Through-life risk management in mega projects

Abstract

Mega Projects play a significant role in the UK construction industry. They provide infrastructure, business and employment opportunities for the nation. They are complex, and involve considerably high cost, and risk. Therefore, through-life risk management practices are considered as a mandatory consideration in mega projects. These risks arise in externally (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, legal, etc.) and/or internally (project, stakeholders, etc.), and the influence of such risks leads to a substantial cost overruns. Therefore, such risks need to be managed efficiently to endorse the project success. This study investigates the through-life risk management strategies that are adopted in the UK Mega Projects. A literature review, four semi-structured interviews and a structured online questionnaire survey were the methods used to collect data. Interview data was analysed through NVivo and appropriate themes were developed. This was compared with the survey findings and conclusions were drawn accordingly. The findings explain that through-life risk management is a mandatory requirement in mega projects, and design and economic risk are the two most significant project risks that need to be addressed in advance. However environmental risks also play an important pre-requisite role in mega projects. Findings further explain risk register as a mandatory requirement for mega projects, which provides the opportunity for the project to keep track of all risk whether they have happened, will happened or currently happen.