‘Client Should be at the Core of Construction Process’ : Emaar MGF

Real Estate major, Emaar MGF is in the process of reinventing itself  with restructuring of its senior management in order to achieve its  twin objectives of speedy delivery and high quality, by focusing on project management. DR. K. RAMAMURTHY, Chief Executive Officer, Projects, Emaar MGF and a project management expert, in an exclusive interveiw with VINOD BEHL, shares the Vision 2020 of Emaar MGF and company’s business growth plans, focussed on maximising real estate  asset value and delivering superior value to customers with a view to re establish the iconic brand and attain sustained market leadership. Excerpts: 

Dr. K. Ramamurthy, CEO Projects, EMAAR MGF 

Q: Emaar MGF is currently in the process of reinventing and restructuring itself with the aim to attain sustained market leadership. What are the key elements of your strategy to achieve end goals?

k To begin with, I would like to share a small story with you. My firstjob as a Supervising Engineer required me to look after the construction of the Chennal International a Airport. I was overseeing the pavement strengthening. It was a working airport, with aircraft landing at regular intervals. I had to get the compaction levels right — even in the first time around as otherwise the pilots would re use to [and the airplanes. The job required excruciating accuracy and meticulousness. My mentor, a well known American architect, Joseph Allen Stein, demanded high levels of workmanship from me as even the slightest er or would amount to dismantlement. The experience taught me a lesson — do it right the first time and this set the right type of thinking in me. To answer your question now, I have realised, in my four decades of experience in the Industry, that the key drivers to success in Construction Management are people, processes and strategy. We would like to deliver superior value to our customers. Our end goal is to create the best and most favourable product with our cusomers’ interests and satisfaction in mind. We shall need to have a unique approach with unparalleled results. I want great emphasis on honesty, integrity, passion, service and professionalism in not only how we interface and work with our clients but also how we work with each other as a team. 

Going forward, we will be emphasising on the following things: 

Focuson the customer Bringing in all vendors! contract ors at an earlier stage as opposed to the relatively later stage that is applied by a full procurement/tendering process. This makes all parties work from the starting stage to deliver a project, besides keeping in mind the nature of the prolonged contractual relationship.

Integratedprocesses and teams: This involves assembling the full delivery team - contractor and designer, at the inception of a project to negate any fragmentation of the design and delivery process.  

Qualitydriven agenda: With zero defects, delivery on time and as per budget, innovation, waste reduction and prompt aftercare as essential elements. 

Commitmentto people: By re-investing in the training and development of our prime asset, our staff in order to maintain and develop the business. We need to give both time and importance to performance management and employee development. We shall need to believe that our people are our greatest strength and competitive advantage. 9th ANNIVERSARY ISSUE I REALTY PLUS I 83.4

Q: Today, the real estate sector is faci ng the twin problems of questionabLe quaLity and delivery defauLts. How does Emaar MGF on its part, tackle these two serious issues? A We will be focussing on our contract ors, who shall be selected on the basis of achieving long term sustainable value for money and not just the lowest price. The lowest tender price alone wilt not guarantee value for money over the full life of the building. Consideration also needs to be given to the quality of the design, the proposed method of construction and the likely implication for the costs of operating the completed construction over its whole life and meeting the health and safety performance needs. With evaluat ion of tenders, we are now going to give different weightage to the quality and price depending upon the complexity of the project. Oiy contractors who have demonstrated that they can construct buildings of the ‘right’ quality and within given budget, will be selected. 

Construction design should not be a separate process but be integrated with the whole construction process so that the design team can take more responsib ility for the implication of their designs including cost, quality and health and safety. We are keeping the crucial asp ect in mind for optimising the value of a building to its end users. 

Q: What’s Emaar MGF doing to put project management systems in place to check any time and cost overruns and maintaini ng quaLity standards? A: Project Management entails planning, organising, securing and managing resources. A combination of all these brings about a successful completion of the project. I have identified five core processes for streamlining the projects which include design and change management, planning, contracting and procurement, cost control and project review and tracking.

We are going to create responsibility matrices for the different people at different levels in the projects. We are putting in place a ‘cost management system’ that enables cost estimating processes to start at the concept stage itself. We would like to work closely with contractors of the highest quality, grooming them as construction partners in the process. We would like to set tough expectations from our contractors and explain our methodo logy and thinking to them. We would like to pick contractors who truly understand the challenge and are able to understand projects from our point of view. Contractors must be held accountable and the attitude should be that ‘we are in it together’. Safety has to be accorded the pride place in our working.

The need of the hour is to change the paradigm. Quality will be given the highest importance and documentation will be put in place to ensure we achieve quality. We have already put in place a strong and well-qualified ‘in-house’ PMC team, besides setting up a central procurement cell.