Stena Lines Loch Ryan Port Project prioritises NEC Governance

An online Contract Management suite from BIW Technologies Ltd is to be used to underpin efficiency, quality and compliance on Scottish scheme

In February 2010 Stena Line announced they would be investing £200m to relocate its operations from Stranraer to Loch Ryan. The project involves the development of a new 28 acre state-of-the-art port facility for fast ferries and conventional shipping between Western Scotland and Northern Ireland and will shorten the crossing time by 20 minutes, safeguarding 500 jobs and creating the UK’s third largest port gateway.

Stena Line appointed RPS Consulting Engineers to project manage this ambitious scheme using the NEC3 form of contract. RPS immediately identified that the volume of project communication anticipated between the project team members would demand a significant investment in administrative support in order to implement and manage information in a structured manner.

The Project Manager and Contractor agreed to deploy BIW’s online Contract Administration platform, incorporating its preconfigured NEC template, to effectively implement a standard approach to the management of all NEC communications against their project governance requirements.

RPS Project Director Dr Michael Shaw said: “We’re familiar with document management systems; however in this instance we could see the clear benefits of using a web-based platform which integrates project data with the specific workflows of the NEC3 Engineering and Construction contract.”

The BIW system will fully support the management of contract communications, in accordance with the NEC3 form of contract, between Stena Line, RPS, HMCLH (contractor) and the subcontractors. In addition, document and drawing management will also be undertaken within the same integrated system throughout the duration of the project which is due to be completed in Autumn 2011.

BIW chief executive Colin Smith says: “We’re delighted that BIW has been selected to work with Stena Lines and the Loch Ryan Port project team to implement a robust and auditable communication platform to enable the team to deliver against its demanding information management requirements. Over the past 10 years we have seen many similar projects benefit significantly from an improved approach to the management of their information, and BIW has benefited from being part of teams with a genuine desire to improve.”