By: Thomas Richter, Simone Bernardi, Celeris AB
Requirements Management gone wrong
Berlin's new airport was supposed to open in October 2011. However, the opening date could not be met. Among other things one of the main problems was that the fire protection requirements could not be met. The airport finally opened in October 2020 (NZZ, 2020). Nine years after the initial envisaged opening date. Another big construction project in Germany Stuttgart 21 suffers from similar issues. The project is not yet completed. When the plans were originally made in 1995 costs were estimated with EUR 2.6 billion. As of March 2022, the estimated costs amount to EUR 9.15 billion (SWR, 2022).
A problem of large and complex infrastructure projects?
Also, other large construction projects suffer from similar issues. A prominent example is a 47 story and 188-meter-high apartment skyscraper in Benidorm, Spain. Originally only 20 floors were planned. In the wake of the real estate boom in Spain the project initiator wanted additional 27 floors. Unfortunately, the solution for the additional elevators did not work in the end (Spiegel, 2022). Also, this project was delayed several years. The lead architect was replaced, and the financing bank went bankrupt.
So, what went wrong?
First, mistakes happen, and second constructions projects are very complex projects. There is often time pressure, work packages are divided and therefore many people from different disciplines must coordinate efficiently. Still, it is striking that in those examples very basic requirements such as a functioning elevator or a fire protection system have not been met. How can this happen? One root cause of the problem is that requirements have not been managed properly. A neat project management could have saved a lot of time and money.
References: https://www.nzz.ch/wirtschaft/ber-der-neue-flughafen-berlin-brandenburg-wird-endlich-eroeffnet-ld.1578536https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/stuttgart/aufsichtsrat-sondersitzung-s21-100.htmlhttps://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/architekt-vergass-planung-von-aufzug-fuer-spanischen-wolkenkratzer-a-915972.htmlSource: Requirements Management Failures - Examples from the Building and Construction Industry | LinkedIn
