The challenge of coordinating an industrial construction project: the invisible work that decides whether a project succeeds

ARTICLE

For an industrial construction project to succeed, it takes more than a well-conceived design and good professionals. Even with both, execution is sometimes chaotic. Why? Because the different parties fail to coordinate with one another, arrive on site at the wrong time, get in each other's way or cannot finish their part because of poor coordination.

Bear in mind that an industrial project is rarely carried out by a single team capable of doing everything. Usually several different companies are involved: for the structure, the civil works, the refrigeration, the panels, the racking or the specific building services. Each one with its own pace, its own technical requirements and its own way of working.

Getting all those pieces to fit together takes more than a good design: it takes follow-up, judgement and the ability to bring order to a complex project. In other words, coordination.

This work often goes unnoticed, but it has a direct impact on the outcome. Here is how we approach it in the projects we carry out at ALTERTECNIA.

An industrial construction project is more than the sum of separate trades

In complex industrial projects, the idea of a "turnkey" job may sound simple, but the reality is usually far more demanding.

When a client commissions the construction of an industrial building, the idea they have in mind is relatively simple: I explain what I need, sign a contract and, a few months later, I receive the keys.

The "turnkey" concept conveys convenience, control and predictability.

The point is that this picture rarely matches the reality of a complex industrial project. Even with excellent professionals, the nature of this type of project involves a level of complexity that has to be managed skilfully.

Consider that in a conventional building project there is one party, the main contractor, who hires, organises and is accountable. There is a site manager and a clear chain of command.

However, in highly specialised industrial projects (a refrigerated warehouse, a food production plant, a logistics facility with high-bay racking) things do not work quite like that.

There is no contractor that masters every speciality: the structure, sandwich panels, the refrigeration system, industrial racking, electrical installations, fire protection… Each of these disciplines has its own specialists, its own suppliers and its own timescales.

The project is therefore split up. It is divided into work packages by speciality. And suddenly, instead of managing one point of contact, you have to manage ten.

The problem of chain coordination

This is where the real difficulty begins. Because those ten specialists do not work in parallel; most of the time they work in sequence:

• The refrigeration installer cannot start until the panels are in place.
• The panel envelope cannot be closed until the structure is finished.
• The racking cannot be assembled until the floor is ready.

Any delay in one link is passed on to the next. And recovering that lost time is much harder than it seems, because each contractor has its own schedule. If one day they cannot go on site because the previous work is not ready, they cannot always come back the next day.

For the works to be completed on schedule, it is important to manage those dependencies, anticipate them and renegotiate them when they break down. Otherwise it turns into an endless chain of delays.

The role of the technical coordinator: beyond the design

In this scenario, someone has to take on the role that, in other projects, is played by the general contractor's site manager. Someone who knows the project in depth, who understands the dependencies between specialities, who can anticipate conflicts and make technical decisions on the fly.

In complex industrial projects, that role often falls to the design engineering firm. And not all of them are prepared to take it on.

It means being present on site. It means follow-up visits. It means being available when something unexpected crops up at eight in the morning. It means knowing the programme as well as the design itself, and knowing when to force a decision and when it is better to wait.

It is work that makes the difference between a project delivered on time, and one that drags on for months with constant friction between the parties.

What sets a well-executed project apart

Ultimately, building an industrial building is not just a matter of good design. The design can be flawless on paper and fail in execution if nobody takes responsibility for coordinating it rigorously.

A good example of all this is the project we recently carried out for a manufacturer and distributor of frozen bread, pastries and artisan confectionery (click here to find out more). The brief literally started from an empty plot: 3,000 m² designed from scratch to strengthen its logistics capacity, with a large cold room, preparation areas, loading docks and all the necessary ancillary spaces.

In this project, synchronisation between specialists was, from day one, as critical as the design itself. At ALTERTECNIA we took on the role of coordinators, something that few engineering firms offer. And that is how the project was successfully completed, as agreed with the client.

Would you like to know more about this kind of end-to-end coordination? Get in touch and we will tell you more, with no obligation.