Strategic Project Management

Background of The project

Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building of Dubai located in the Middle East of third largest oil producing country. It is currently known as Burj Dubai. Engineering team has designed an excellent model for construction of the tallest building that has made Dubai a popular destination from visitors’ point of view. Height of roof is approximately 828 meters which has made the record of world's tallest building. Construction of this building was started by builders in the year 2004. Exterior designing completion has taken time of five years for this project. It was government’s decisions to build the largest building to gain international recognition in the entire world. Constructor has given the name to this building of Burj Khalifa to give honor to the president of United Arab Emirates Mr. Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The height of building and design of this project has broken all previous records of this industry. Approximately 110000 tons were used by the team for the construction of concrete and more than 22 million man hours have been used for the completion of this project. It is man made tower which has residential apartments, entertainment facilities, commercial offices etc.

Main aim of construction was not just to build world’s tallest tower but it was designed to gain achievement.. Architecture design of this project is amazing and technically, it is made up with mixed structure concrete and steel frame. To keep it secured and safe, designers have adopted Y-type plan shape for the tower. The project is having all aspects which have not been applied before this construction. It has made this building unique which is the main criteria of Project Management.

Height of top is approximately 828m, thigh of tip is 830m and occupied floor is 585m. Apart from that, total area of tower is 465000m2. Engineers were majorly concentrating on minimizing the wind forces on building. Buttressed core system is being used as the structure for construction of building. Lateral load resisting system is the unique feature of this building. It consists of high performance and it is linked with the exterior reinforced concrete columns. Thickness of core walls are from 1300mm to 500mm. Floor framing systems are being used in the construction, climbing framework system (ACS), Rebar pre fabrication as well as coloum proceeding methods are being used as technologies for the construction of Burj Khalifa tower. The construction of building is unique and has used advanced technologies for constructing world's largest building.

Standard criteria

Project's success can be judged by measuring the standard criteria. By evaluating these aspects, one can measure that whether project is successful or getting failed. Generally, project managers avoid this area because if they think about the failure then they may get demotivated.

Construction of Burj Khalifa was started in the year 2004 and it was completed in 2009 in the month of October. Starting and end date is the major factor that decided success or failure of project. Initially, project managers have decided to couplet the tower in 57 months. Apart from that, team has completed this project within stipulated time duration. Project has also adopted a “3 day cycle” technology with an aim to raise the entire construction one story per three days. While constructing this building, managers have used innovative techniques that have not been used earlier in construction of any building.

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Main objective of construing Burj Khalifa was to make more money and attract more visitors towards Dubai. Entire planning was done by the government of Dubai. They wanted to utilize the resources well in this project and gain monitory benefits by constructing this building. Aim of this project was achieved at the end of year 2009. It has given with new recognition to the country and many visitors take interest to visit such place. It has increased the tourism business of nation and foreign reserves have been increased after construction of this tower. It was an amazing experience for the travelers to visit such tallest and well-designed building. Tower has entertainment and luxurious facilities for the guests that attract more travelersin the country. It has helped in the economic development of country so that goal of government has been achieved with this project.

Another standard criteria for Burj Khalifa building is to complete the project within stipulated budget. Government has allotted funds to construction companies for constructing the tower. Schedule and plan is the major factor that can help in identifying the actual success of project. Meeting quality is another standard criteria that can help in measuring the success of construction. Government of Dubai has allotted funds to companies to build a tower. But, sometimes, due to lack of budget, companies fail to use highly expensive machinery that reduces the quality of product which was expected with the final project.

Alignment of the project is another standard criteria that defines the success or failure of project. It includes collaboration of team members, capabilities of the team, focus on risk and priorities, etc. As it is a building construction project, so managers need to think upon the security and safety of building and guests those who live at this place. Therefore, they do not get harm in any critical situation. Sometimes, due to changes in weather, tower can get damaged. It can cause physical harm to the audience those who are present at that time or are available near the place.

Team and customer satisfaction is another standard criteria that is needed to be looked upon at the time of measuring success of project. It is necessary that final project will meet their expectations otherwise, it would considered to be failed.

Critical identification of the criteria

Above selected standard criteria are appropriate for analyses the actual performance and effectiveness of his construction. Aim and objective is the main aspect hat decide the success of the project. If the initially aim is being achieved at the completion of the proposal so it can be said that project is successful. If this element is not being considered by the monitoring persons then actual effectiveness of the project can not be judged by them. As Burj Khalifais the successful and known building in the Dubai. Before designing or planning the project government has focused on getting the monitory benefits and international expansion of the culture of the nation. At the completion of the proposal if this aim is being fulfilled and authorities are getting financial benefit or increment of foreign exchange then it can be said that it has accomplished its goal and objective. Without looking upon this factor standards can not be measured by the person.

“ Iron Triangle” is the measuring tool that measure the performance of the project on the bases of three main factors cost, time and quality. Time and cost is another major standard criteria for the research proposal. As it is noticed that Burj Khalifa project was started in the year of 2004 and it finished in the year 2009. The time estimated by the authorities 57 months but the construction was too lengthy. For evaluating the success of the tower, Iron triangle tool can be used by the supervisors. Cost is another important element that decides the actual working of the project and its effectiveness can be measured by this component. In initial cost of constructing Burj Khalifa building was $876 million dollars. The final cost was approximately 1.5 billion dollar. It is important for the project manager to find out the root cause of the issue of increasing the cost. There many be several reasons of increasing cost by the way mangers can find out whether tower has given success to the country of not. It is found that since 2004 to 2009 there have been tremendous changes taken place in value of currency that is why prices of raw material gone up. The planning of constructing Burj Khalifa tower held in the year of 2004 but in the year 2008 Dubai suffered from economy downturn. That is why economic value of the currency get down that has raised prices of raw material. Apart from this prices of aluminum, and cement have been increased that caused a factor of raising the budget. So it was the valid reason of increasing the cost by this way actual success of the project can be measured significantly.

Quality is another factor for standard criteria. The main constructors involved in his project were Samsung engineering and Besix that have used the advanced technologies for the construction of tower. Mixed reinforced concrete and other techniques were used in this building. By measuring the quality it can be find out that whether building is capable to survive the extreme condition of not. This testing is very important by this way engineers can plan the next activity for improving the quality of the tower.

Critical evaluation

Success of the project can be measured if project efforts are aligned with the strategic goal. On the bases of goal criteria it can be evaluated that it has achieved its target. As per planning of constructing the tower there are all facilities for the traveler, there is availability of the rooms and commercial space. That attracts more visitors towards the Dubai. It has increased the economic value of the country to great extent. It has helped in gaining the recognition in the entire world. So the project can be said as successful proposal as it has accomplished its prime objective.

On other hand, on the bases of cost it can be evaluated that initial budget was not appropriate to successfully completion of the building. Due to economic downturn cost of purchasing raw material has been increased. And prices of aluminum also has enhanced that has enhanced the overall cost of the Burj Khalifa. So due to over budget project it is not able to earn that values which was expecting by the government at initial level. Cost management of the project was not well in this respect. Initial plan was not enough so it can be evaluated that it has not gained that much success.

Conclusion

From the above report it can be concluded that Burj Khalifa has achieved its initial objective of design. It has been construed as per the planning, in the tower all residential rooms, commercial space, entertainment facilities are available. There have not been done any change by the engineers after starting the construction.
Burj Khalifa projects has achieved its goal of increasing economy value of the country. After completion many of the visitor come in the country to visit such tallest building. It has become the landmark and now Dubai is world famous for the tower. Project of Burj Khalifa has been completed before one year from its estimated time duration. So it is difficult to measure its success on the bases of time period.

References

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• Choplin, A. and Franck, A., 2014. Seeing Dubai in Khartoum and Nouakchott:“Gulfication” on the margins of the Arab World.Under Construction: Logics of Urbanism in the Gulf Region.
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