Readers of this journal are no doubt familiar with the principles of project management which are sometimes referred to as the ‘project management triangle’. In the daily delivery of projects and programmes, practitioners are constantly battling with the critical areas of time, cost and quality in order to deliver their projects successfully. In recent years we have seen projects, programmes and indeed companies fail due to one of these areas being neglected, and this edition of the Management, Procurement and Law journal focuses on a variety of subjects related to these matters.
The impact of not delivering projects to programme can be catastrophic, and the impacts can be far reaching for all stakeholders involved. The importance of delivering projects to programme is investigated by Emam et al. (2016), and within their paper they present criteria for assessing the quality of linear schedules. An alarming statistic (Glenigan, 2015) states that in 2014 only 40% of projects came in on time or better in the UK construction industry. The paper proposes the use of linear schedules for modelling projects with repeating activities, rather than the use of baseline or forensic schedule analytical techniques; the authors also propose a framework for assessing development level and quality of linear schedules.
In our second paper, Francis et al. (2016) investigate the impact of delayed payments to contractors and subcontractors in the Sri Lankan construction industry. They make a number of links highlighting what happens to companies when payments are delayed, and it is interesting to note that delay to completion of a project is the second most critical effect of delayed payments. The link between costs and time is therefore clearly highlighted by this paper and the authors suggest proactive actions to ensure effective implementation of contractual provisions to avoid future delayed payment issues.
In recent years, modern technology has been used widely in construction to improve safety, quality and overall project delivery. We have seen how building information modelling (BIM) can be used to improve project design and delivery and we have witnessed how this technology has changed and advanced our industry in recent years. In our final paper, Nath et al. (2016) investigate how BIM can be used to improve the productivity of construction projects in Singapore. Linking their study to Singapore’s precast industry, the paper investigates the workflows of three precast firms in Singapore and investigates how to improve these workflows to increase productivity. A number of areas of future study are proposed which I am sure will be of interest to those parties involved in this initial study.
Our issue concludes with a review of the second edition of International Arbitration: Law and Practice.
I hope you enjoy this edition of the journal. Management, Procurement and Law is planning a number of themed issues for 2017 focusing on a range of subjects including ‘Megaproject management’, ‘Financing of major infrastructure projects’, ‘Off-site construction developments and innovation’ and ‘Advances in technology management’. If these subjects are of interest to you contributors are invited to submit a brief paper outline (of about 200 words) to Claire Robinson (Claire.Robinson@icepublishing.com) for consideration by the editorial panel.
