Please skip if easily bored
Assuming the build project was under NEC3 terms ( most major construction works are - some are NEC 4 ) then all aspects of the build will be managed by what’s known as a “Service Manager”. There might even be more than one on a project this size.
The Service Manager sits between the contractors (Mace ) and the client side (THFC) and manages the relationship and is critical to the project being delivered on time and within budget requirements.
The key delivery targets will be agreed at commencement, as will the Risk Register, and as the build goes through it’s stages applications for payment are made by the contractor and these are (should be) assessed by the Service Manager. If the key stages targets are met then payments are made. If they are not being met then the project time line changes and the Risk Register is updated, payment could be partly withheld.
And If there is a risk that a very key stage is not going to be met then either side must, due to contractual clauses, issue what is known as an “Early Warning Notice” and the two sides should then meet with the Service Manager to plan how to rectify the notified service defect. In theory nothing comes up last minute or as a shock. That’s only in theory though.
Here, again, the payments can be withheld pending resolutions, especially likely if a defect comes up that was not on the Risk Register. And if severe enough then the whole payment can be withheld.
Now the key point to consider is when the issues became known and what was behind the defect(s) and what the agreed time frame was in regards to resolving the issue agreed to meet ?
Overall I find it extraordinarily unlikely that something so big came out of the blue to shunt the whole project back, I think the safety system is a bit of a smoke screen. If the project is being managed right. Especially so.
None of the actual management process will be in the public domain as it will be “commercial in confidence”. but I would be amazed if Mace are being paid at the moment - as in the Service Manager has withheld payment pending resolution of the problems.
I know very little (nothing even ) about Stadium Safety. But as it’s been suggested the problem is with the Fire Alarm system then i’ll say this confuses me if true it’s the principle problem.
A public operation should have a fire alarm. But also you can ( could ) in theory mitigate fire risk through other measures - for example patrolling, CCTV, Loud hailers, Additional escape routes.
The key principle being that mitigation has been thought through. Now it could be that because it’s a new build construction you can’t migitage to an acceptable level for the initial Fire Safety certificate and this means the ground can’t get a licence in the first place. But critical safety systems seems a bit cryptic.
Not quite the same thing but I have worked in a building with a few thousand people and a wonkey ( non working ) Fire Alarm and the mitigation, Pending fixing, was accepted.
Good night campers.
