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HKA ’ s integrated research programme , CRUX , analyses and quantifies these causes and effects . More than 1600 projects across 100 countries were examined for the Fifth Annual CRUX Insight Report . The combined capital expenditure on these projects was $ 2.1 trillion , and the toll colossal . On average , sums in dispute exceeded 35 per cent and schedules faced being our investigation . And design error trumps the otherwise universally dominant driver of claims and disputes – change of scope .

Design defects

The UK market also suffers from this design-centric malaise . Drilling down into the CRUX dataset reveals its prevalence in different segments . Our ongoing analysis covering 234 UK projects for construction of buildings shows that a third ( 33.9 per cent ) had claims or disputes around incorrect design – more than any other cause . By category , the proportions are 30 per cent for residential projects , 35 per cent for commercial , rising to 40 per cent in healthcare .

Design errors dominated in other sectors too , including industrial and manufacturing , and in highways ,

Value engineering and design development can be key reasons for design being considered ‘ defective ’

prolonged by more than 68 per cent .

CRUX reveals regional variations in impacts as well as patterns of causation . In Europe the costs of conflict rose to a staggering 38.3 per cent of the typical project ’ s committed CAPEX at the time of where 31 per cent of conflicts sprang from this cause . For rail and transit , the share was 13 per cent , but other design-centric failures were more evident here . Incompleteness and lateness of the design each affected a third of distressed projects

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