In the early stages of construction friction can arise between the client and constructor due to the compressed mobilisation period which in turn can greatly enhance project risks and result in significant additional friction between client and constructor. Additionally, the adversarial approach inevitably leads to a duplication of management resources and a wasteful diversion of management effort away from the management of construction to commercial issues.
The NQGP Project employed two Construction Managers, one managing the facilities sites and the other managing the pipeline. “This decision” said Project General Manager Graeme Hogarth, “was taken due to both the size of the compressor station required for this Project and the different nature of the work”. Gas entering the Moranbah station is only at 750 kPa and it requires extensive compression to achieve the required pipeline transmission pressure of 15,300 kPa. This makes the compressor station a far more substantial element of the Project than is seen in traditional pipeline projects. The two Construction Managers were highly supportive of the NQGP Alliance approach.
Rick Boreham, Construction Manager for the Pipeline, said that “the ability for construction personnel to be involved in the drafting of key documentation like the construction specification and environmental management plan enabled construction to proceed efficiently and economically whilst at the same time meeting licence and code requirements. Also the NQGP Alliance provided an opportunity to inspect the route to an extent rarely afforded a lump sum constructor prior to commencing work. The intelligence gained provided a sound basis for detailed construction planning.” Amongst the savings achieved through this approach was a reduction in induction bends from a nominated 65 bends down to only four bends.
Mike Zambelli, Construction Manager for the Facilities, agreed that the early planning was a definite plus to the process. “An added advantage of the early construction review in design and route selection was the high level of understanding by construction of the design intent and the opportunity to provide further innovation before the design was completed. Instead of the “˜short burst’ planning phase that is forced on the constructor on traditional projects, the alliance approach allowed careful and well considered planning to take place.”
Both Managers felt that with the full Alliance Management Team (AMT) in place early an integrated and holistic approach to early planning was implemented so that all aspects of the Project were well understood by the Construction Managers.
Another key advantage they felt was the avoidance of duplications of activities between the constructor and the client. “A feature of many recently constructed lump sum pipeline projects is the abundance of client site personnel who often outnumber the equivalent constructor personnel by a significant margin” said Boreham. Drawing from the staff of all the Alliance partners NQGP created a seamless and integrated team on the construction site. Zambelli felt this was a definite advantage whereby “the construction team were able to stay focussed on delivering the Project without being distracted by commercial issues and “˜protecting their patch’ as on traditional hard dollar projects.” This non-adversarial environment provided the platform for a positive team culture and shared resources drawn from all the NQGP Alliance partners. Design and Operations personnel formed part of the integrated construction team and this allowed the design intent and end user input to continue throughout the entire construction phase.
Operations Manager David Wolf also spoke highly of the inclusion of members of the operations team into both the design and construction phases of the Project. “The addition of the Operations staff to the design and construction teams has provided a “˜fitness for operations’ focus which has enabled potential problems to be resolved early,” said Wolf. “We are currently undertaking commissioning, with support from construction, and to date there have been no surprises, no modifications and no re-work required.”
Protection of the asset integrity during construction came about through the careful selection of key personnel and their effective integration into the construction team which included representatives from each of the NQGP Alliance partners. Boreham noted that “Some of the construction team personnel had been antagonists on an earlier and particularly difficult lump sum project. However, this was found to have no adverse effects within the NQGP Alliance, rather it may have actually contributed to the success of the Project as there was a quiet determination within the NQGP Alliance team to “˜make this one work.”