Complexity in sports facility construction projects

Abstract

Sports facilities in Norway are often built by sports clubs. In such cases, the project team often lack competence and experience with planning, design, and construction. Complexity is a challenge in many construction projects and is frequently used to explain why projects went wrong. It is, therefore, relevant to assess the magnitude of complexity in sports facility projects and how this complexity should be managed. Such insight will help project teams carry out successful sports facility projects, ensuring the best use of the available resources and as much utility value as possible for the sports community. The purpose of the research was to increase knowledge about complexity in the management of sports facility projects. The paper was based on “model sports facilities” from the website godeidrettsanlegg.no. A workshop, a literature review and a survey were conducted. As a result, the Project Complexity and Risk Assessment tool was found to be a suitable framework for internal measurement of complexity, while simpler frameworks might be more suitable for external, statistical use. Our study indicates that sports facility construction projects have a high level of complexity. Lacking qualifications seems to be a cause of this, indicating that ensuring sufficient qualifications in project management is one of the best measures to handle the complexity.