Rip It Up and Start Again

Close your eyes and let’s go on a journey…..no wait, that isn’t going to work. Okay, so keep your eyes open and just imagine a time when things were a lot simpler; before the internet became all controlling and smart phones were but a glint in Steve Job’s eye. Are you there yet? Good. 

Welcome to the year 2000 and to my job as an engineer for the client on a construction site. I won’t name names, but let’s just say it was a square in Leeds in the United Kingdom. It was an interesting project but progress was slow. Partly this was due to the large number of underground services - being a city centre location the ground was naturally riddled with cables, pipes and other hidden paraphernalia. We also had to install a huge number of new underground services, including nine large diameter ducts that would carry video, data and power across the site. I could go into more detail - and you know I want to - but I appreciate that not every reader is going to be so enthusiastic about such engineering matters. 

Anyway it was very slow going. The situation, however, was not helped by the Contractor going about things in a somewhat haphazard manner. They quickly became behind programme - probably the only thing they managed to do quickly - and everything became a struggle. They couldn’t have picked a worse project to demonstrate their inability to deliver - the site was literally on the door step of the civic centre and right in the political heart of the city. Eventually summer rolled around and the Clerk of Works - for the ease of reference let’s call him Mike - took his annual two week break in the sun. One of the great things about taking time away from a construction project, is seeing what progress had been made in one’s absence. Not this time….

Well you can imagine the surprise on Mike’s face when, on returning to the site after a fortnight away, progress had actually gone backwards. I forget the specifics, but essentially a fault had detected in the material used for the construction of the paving and months of progress had to be ripped up. Used to slow progress on this project, Mike took it all in his stride.

“Well I must say this is a first…..there’s even less paving laid than when I left two weeks ago. I guess I should be pleased I wasn’t away for longer in case the whole job got taken up.”

He spent the next few days walking around the site, inspecting the work that had been done and shaking his head. In the days that followed he could regularly be heard singing the Orange Juice song “Rip it Up and Start Again”.  Eventually the project did get completed and it has since been a hailed as huge success - funny how the issues and drama experienced at the time have all been forgotten - but boy did it take some effort to get there.

So why am I telling you this? Well, I thought I’d seen the worst of lackadaisical construction, but I’ve got to say that New Zealand would give the boys from Leeds a run for their money. Before I go too far, I’m not suggesting that all New Zealand projects take an age to complete, but my goodness many of them do. 

By way of an example, last year a new pedestrian crossing was installed on my route to the office. This gave me an excellent opportunity to see what progress was being made twice a day; once in the morning and then again on my way home. Often it was difficult to determine what exactly had been completed. A bit more kerbing? Nah. Maybe some paving? Hard to tell. There were plenty of construction vehicles on the small site but the activity was at odds with the progress. It’s not like it was in a difficult location, and to help half of the road had been closed. A job that would have taken two weeks in the UK, and that is being generous, stretched out to a couple of months. There wasn’t even any electrical work to complete. And the kicker was that the quality of the workmanship was very poor. One could forgive a project that took a long time if the final product was professional and polished. Not this though - the kerbs that had been laid looks like they had been done blindfolded and the paving was already starting to rock. 

And this is just one example.

In the 10 years I have been here, I have searched for a reason as to why things are the way that they are. Is it the more laid back pace of life that’s rubbing off on the crews? Is the warmer weather making things difficult? Maybe the pool of resources is too small or insufficiently skilled? Is there not enough time given to training the workforce? Could it be that the client organisations don’t provide enough supervisory support to make sure projects don’t linger? 

I suspect it’s a mixture of all of the above. Any road up, there’s no sign of things improving anytime soon. It’s just the way it is and it’s what everyone has become used to. In some ways I am glad of that. It gives me a reason to recollect on past projects, people that I have met and worked alongside and never fails to bring a smile to my face and place a song in my heart…..”Rip it up and start again…”.

Can you see nearly ten weeks of work in this? No, me neither

Look at the state of that kerbline. After me….”Rip it up and start again…..”