Papers published in Management, Procurement and Law are eligible for awards from the Institution of Civil Engineers. Papers from any of the ICE journals can be nominated for several awards. In addition, each journal has awards dedicated to their specific subject area.
On Friday 12 October 2012, ICE president Richard Coackley presented an award to the following paper published in Management, Procurement and Law in 2011. The editorial panel nominated their best papers and an awards committee chaired by Barry Clarke allocated the awards.
Parkman Medal
The Parkman Medal, awarded for the best paper on the practical aspects of the control or management, including project management, of the design and/or construction of a specific scheme, was awarded to Allport (2011).
Abstract
This paper considers how ‘metros’ – projects that carry a mass ridership rapidly should be developed to deliver predictable success. These projects are particularly important because large cities that are not poor often turn to metros as the centre-piece of their sustainable development and because of their high opportunity cost. Yet often they do not deliver success and then confidence is undermined. The author, having spent his career developing metro projects in Singapore, Bangkok, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Bogotá, Lahore, Budapest, China, London and Nottingham, became convinced that this was a major problem. Research was undertaken to identify what could be done to improve things – not theoretically but practically. This paper summarises the findings of the author’s PhD thesis of the same title. The research was based on case studies of nine newly-opened metros in Asia and the UK. An understanding was developed that appeared to explain the causes of poor success. Practical approaches were developed and a change agenda formulated that could improve success. This agenda appears to provide a resource for effecting improvements that is richer and more comprehensive than previous approaches.
