RISK AND RESILIENCE OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS: LARGE VS SMALL PROJECTS

Abstract

The concepts of risks and risk management are not new ideas in the built environment industry, yet given its essential nature especially in a sector as dynamic and complex as construction, they are still being developed over the years. Much focus has been placed on risk management, yet in recent years, the idea of resilience has only just started to establish itself as an essential supplement to risk management. Resilience holds the general ideas relating to the planning, preparing for and absorbing of hazardous or extreme events that allows for the recovery from such impacts and eventually adapting to be less susceptible to similar detrimental events in the future. Amongst the main ideas of resilience, the concept of risk management can thus be seen as a subset of a firm’s resilience.

Given that the construction sector was among the worst-hit industries in Singapore during the pandemic, this occurrence provided an unprecedented opportunity to understand how resilient construction firms are and how they might craft their business continuity plan. The current context of the industry thus piqued an interest in the risks and resilience of firms in the construction sector and the difference between larger and smaller projects, especially with the latter possessing limited resources and capabilities. From this study, it has been established that the higher levels of complexity of large projects have greatly contributed to the significant risk factors that inhibit these endeavours from achieving project success. However, this has been complemented by their high levels of resilience that equips them with the capabilities required to tide through adverse events. Small projects, on the other hand, face risks that are minimally lesser than that of large projects, yet still significantly compromise their ability to achieve project success due to the multiple obstacles that inhibit them from implementing effective risk management. With the resource constraints imposed on them, this further limits their resilience capabilities that render them incompetent during situations of crises. This study is thus essential to conceptualise these concepts and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of each project to boost project success across the construction industry.