PROJECT MANAGEMENT- The Scottish Parliament Building (Edinburgh) - Essay Example

The following paragraphs will explain the project management events from the point of view of managing risks, human resources and costs. Managing Costs After the project handover in 1998, the primary cost escalations came about. In the early 2000, there was a debate on the redesign of the project. This caused the space and budget requirement to go up (Fraser, 2004). Additionally, the cost further went up because Kenney granite was used in the construction and a foyer roof was constructed. It was initially estimated that the cost would be L50 million, however the cost went up by L17 million because of risk allowance provisions.

On the 23 March 1999, it was submitted by the officials of the project that the total financial provision would reach L107 million (Bain, 2005) . The cost increases of the Scottish Parliament Building became highly controversial with time. The choices of location, design, architects and the choice of construction companies have been severely criticized by Scottish people, the politicians as well as the media (Shenhar & Levy, 1997). The Scottish Parliament Building was supposed to open in 2001, but it opened in 2004, and moreover, the cost was initially estimated to be between ?

10 million and ? 40 million; however the actual cost of the project was a staggering ?414m (Bain, 2005). The project was criticized by the public enquiry which was headed by Lord Peter Frazer. The enquiry concluded that the project was not successful and the cost management of the project along with the design changes was criticized by the enquiry (Shenhar & Levy, 1997). Managing Human Resources The procurement guidelines by the HM Treasury give an indication that the construction of the building required sound human resource management by the project management team (Fraser, 2004).

Some of the important aspects mentioned in the guidelines included having a project team which had sufficient knowledge, resources and skills for matching the demands expected by the project, having a chain of command which was clear and provide better basis for accountability and decision making, having proper arrangements for project monitoring and project appraisal, which includes budgetary control (Bain, 2005). The human resource department managing the construction of the Scottish Parliament Building had a team which had relevant skills as well as experience for the project; specifically the project sponsors and the project management had relevant skills and experience (White & Sidhu, 2005).

In fact, the project management had a mixture of relevant experience and skills. What’s more, the advice from the Head of the Building Directorate and the chief architect in the Scottish Office was often taken by the management team (Fraser, 2004). Additionally, the human resource department inducted project sponsors and project owners who were senior and tenured administrative civil servants. The appointment of the project managers for the construction project was also on the basis of their specialist area and experience in the field of project management (Fraser, 2004).

It was however questioned by the Auditor General whether it was an optimum mix of skills and experi