Large-scale State-funded projects

Sir, – I was once involved in designing a so-called big project that, whatever its shortcomings, did not break the State bank: Temple Bar, 30 years ago. The key to replicating this cost outcome is simple enough, if the will is there.

First, be honest about the actual cost (many, if not most, large projects are deliberately underbudgeted because that is the only way they are politically palatable enough to get the initial green light to go to tender; due to the timescales involved, the government knows the overruns will be blamed on inflation or mismanagement and will, in any event, become the responsibility of the next government or somebody else after the next election). Second, give the design teams a precise and accurate brief as to what is required (this demands expert input and appropriate time-lines offered to the commissioning authority’s officials to consider all the current requirements and future implications). Third, appoint the best designers you can find and lock the brief before you seek planning permission (in-progress design changes, which are many and always come from the client, during the construction phase, make effective cost-control impossible). There you have three simple rules that deliver success for public works all over the rest of the world: be upfront about the costs; know exactly what you want to do and don’t change your mind once you’ve made it up; then find the best people to deliver more than you hoped for. A fourth point: it also helps to overspecify. In other words, to design-in for future needs, not just the requirements of the day (for example, the M50). It’s no good being pound wise but penny foolish. – Yours, etc,

SHANE O’TOOLE,

Thomastown,

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Co Kilkenny.