DLR Insurance Audits

Project Details

Project Description

LBA Role

Project Highlights

Location

East London

Client

Swiss Re / Zurich

Date

2005 – 2008

Project Type

Audit and report against the JCOP for risk management on Tunnelling Projects

Skills

Receipt & analysis of project information
Preparation of reports on a regular basis
Identification of added value provided by expert auditor
Regular audits of the contractor’s risk management activities
Development of fire precautions
Auditing and reporting of fire risks on site.

Value

£180M approx.

Project Description

 The Woolwich Arsenal extension was designed and constructed by AMEC for Woolwich Arsenal Rail Enterprises (WARE), a joint venture between AMEC and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The tunnels, 2.5km in length, were driven by one TBM 35m beneath the Thames. The project was completed on time and hailed as a success story.

LBA Role

The LBA staff involved were John Keys, Les Fielding and Bob Ibell.

LBA were acting as the Risk Coordinator on behalf of Swiss RE / Zurich, the insurers, on the Dockland Light Railway (DLR). The main emphasis of the commission was to monitor the performance of the Contractor against the requirements laid down within the ABI Joint Code of Practice for Risk Management. The scope of work initially dealt with the main civil aspects and this was subsequently extended to cover the installation of the Electrical & Mechanical (E&M) systems with emphasis on fire safety. 

During the execution of the project, the risk management roles and responsibilities fulfilled by LBA were split into a number of distinct phases of work:

  • Designer’s documentation review 
  • Contractor’s documentation review
  • Construction surveys and audits
  • Programme reviews
  • Fire Surveys and Controls audits and reports

Throughout the contract, LBA endeavoured to identify the important risks to be considered, and to concentrate on those. Reporting was kept brief and always sought to answer the questions the Insurers needed to ask.

Project Highlights

At the outset, LBA developed a number of audit forms to aid understanding of the JCOP requirements and to enable actions to be identified and progressed. These were instrumental in adding value to the audits and assisting the contractor to identify and manage risk. Regular reports, summary reports and presentations were submitted to Swiss Re and well received. As the contract entered its later stages, it was recognised that the most significant risks to the project were above ground and fire was the obvious chief amongst these. Following further discussion with the insurers, LBA looked in detail at the controls that were needed to manage the fire risk in the site situation and set up a regular monitoring and reporting on these controls, giving the Insurers comfort that the contractor was managing this risk particularly. 

Accreditations and Affiliations