Why Are Big Projects Often Complete Late and Out of Budget: of The Opera House - Case Study Example

THE OPERA HOUSE LATE and OVER BUDGET James Webster Designed by Danish architect, Jorn Utzon, The Opera House was completed in Sydney in 1973. It was voted to be one of the modern day 7 wonders of the world. “ While the Sydney Opera House was hailed as the Top New Wonder of the World”(Whitelocks, 2007). In 1954, following The Second World War, the New South Wales Government decided that Sydney needed a world class Opera House and they chose a spectacular venue at Bennalong Point on the shores of Sydney Harbor and at the end of Sydneys Royal Botanic Gardens for The Opera House site. In 1956 the New South Wales Labor Government ran an international competition for a design for a complex including 2 main halls, a restaurant and meeting rooms with 234 architects from 9 countries submitting designs. An extraordinarily ambitious design by Jorn Utzon was initially rejected by an assessment committee, however, respected Finnish architect Eero Saarinon convinced them to change their minds and Utzon was awarded the prize. Before The Opera House, Utzon had won 7 of eight competitions he had entered but not one of his designs was ever built. It was estimated that construction would take 5 years and would cost A$7 million. The “Opera House Lottery” was born in 1958 as an extra source of funding before construction had begun. The original completion date was set down for 26th January, 1963 (Australia Day) and it didnt reach completion until 1973, 10 years late and the costs had blown out to A$103 million, 14 times over budget. Because of the complexities of his design, Utzon, was aware that technical problems would arise and as advanced technology that was not yet available would be needed to address these problems. He pleaded that he had not yet fully completed the design for the structure and asked for more time to tackle these problems, however his request was denied with the government fearing that funding and public opinion would turn against them and construction began in 1959, two years ahead of Utzons schedule. The lack of preparation had immediate consequences and many structural issues remained unsolved. With unexpected difficulties such as bad weather and the inability to have a suitable avenue for rain water to be diverted along with the fact that appropriate construction drawings had not been drafted, work was already running 47 weeks behind schedule. The roof of the Opera House was to be formed with a series of precast concrete shells and covered with Swedish made white glazed tiles. It was discovered, after the monumental Grand Podium, with its massive 86 meter (282ft) wide staircase was completed, that the roof shells were far to heavy for the supporting columns that had already been constructed and that they would have to be demolished and rebuilt. And so, two years after commencement of construction, Utzon spent two years redesigning the scheme of the sails, describing them as “Slices of a Sphere with a 91 meter (300 feet) diameter”(A View of Cities, 2011). “Utzon Altered His Design and Gave the Roof Vaults a Defined Spherical Geometry. This Enabled The Roofs to be Constructed In A Precast Fashion, Greatly Reducing Time and Cost”(Building The Opera House) These problems should have and would have been resolved before any soil had been turned if Utzon had been given the time he desired to perform the technical research he needed. The impatience and ignorant of the New South Wales State Government had already put construction back some 4 years and wasted millions of Tax payers dollars. Initially the shells were of undefined geometry and considered structurally impossible to build . They were seen as a number of parabolas supported by precast ribs formed in concrete. A suitable way of construction could not be found, with the estimation of the cost of form work alone being prohibitive. After considering no less than 12 different forms for the shell a team of designers headed by Utzon found the answer with the shells being made of sections of a sphere. “Utzon Came up With an Idea of Making all the Shells of Uniform Curvature Throughout in Both Directions.”(Arup, 1961). 2400 precast ribs and 4000 roof panels were constructed by Hornibrook Group Pty. Ltd. In a factory on the Opera House site and were completed on the 6th April 1962. An estimate for a date of completion was made as between August, 1964 and March, 1965. The cost so far was still only A$22.9 million, less than a quarter of the final cost. Construction was hindered by many cost overruns and industrial strife. Team leaders were being paid by the number of staff they controlled and this caused delays while the problem was arbitrated. There was no incentive for workers to strive together as a team and the project was dogged by unclear time lines and budget. Jorn Utzon was often and wrongfully blamed for all these problems leading to cost overruns and delays. Despite the problems the first stage of construction had progressed very successfully with good working relations between the design team and client but as it progressed the Joseph Cahill lead government interfered with continuous and progressive changes to plans. They had little idea of the costs involved in the design and construction and the relationship between the design team and the client deteriorated. This resulted in a great many delays and set backs . The building was unique and the problems with design issues exacerbated costs and time. In 1965 when a new liberal Government was elected on the promise to “To Do Something About The Costs Overruns”, they strove to remove him from the project. Utzon became the scapegoat and the New premier of NSW , Robert Askin, who had been a vocal critic of the project, began to withhold payments to Utzon and would not agree with his designs and methods. He was forced to resign and the government took control of costs and designs. They altered designs in a significant manner which brought about the scrapping of millions of dollars worth of equipment that was no longer useful and Australian Newspapers reported the Opera House as being a complete disaster. Following Utzons resignation a number of replacements were appointed with Peter Hall becoming responsible for the completion of stage three, “The Interior”. Utzon allowed for 2000 seats in the main hall and when Peter Halls brief asked for 3000 seats, acoustic experts said that it would be a disaster. Everything from the stage size and lighting to the location of dressing rooms and size of doors and lifts was wrong. The main hall which was supposed to be the Opera/Concert Hall became only a concert hall. Layouts were change and stage equipment already installed were thrown out and replaced at enormous cost. The minor hall, designed for only stage production became the opera theater and took on the responsibility of Opera and Ballet, however it was totally unsuitable for world class Opera and Ballet productions. A theater, cinema and library were later added and then changed to 3 drama theaters. This was all done with a loss of large amounts of money and time and the responsibility lays totally with the lack of an acceptable completion brief before the building was commenced. Utzons design for the main hall were found to be quite adequate when it was remodeled, much later, to his specifications. Ulzens plans for the exterior were also largely changed with the cladding to the podium going right to the water with his initial plan for it to be left open. His plans to use a system of fabricated plywood was changed to glass . Before Jorn Utzon won the Opera house contest he had won 7 of 8 other competitions he had entered. Utzons plans were universally admired . The assessors report in 1957 said “ The Drawings Submitted for this Scheme Are Simple to The Point of Being Diagrammatic. Nevertheless, as we Have Returned Again And Again to the Study of These Drawings, We Are Convinced That They Present a Concept of an Opera House Which is Capable of Becoming One of the Great Buildings of the World.”(Wikipedia). There is no doubt that had Jorn Utzon been left to his own devices and been allowed the time he needed to prepare fully for the planning, designing and methods for the construction of The Opera House, it would have been completed much sooner and at a fraction of the cost. The efforts of the NSW government to not allow Jorn Utzon the two years he required for his research has cost many years and many millions of dollars.”Utzon Fell Victim to a Politically Lowballed Construction Budget, Which Eventually Resulted in a Cost Overrun of 1,400 Percent.”(Flyvbjerg, 2005). The Opera House was officially opened on the 20th of October, 1973, with all the controversy forgotten. It draws 2 million visitors a year making it one of the most popular cultural centers in the world . Research Flyvjberg, Bent. (2005). Design by Deception. Harvard Design Magazine . Vol.22 Whitelocks, Sadie. (2007). New Seven Wonders of The World. The Telegraph .31st May A View On Cities.(n.d.). Opera House. Available from http://www.aviewoncities.com/sydney/operahouse.htm(accessed on 16th Aug. 2011) Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.(n.d.) The opera House. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Opera_House(accessed on 16th Aug. 2011) Read More