with only one responsibility i.e. to focus on the
quality of the project. They were given full freedom about time and budget. There was lack of
understanding among the project team members related to importance of time and budget.
Jorn Utzon was the primary stakeholder of the project. His main focus was on designing of
the project. He did not care about completion of the project on time and on the budget of the
project.

 Lack of experience among the team members

Governing authority of the project also became the important reason behind the failure of the
project. The government of Australia appointed a team to monitor the construction of the
project. Unfortunately, the team appointed for the monitoring aspect was not experienced at
all. They were not having any technical skills to assess the efficiency of the technical aspects
of the project (Sergeeva and Winch, 2021). This lack of experience among the monitoring
team could not push the project team to complete the project on time and the project also
exceeded the budget. Society, as a stakeholder was also waiting for the completion of the
project on time, but the project led to disappointment of the society.

 No planning for time and budget

The project framework was categorized in three different phases. The first phase was
construction of the podium, second was outer shells and third stage was interior designing of
the Opera house. Utzon started asking for the designing of the Opera house in the initial
phase. At this government started asking for modifications which raised the cost of the
project. There was extra cost of 5.2 Australian dollars in the first stage of the project (Rey-
Rey, 2022). These changes, not only increased the cost of the project, but also resulted into
delay in the completion of the project.

 Step Back of Utzon

Second stage of the project was also a very controversial stage of construction. The
government stopped paying for the project because they were not being able to see any
development in the project. The architect Jorn Utzon took step back (Carbon, et al., 2018).
The main reason behind his step back was that he was not being given opportunity to work
according to his plans. Then three Australian engineers were appointed which could not
understand the strategies developed by Utzon and resulted into increase in cost of the project.
It was due to lack of planning actual cost of the project, which was to be completed in 16
years of time, went 10 times high than the actual cost of the project (Li, 2021).

4. Control System
In the issues identified for the project, it has been discussed that the actual cost of the project
was 10 times higher than the cost initially finalized and time of 16 years was required to
complete the whole project. While designing the roof of the Opera house, Jorn Utzon did not
consult the team members (Basir, et al., 2018). The design constructed for the roof of the
Opera house required extensive structural evaluation and it was very difficult to find material
to build this roof. A Structural Laboratory at Southampton University conducted a test for
this design and found it very difficult to complete this project with this design. Then it was
realized that the design made by Utzon was not feasible because the shelf of the roof was
very thin and there were a large number of bending moments (Herath and Chong, 2021). The
design made was so complex that a small change in the design could lead to a large number
of modifications in the whole design or entire model. It is due to this huge difficulty, the
engineer, Arup, decided to make use of computer for scaling in this project which was never
used by any construction project before.

The use of computers in this project helped in making the calculations easier. Before this,
only logarithmic tables and calculators were used. This is the main reason behind time
overrun because use of these devices consume a long time. It became easy for the engineers
to make the calculations easy through the use of computers (O'Malley, 2019). Without
computer based calculations, it was not possible for the engineers at Sydney Opera house to
make the project complete because it was based on various complex designs. The engineers
in this project also made use of Curta calculators which is known as the short, mechanical,
hand-used devices that are used for counting purpose. In addition to it, they also made use of
FACIT calculating technique. A Pegasus computer from Southampton University was used in
entire construction process (Li, 2021). It was first time that Ferranti Pegasus Mark 1 was used
in the construction projects. They hired this machine for a specific duration because it was
only to be used for a small time. Ferranti Pegasus Mark 1 computer was used to create
software programs for this project. They also made use of Curta Calculator and FACIT
calculating machine to make the calculations faster (Rey-Rey, 2022). Use of computers and
calculating machines made the overall process faster otherwise it could take ten more years
for the completion of the project.

Ferranti Pegasus Mark 1 was used for the entire construction process. Special programmers
were hired to work on this computer. This helped the project team to easily continue for the
development of the project with the help of specific software. This process of software
development though manual efforts required long time. Development of each program
required at least 12-14 hours. Later on few weeks were required for the preparation of the
data. Third step was to translate the data into results. The use of computers helped in
competing these tasks in a short time. The project team realized that without using machines,
it could take ten more years to complete the project. The use of computerized devices helped
in making the process faster. The Arup Achieves have made the data that was used during the
project is available even now that can be easily accessed. The data consists of a large number
of calculations that are not possible to perform manually. The various models of Pegasus
computers are even now available that can be used in the construction projects. This has
proved as a noteworthy accomplishment in the history of engineering and architecture.

4.1 Analysis of Cost and/or Schedule Overrun

In any project, it is the responsibility of the project managers to carry out investigation related
to the expenses and the deadlines of the project so that the project can be completed on time
as well as in estimated budget. In the current project of Sydney Opera house, the whole issue
was associated with the mismatch of project timeline and budget. It was responsibility of the
project managers to control and manage time associated with the exercises (Li, 2021). The
project managers were not able to make associations between time and cost of the project as
per the calendar.

Time management could help the project manager to breakdown the costs of the different
activities of the project and to make planning for the successful completion of the activities in
an effective manner (Ding, 2019). It was also required to assign individual responsibilities to
the team members so that they could be able to complete the assigned tasks on time. In this
project, it is clear that part of the increased cost of the project is directly associated with the
lack of completion of the individual tasks by the project team members. It was also required
for the project managers to make proper scheduling of the project tasks so that they could be
able to have proper control over all the project activities. It could also make it possible for
them to breakdown the cost of the project and to make plans for the budget in an effective
manner.
From this project, it is very much clear that the project management team was not able to
make effective association between the time and cost of the project as per calendar. It was
only with the schedule overwhelming, it was possible to make it feasible for the project
managers to control all the aspects related to time and cost of the project. It is due to lack of
effective management of time and cost they remained unsuccessful in managing various other
methodologies of the project for construction purpose (Balatsky and Natal'ya, 2020).

4.2 Analysis of the Project execution team

From the analyses of the case, it is clear that there are various specific reasons that have
resulted into the failure of the project. In general, it is responsibility of the project
management team to select skilled and talented members for the execution team who can
execute al the activities of the project in an effective manner (Chiu, et al., 2019). Skilled and
talented experts were required for the implementation of Sydney Opera house. But the
execution team involved in the project was not so efficient to complete the required activities
on time. They were not even efficient enough to complete the tasks assigned to them by their
project manager. Though it is designated as one of the international symbols of architectures,
but the construction processes were not clear to the professionals. Various issues of the
project team were not clear to them which resulted into various further issues. It was required
to make their issues clear at the initial phase of the project, but in this case, this fact was
ignored which resulted into delay of the project for a long time (Kasser, 2019).

Replacement of Utzon was another issue that caused delay in the completion of the activities.
The government of Australia, replaced the architect Jorn Utzon with some Australian
engineers. They remained fail in understanding the strategies of Utzon. The replacement of
Utzon who completed the design of the project also resulted into budget of the project by 10
times (Cheng, et al., 2019). Jorn Utzon mainly focused on the quality and design of the
project and did not realized the importance of time scope and budget. Later on when changes
were asked by Australian government committee, it resulted into cost overrun and delays.

Another issue was associated with the involvement of the inexperienced programmers
involved for software development. The project was the first construction project in which
computerized scaling methods were used. Therefore, it was essential to make use of
experienced programmers who could help in making efficient designs in an effective and
efficient manner. The study also reveals the methods that would help in the complete success
of the project. The previous architect who was appointed for the job, Jorn Utzon did not
realize the significance of the time, budget and scope of the project. He focussed primarily on
the quality of the design which ultimately resulted in complications. The committee that was
set up the Australian government continuously asked for changes in the design without any
knowledge that it would cause overruns and delays (Gasik, 2019).

It was required for the project execution team to test the construction designs to assess the
productivity of the site. The ways how execution team performed their roles or completed
their exercises is another factors that resulted into flopping the project. The critical execution
of the project was essential to complete the project in a specified time and in budget. This
was only solution for getting actual outcomes from the project. After replacement of Utzon
with the Australian engineers, they were left with a short span of time to execute the project
in an efficient manner. This short span of time left with them forced them to make quick
decisions without considering the budget estimated for the project. This resulted into cost
overrun. Moreover, the methodologies that were decided by them by quick decision making
also remained flopped and the project was not executed on time. Project implementation
group also remained fail in completing the undertakings signed by them which also pushed
the activities of the execution team. It, not only put weight on the expenses of the project, but
also crossed time limits.

4.3 Analysis of relationship between overruns and the stakeholder

From the analysis of the Sydney Opera case, it has been identified that one of the main
reasons behind the failure of the project is lack of understating by the project managers for
association between time delays and its impact on the stakeholders. In this project, project
managers neglected the association between cost overrun and the stakeholders. The project
neglected the pre-requisites of the clients and leads to unfavorable effect on the relationship
with the stakeholders (Akin, 2022). These project managers also remained fail in successfully
executing the project activities in a productive manner. In every project, it becomes essential
for the project managers to establish a connection between the activities of the project and its
satisfaction with the project stakeholders. For this purpose, it is also essential to develop a
strong association between the project stakeholders and all the activities of the project.
Sydney Opera project was lacking this aspect. This resulted into unsuccessful
accomplishment of all the activities of the project. It was also essential to make discussions
with team members for making final decisions about the cost and time overrun (Benton,
2020). The biggest mistake starts when Jorn Utzon decided the design of the roof of Opera
house without consulting any team member. He ignored the opinion of all other stakeholders
and described his final views for the design of the project. Society, as an important
stakeholder was also ignored that was waiting for the successful completion of the project.

Though computers were used to make the process faster, but it was also required to align all
the tasks for the successful completion of the project. There was lack of alignment of all the
activities. One activity was not connected with other. Moreover, all the employees were not
assigned with the tasks that could be aligned later on. This lack of alignment in the project
elements resulted into cost overrun and subtle disappointment among the clients. The project
team was not able to meet with the pre-requisites that could help in building strong
relationship with the stakeholders (Olawale, et al., 2019). This lack of considering pre-
requisites of the partners resulted into negative impact on the association with them and the
over run of the cost of the project negatively impacted the overall execution of the project as
well.

It was required for the project managers to address the needs and issues of the stakeholders of
the project. It was possible through the use of the powerful instruments or proficient methods
that could help them in successful completion of the tasks within the stipulated time period
(Olawale, et al., 2019). It was required to plan for the delivery of all the required tasks on
time without making any delay occurring due to issues in the different phases of the project.
The project manager could also enhance quality of the project through better association of
expenses and time invades. Froom this, it is clear that project manager plays an important
role in maintaining good relationship between cost overrun and stakeholders.

Introduction of computers in this project was a strong effort made by the project manager that
helped in making the construction process easier. Prior to this, the project managers only used
logarithmic tables and calculators that helped the engineers to make the calculations easy
during construction process (Dwyer, 2020). This process used to take long times in the
construction process. In this project, computers helped in making the calculation easier, but
lack of alignment of one activity with another resulted into destroying the benefits obtained
using computers which further caused overrun of the time and the cost and resulted into
disappointment among the stakeholders in this project.

5. Analysis of possible actions for success

This section of the report has discussed some possible actions that could help in making this
project successful.
 First possible action is fixing of time and budget by an expert committee for
completion of a construction project (Dwyer, 2020). Fixing of time and budget can
result into ensured success of the project, but without expert committee it is not
possible at all to achieve this target. This expert committee should consists of a
project managers, architect of the project, three to four members of the project who
have knowledge regarding the technical aspects of the project. It would help in
making decisions related to time and budget of the project. This committee should
also have sufficient knowledge to make required changes in case of any modifications
in the project.
 A monitoring committee for the project can also help in making observation regarding
the technical aspects of the project. Monitoring committee should have adequate
technical knowledge. This monitoring committee would also help government an
accurate information about the construction process of the project.
 Third possible action is to formulate the group activities. Group activities and events
can help in increasing communication between the stakeholders (Cardellicchio, 2021).
In this project, it has been observed that the main reason behind the failure of the
project is lack of communication among the team members. Jorn Utzon decided the
design of the roof of Opera house without consulting any team member. He ignored
the opinion of all other stakeholders and described his final views for the design of the
project. Society, as an important stakeholder was also ignored that was waiting for the
successful completion of the project.
 Formulation of conflict resolution committee is another possible solution that can help
in resolving any conflict in effective and efficient manner. In this project, a large
number of conflicts occurred and there was no specific committed that can handle
such conflicts in an effective manner (Elbaz and Spang, 2018). Such type of
committee can help in maintaining smooth flow of the activities of the project. It can
also be said that formulation of such committees can act as a tool for the successful
completion of the project.
 Another suggestion of the making such type of projects successful is allocation of
specific roles and responsibilities to each project team member. All the team members
must be communicated about the roles and responsibilities so that they can remain
focused towards their tasks and all the tasks can be aligned for making the project
successful. It is also required to keep all the employees motivated towards the
 successful completion of their activities (Murodovna, 2021). Motivation of the team
members for the completion of the work act as a catalyst for making all the activities
of the project successful. For this purpose, employees must be awarded timely with
bonuses and incentives. All the team members should be accountable for their work
done to the higher authorities of the team. This would help in achieving quality work
done on time as well as in budget.

6. Conclusion
This project report is focused on the project of Sydney Opera house throws light on the
causes of failure of Sydney Opera Project and how the issues that have resulted into failure of
the project could be corrected. The project also explored the major issues in the project and
control system used by the project team members to make the project successful. It is a
detailed analysis of Cost and/or Schedule Overrun, aanalysis of the Project execution team
and aanalysis of relationship between overruns and the stakeholder. The project also
describes the possible actions for success of the project. From the analysis of the case of
Sydney Opera house, it is clear that future project management teams can learn a large
number of lessons from the failure of this case. The study has made analysis of the issue
faced by the project and it has been concluded that the project was not in the hands of
professionals and experts which is the main reason of failure of project. The project architect
did not realized the importance of time and budget which resulted into cost and time overrun.
Though the use of computers made the process faster but no experienced programmers were
involved in it. The initiatives such as involvement of expert committee, monitoring
committee and conflict resolution committee could help in making the project successful.
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