The price of everything and the value of nothing: Rethinking how we cost mega projects

Abstract

Cost and time overruns on major infrastructure projects provoke media storms and public ire, but a policy paper from the Institution of Civil Engineers contends that the long-term benefits of those projects tend to be overlooked, which skews the cost-benefits equation. Rebalancing it away from a fixation on lowest-possible capital cost, they argue, would help stakeholders set more realistic budgets and make more rational assessments of project success, or otherwise.

Notes

¹ “TfL Publishes Report into Impacts of Jubilee Line Extension”, Transport for London, 25 October 2004. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2004/october/tfl-publishes-report-into-impacts-of-jubilee-line-extension.

² BBC Sport, 26 July 2013. “London 2012: UK Public Says £9bn Olympics Worth it”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/23434844.

³ https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/news/archive-news/cn100-2018-the-top-100-uk-contractors-05-09-2018/.