Success of megaprojects is down to a handful of key factors

Megaprojects are what take society forward, whether building new transport infrastructure, creating new technology networks or decarbonising the energy system. However, according to this month’s guest on The Engineers Collective, across sectors and around the world, megaprojects almost always overrun their budgets and timescales.

In this episode, NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by NCE reporter Rob Hakimian as they speak to Bent Flyvbjerg, the first ET professor of major programme management at Oxford University’s Said Business School and professor of major programme management at IT University of Copenhagen. He is the most cited scholar in the world on megaprojects, having authored and edited 10 books, including his brand new one, How Things Get Done, which was co-authored with Dan Gardner.

Having amassed a database of over 16,000 megaprojects of 25 types and from 130 countries, Flyvbjerg has found that only around 8.5% successfully meet their time and cost projections. He tells us about the most common failures, which often happen in the earliest stages such as planning and picking the right team. He also pinpoints the factors that drive success for megaprojects, such as governance and modularity.

Bent explains the challenges using projects such the Elizabeth line and High Speed 2 in the UK.

The conversation also touches on decarbonising the energy system, which Flyvbjerg considers the most important megaproject in the world. Finally, we ponder whether assessing megaprojects on how they match up against their time and cost projections is as important as judging them based on their outcomes.

Listen now to hear about the best practice when approaching a big project – which Bent believes can also be applied to smaller schemes, as well as home tasks such as remodelling your kitchen.