CULTURE OF THE LONDON

HEATHROW TERMINAL 5 PROJECT

Presented By:
Ar.Adolph Vincent E. Vigor,PGDip.PM,REA,REB,UAP,RIBA
Ar. Maricel C. Vigor,CFMP,UAP,MBA
Executive Summary
The T5 was one of the biggest construction projects in Europe. It caters for approximately
30 million passengers a year. There are 42 aircraft stands including those that cater Airbus
A380.It features a world class transport interchange connecting road , rail and air transport
.The facility opened to public on March 2008 and represents a 4.3 billion pound investment
to BAA.
The project was delivered by BAA by working in partnership with suppliers and the airline
operator British Airways. 50,000 people, employees and key stakeholders had been involved
working in the T5 by 2008 both on and off site. The project has deployed circa 100 first-tier
contractors and consultancy firms and the principal contractors were Laing O’Rourke ,AMEC
and MACE.

The key mission objectives of the project were:

1.) Set new standards in delighting the traveler at T5;
2.) Develop and deliver the T5 to new industry standards of health , safety and security;
3.) Earn the proactive support and trust of key stakeholders;
4.) Achieve exceptional performance to ensure value for money , on time delivery and an
efficient and productive T5;
5.) Leave behind a legacy of quality (Basu, Little & Millard, 2009).
 Key Stages Key Stakeholders
1. John Egan (BAA’s CEO –
1. Construction: building of
introduced standardized
the terminal begins for
procedures)
British Airport Authority
2. Simon Murray (Group
(BAA), supported by
Technical Director)
enlightened contractual
3. Michael Foster (Design
arrangements.
Director)
2. BAA is sold to Ferrovial.
4. Andrew Wolstenholme (T5
3. British Airways (BA) moves
Project Manager)
into the facility and begins
5. Norman Haste (T5’s 1st
operation.
Project Director)
6. Mike Robins (Head of the LOR
(Lynda
Lynda Bourne, 2009)
T5 Project)

(Davies, Gann, Douglas, 2009)

 How did the difference in cultures affect the project
and decision making during the project?

CULTURE IDENTIFIED

KEY POINT No UK construction project

INITIAL BAA had been successfully
BAA delivered on time, within
recognized the ACTION
budget, to quality and few
poor track projects had good safety
record in Research was
made to records
megaproject Lack of collaboration
of the UK identify the
cause among project partners
industry Client’s reluctance to
practice assume responsibility for
(Davies, Gann,
Douglas, 2009) project risks
(Davies, Gann,
Douglas, 2009) (Davies, Gann, Douglas,
2009)

1 2 3
 How did the difference in cultures affect the project
and decision making during the project?
COURSE OF ACTION
T5 Agreement
BAA took a single insurance policy to cover the EFFECT
megaproject
BAA assumed almost all the risks People from all
Supplier exposure to risk was limited to loss of stakeholders were
profit or insurance express payments encouraged to raise
Suppliers received a guaranteed margin from 5- issues at the earliest
15% depending on trade, for delivering at least opportunity
industry practice Helped supplier
make the right choice
4-Tier Approach of quality culture and delivered the T5
Stakeholder’s engagement for commitment program without
Create a culture that values quality worrying about
Integrate Communications campaign commercial
Implement best practice quality implications (Sharon
Doherty,2008;
(Ron
Ron Basu,
Basu, Chris Little and Chris Millard,2009 ; Davies, Gann,
Sharon Doherty,2008; Davies, Gann, Douglas, 2009) Douglas, 2009)

4 5
 How did the difference in cultures affect the project
and decision making during the project?
1
KEY POINT
COURSE OF ACTION
BAA had the
assumption EFFECT
Adoption of
that every successful lean
project is Standardized process in
production found in preparation for T5
unique automotive, Helped BAA to understand
retailing, and other the capability of its supplier
2 high volume and their ability to work
industries to under the environment of
IMPLICATION achieve an orderly, cooperation, trust, and open-
predictable and book accounting
Main obstacle replicable approach
in productivity to project design
improvements and delivery

3 4
 How would you adapt and cope with cultural
differences?

Identify and study the cultural differences at hand; this may provide in-depth
solution that will help in future problems; thus identifying and curing the cause as
what had been done by BAA. Unidentified cultural differences may bring havoc to
the organizational structure in the future. Minimal cultural differences if not
handled well at the vital stages of production may escalate into a higher level when
the project is at its peak.

The identified cultural differences may help in the development of a different or

new approach that may be proved useful not only in the current project but for
future projects as well. New differences in the working environment like cultural
differences may bring forth new innovations in a company as to its procedures on
how to deal with the project and such. Cultural behaviours may tend to change
from generation to generation thus companies should from time to time improve
their developments not only because of technological advancements but as well as
cultural behaviours.
How would you handle the project stakeholders that
do not share a common culture?

Create a common goal for these stakeholders. Their cultural differences

may be used to have a different and unique approach towards the project.

Make a vital environment where different cultures may be able to work

hand in hand without compromising the project that they are working
on. Team building programs may be used by project managers for them
to bring forth camaraderie to the project team. The issue with cultural
differences is not always solved by removing the unfitted culture but
instead making other ethnicity to accept the culture of the other more
benefitting.
 REFERENCES
• Case Study: A fresh of the Balanced Scorecard in the
Heathrow Terminal 5 project; Measuring Business
Excellence Volume13 Number 4,2009; Ron Basu
Basu,, Chris Little
and Chris Millard.
• Terminal 5 comes alive; Sharon Doherty (2008);
http://www.director.co.uk/MAGAZINE/2008/3%20March/T
erminal5_61_8.html
• Why stakeholders matter; Lynda Bourne (2009)
http://www.the--
http://www.the
chiefexecutive.com/features/feature68469/
• Innovation in Megaprojects: systems integration at London
Heathrow Terminal 5; Andrew Davies, David Gann, Tonny
Douglas (2009)
PROJECT CHARTER
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
Working with Project Teams
The importance of communication cannot be stressed enough as projects succeed or fail by
the flow of information (Lewis, 2011). In the planning phase effective communication is
pivotal in mobilizing support and resource. As the project progresses, ensuring open, timely
and accurate communication to the project team and other stakeholders can help to ensure
a smooth flow of delivery.
A project team and the range of key stakeholders can be diverse in terms of backgrounds,
technical knowledge, priorities and interests. Having effective communication skills, verbal,
written and in terms of body language is required to secure commitment to a shared
project vision.
Just as important, given the project team and stakeholder diversity, is another key
communication skill – listening. An effective project manager listens to, and considers,
a range of opinions and views to ensure the best outcomes for a project.
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
Project managers need to avoid the temptation of communicating everything to everyone.
This relates not just to the detail of communications, but their frequency and methods used.
Email and internet technologies can be ‘easier’ for the project manager, and do have their
place, but consideration should be taken over other methods that can be used when
developing a communication plan for a project.

Communicating with Stakeholders

Identifying, mapping, and prioritising a project’s stakeholder community is only the beginning
and is not sufficient to ensure project success. Projects will only be considered successful
when their key stakeholders acknowledge they are a success. Unfortunately, stakeholder
expectations are never ‘fixed’ and can change throughout a project lifecycle.
Effective communication can help ensure stakeholder perceptions and expectations are
realistic and achievable and made explicit. Ineffective communications can create the
perception of failure in the mind of a stakeholder even when the project is on time,
on budget and delivering the specified scope.
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
Communication is considered a specific knowledge area in the PMBOK® and plays a role
throughout the project lifecycle. At the planning stage, communication can provide some
specific benefits.

Firstly, it can help to manage the various stakeholder expectations. These expectations
should be intrinsically linked with the WBS and the project goals. The WBS identifies
what is in scope, and just as importantly, what isn’t. The WBS alongside project goals and
rationale can ensure that stakeholders have consistent views on what the project will,
and won’t achieve, which helps to ensure realistic and grounded expectations. .

Secondly, good communications at the planning stage can help to manage the project team
through ensuring there is an appropriate mix of skills, knowledge, experience and
personalities to drive a successful outcome. Stakeholder communications can also
help to secure future resources for a project at the planning stage.
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
Communication is considered a specific knowledge area in the PMBOK® and plays a role
throughout the project lifecycle. At the planning stage, communication can provide some
specific benefits.

Firstly, it can help to manage the various stakeholder expectations. These expectations
should be intrinsically linked with the WBS and the project goals. The WBS identifies
what is in scope, and just as importantly, what isn’t. The WBS alongside project goals and
rationale can ensure that stakeholders have consistent views on what the project will,
and won’t achieve, which helps to ensure realistic and grounded expectations. .

Secondly, good communications at the planning stage can help to manage the project team
through ensuring there is an appropriate mix of skills, knowledge, experience and
personalities to drive a successful outcome. Stakeholder communications can also
help to secure future resources for a project at the planning stage.
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
Thirdly, good communication can reduce conflict. Transparency of plans and scope, plus
confirming that the project is following best practice processes and guidelines, can help
stakeholders stay focused on the project goals and outcomes.
Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders
At its heart, communication is about information. Key questions around
project communications are:
• Why?
• Report, inform, advise
• Conform (to process or standard), create record
• Request, solicit (customer satisfaction)
• Inspire, recognise, thank, reward
• Prove, demonstrate,
• Convince, placate
• Who?
• Who provides communication, who receives it?
• What?
• What is the information required? In what format?
• When?
• What are the dates and frequency of communications?
• How?
• Is communication in person or through what media?
• Where?
• Does communication have to be in specific places?
 Developing a Communication Plan for
a Range of Stakeholders

Considering these questions will help to formulate a communication strategy that may
be different for different stakeholders. Do not assume that everybody
wants communication for the same reasons, in the same level of detail, and in
the same time periods!
Tensions in Communication and the Communications Plan
There are a number of tensions in project communication including:

1. The need to communicate the complete story or situation versus the need to be brief

2. The need to tailor the message to the audience, and to simplify versus the duty to
be open and honest

3. The need to treat all stakeholders fairly versus competing needs and expectations
among stakeholders and the need to release some information over time

4. The need to listen versus time constraints and the need to correct at times

5. Demand for information now, and for a great deal of it versus the need to
release some information over time, and time taken to understand, verify
and digest information

6. The value of showing certainty and clarity in communication versus the value of a
thorough understanding of the subject of communication, which means tolerating
ambiguity and shades of grey.
To help reduce some of these tensions, or at least make project teams aware of the issues,
Nokes and Kelly (2007) identify ten principles of project communication:

1.Know your audience

2. Know what you are talking about

3. Pick the right medium for the audience

4. Recognize tensions in the needs to communicate

5. Work with the sponsor

6. Test and adjust

7. If your message can be misunderstood, it will be

8. Plan and rehearse

9. Let people know is what is going on, especially your sponsor

10.Listen and ask questions – understand that communication is two-way

One of the major challenges facing project teams at the planning stage is effectively
communicating the technical data created as a result of developing a schedule.
Simply sending a mass of complex data showing critical paths and estimation models
to a manager or team member is not communication. To engage stakeholders in the
planning phase, they need to be able to use and act on the information they receive.

Communication requires the transmission of information in a form that is relevant to

the recipient. With effective communication, the schedule can encourage the engagement
of stakeholders, help to identify and minimize risks, and secure the right level of support.
There is no point working hard to develop a schedule that is not used or understood so
it must be communicated effectively.
SIMPLE COMMUNICATIONS PLAN