Tuesday 21 April 2015

Pulling in the same direction

James Wood - Piletech Manager



























Over the years we have worked for many clients with a variety of strategies and cultures for procuring their trades; from the hard money, nail the sub-contractor through to collaboration and early specialist involvement or nominated sub-contracts.

However, all 1000 plus of these screw pile specific projects have been lump sums - they provide only so much room to drive collaboration and best-for-project outcomes.

2015 is seeing a new opportunity for Piletech with us being part of an Alliance Contract.
An Alliance Contract can be defined as an agreement between two or more parties to achieve agreed outcomes on the basis of sharing risk and reward.

In this model we are open book on cost and work towards an agreed target outturn costs (TOC), where all parties take a pain gain share in the final outcome. In essence, you sink or swim together, which ensures that all parties do what is best for the success of the project.

The transparency of the contract and the trust and collaboration that this affords, has allowed our specialist knowledge to be leveraged to best effect. The key benefits are:

  • Coordinated Design - achieved through early involvement, which has reduced the geotechnical risk and ensures all design drivers are identified and managed upfront;
  • Optimised Budget – early testing on site gained early, detailed understanding of the ground. The TOC was then developed which was assessed by an independent Engineer;
  • Efficient Procurement - materials are procured specifically for project, saving significant $ through optimising the supply chain. Steel will arrive just in time (JIT);
  • Early detailed Methodology – planned as part of the TOC, and optimised in parallel with the supply chain.

The project requires significant screw piling, certainly the largest scope in New Zealand and approaching some of the largest we have seen globally. This model may not be practical for smaller projects with clearer initial scope and risks, it will certainly provide us with experiences and lessons that we can leverage into the traditional business.

It’s an interesting journey we are embarking on that already has already seen many positives - We look forward to the lessons we will learn.



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