Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of all, a 6-week delay arose at the start of the boring process due to prob-
lems with boring through the impermeable block.The next 300 metres were
bored without too many problems, but the deeper the boring machines
went - on their way to the deepest part of the boring trajectory - and the
pressure was increasing, the more a structural pattern of damage became
evident in the construction of the lining. The problem first had to be investi-
gated and the boring process was stopped. After a solution had been found
for the dimensioning problem of the segments, the boring process was also
restarted. All too soon, at that time the boring machines had nearly reached
the deepest point, new problems arose: the shields of both machines
appeared to be distorted and the boring process was stopped again to
investigate this problem and to find a solution.
Delay of at least 8 months; no more incentive
All the problems taken together resulted in a delay of at least 8 months, of
course depending on the later progress. This meant that the penalty clause
included in the contract (penalty of 136,000 euro for each day of the delay
up to a maximum of 13.6 million euro
100 days) was no longer any incen-
tive for the contractor to complete the project quickly. The client feared that
the contractor would only focus on cost optimization, which could mean
that fewer people would be employed for example, to save the high wage
costs for overtime. The idea that the project would be completed during
regular working hours was not very attractive for the client.
The client then had to make the choice of whether to go to court or not. Central
factors when considering this were particularly the planning in relation to
terminating the ferry crossing and the loss of toll charges as a result of later
completion. The client decided not to go to court, but to reach agreement
with the building consortium.The result of this was a so-called 'package deal'.
Introduction of bonus/malus system
It was agreed in the package deal that the completion date would be shifted
to 14th November 2003 and the penalty of 13.6 million euro incurred until
then would be waived. A very important element was the introduction of a
bonus/malus system: for each day delay, the contractor had to pay a penalty
of 136,000 euro, whereas a day gained with respect to the completion date
would give the contractor a bonus of 68,000 euro.
Fig. 17.6
One of the acceleration
measures concerned
the construction of the
installation building at
the northern access
ramp on the caisson
which served as the
receiving shaft. In this
way the fitting out
could be started
sooner
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