Monday, August 27, 2012

politicians and construction - does it work?

Taking Germany's two most recent and most "famous" public construction sites, one can get the impression that politicians should take their hands off any construction and leave it entirely to private professionals. The Hamburg Elbe Philharmonic Hall (wikipedia entry english and german) an the new Airport Berlin-Brandenburg (wikipedia: english and german) both are projects going pretty much wrong. In both cases, all estimates regarding costs, planning and finalization have been thrown over and changed massively.
Alone the Elbe Philharmonic Hall has doubled costs and construction time during construction. The Berlin Airport's construction disaster is in the german media almost every week with new delays and risen costs as well as chaotic conditions on site. Contractors have no idea what to do and where and when due to missing plans due to change of planning offices... Planned to open in june 2012, the opening date is now pushed to 2013....while costs are exploding and basic airport safety (fireproofing etc) rules have been neglected to great extends and need to be re-planned and built.

Do you have similar experiences about your tax money being spent by ambitious politicians? Or do you think prestigious objects like those two can never be built within time and cost frames?

How can public building be organized better?



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