How to Keep Costly ‘Scope Creep’ at Bay When Building

A rendering of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub referenced in the piece. (Image via Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)
A rendering of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub referenced in the piece. (Image via Port Authority of New York and New Jersey)

Reading The New York Times’ latest account of the costly and troubled World Trade Center Transportation Hub project, there came a point where I recognized that the scale of the disaster — $2 billion over budget and six years behind schedule — was all that separated that project from the typical campus project beset by scope creep.

Author Oliver Snider is the director of business development for the design-build firm Stanmar Inc.Author Oliver Snider is the director of business development for the design-build firm Stanmar Inc.The term “scope creep” derives from project management, and in case you’re unfamiliar with it, scope creep (or project creep) describes the situation whereby continuous, subtle expansion in the scope of a project hamstrings or even dooms it. Little about the transportation hub seemed subtle (administrative costs alone exceeded $655 million), but you get the idea: The design, by the celebrated but now under-fire architect, Santiago Calatrava, was exotic and expensive, and was eventually assailed as “too complicated to build.” The original schedule and budgets were unrealistic. Politics intruded often, and changes in priorities by old and new players added years and hundreds of millions of dollars to the bottom line. Attempts to bring the project to a swifter conclusion only added to the costs.

On a college or private school campus, scope creep can be brought on by anyone at the table during the planning process. The lead donor on an athletic or recreation project, or even a wealthy alum who has not yet committed to the capital campaign, might be an enthusiast of a particular sport, and make the gift contingent upon its addition to the building: “If you put in squash courts, I’ll fund the building.”

Another typical situation occurs when well-meaning administrators begin to solicit input from different potential user groups on campus. Administrators of the school’s dance program, say — or students in the program, or even students’ parents — may then pressure the planning committee to set aside space, or more space, for dance. As program space is added and associated spaces get that much bigger to accommodate these additions, so does the project budget.

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