LOCATION:
Knights Brown was appointed as managing contractor responsible for bringing the project in on time and budget. The task was to remove the original deep water berth (DWB) and replace it with a brand new, 250m one.
Two cruise ships alongside the new deep water berth and outer coaling pier.
Piling works underway
This project had the most demanding timeline, with works commencing on site in October 2022 and the immovable completion deadline set to meet the start of the new cruise season in April 2023.
The key marine activities and sequencing were:
- Demolishing the original deep-water berth.
- Constructing a 410-metre combi- pile wall comprising 136, 1.4 metre diameter, 24-metre-long tubular steel piles, separated by sheet piles.
- Anchoring each tubular pile with 32-metre-long tie rods to a sheet pile anchor wall.
- Installing 25 tonne precast concrete units on top of the piles to act as permanent formwork for the in-situ capping beam, itself comprising over more than 2,000 cubic metres of structural concrete.
- Crushing and transporting (off road) 400,000 tonnes of locally sourced quarry waste to create a granular fill material to bring the extended quay area to level.
Challenges
Portland Port tendered the works as a design and build contract but the tenders returned far exceeded the £20m budget, catalysing development of a unique form of contract between the port and Knights Brown and a new procurement model.
Solution
The port chose to negotiate directly with Knights Brown because our proposals offered best value and our enthusiasm for finding a collaborative solution. We recognised their proposed contractual approach, transferring all risk to the contractor, added significant cost. Despite value engineering, it was impossible to meet the budget without reducing the scope, which was unacceptable.
Instead we chose to change our way of working to create an integrated team that was fully aware of what needed to be achieved for the project and each other’s organisations. We created a shared belief that by getting the relationship right from the start, better outcomes could be delivered for everyone. With this established, ‘heads of terms’ were tailored, outlining the objectives:
- Safe construction of the facility to the required standards at an acceptable cost.
- Meeting operational criteria, particularly the ability to accommodate cruise ships by 1 May 2023.
Our approach was based on succeeding (or failing) together; one party should not succeed at the expense of the other. Contractual arrangements were designed to reflect this.
“We are absolutely delighted with the outcome of this project. Industry experts estimated that completing the work in less than 12 months and under £30 million was impossible, yet Knights Brown delivered in just six months for under £26 million — far exceeding expectations.”
Bill Reeves
CEO, Portland Port UK
Outcome
This project demonstrates an integrated team adopting a pragmatic approach to risk can enable apparently unviable projects to be delivered on time and within budget.
This innovative procurement model and collaborative mindset provides a solution to deliver better outcomes across the industry.
