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Abstract

Delays impact over 85% of construction projects leading to additional build costs and longer lead times (Burns, 2023). Extended project timelines raise labour costs, disrupt operations, and incur extra equipment rental fees (Delpaino, 2024). Therefore, an interest was sparked to understand the major delays and how to mitigate against them and whether these delays differ in the unique challenge of operating within a hotel refurbishment project.
There is previous literature regarding general construction delays, however there is limited research gathered that understands the specific nature of hotel refurbishment delays, especially in the UK.
The research aimed to examine delays in hotel refurbishment projects and assess the effectiveness of their mitigation strategies. To accomplish this, this research understood the most likely and impactful delays, how delays in hotel refurbishment projects differ to those of other property types, how delays differ in scale and quality and the specific mitigation strategies to combat these delays.
To achieve the objectives, this research collected both quantitative and qualitative data through the use of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, distributed to a range of professionals in the industry. This research was analysed through inductive thematic analysis, descriptive statics and qualitative coding.
This research initially highlighted the most significant delays that have been established from previous literature, including, late payment to the project contractor, poor workmanship and miscoordination between a large number of different discipline contractors.
The questionnaire discovered that late delivery of materials was the most likely delay factor, whereas discovery of unexpected items within the building was the most impactful.
68.4% of respondents who participated in the questionnaire affirmed the distinctiveness of hotel delays compared to those of other property types. They attributed this disparity to factors such as the high standards expected, strict project scope, heritage building constraints and tight programme.
The interviews understood that large scale and high-quality projects demand greater management and more stringent regulation adherence. Additionally, it was emphasised that delays have a greater critical effect on the entire project when the scale or quality of the hotel increases.
This research discovered the effectiveness of risk management, contract provisions and entering into a two-stage tender process as integral mitigation strategies. It was determined that in the future construction will become more digital and sophisticated, and greater information will be available to project managers to mitigate against delays. Although the benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) were understood, clients rarely see the value of an upfront project cost, this is reaffirmed by that fact only 21% of respondents very frequently use this strategy.

Course: Property Development - BSc - U0704PYC

Date Deposited: 2024-08-14

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14446.html