One in five UK projects end in dispute

Research reveals state of project failure - delays blamed on lack of collaboration.

18 per cent of projects result in serious disputes, which can delay projects and destroy client/contractor relations. This is the conclusion of research from BuildOnline, the leading global on-demand document collaboration specialist.

Poor document management is to blame for creating major lags, with employees wasting over two hours per week searching for documents. 63 per cent of workers also have problems when sharing project plans or drawings with contractors, as they do not work from the most up-to-date versions. This results in major breakdowns in communications and - in many cases - legal proceedings.

"In this day and age, it's short-sighted to blame document mix-ups for delayed projects," said Robert Godfrey, Managing Director - Northern Europe, BuildOnline. "Online business collaboration is a quick and effective approach to project management, ensuring one version of information throughout the project's lifecycle. With collaboration, projects can be finished on time and to budget."

The research also revealed that nearly 20 per cent of project managers found that poor document management led to errors, rework or time slippage on more than 40% of their projects. This in turn leads to overspending and projects running over budget.

"Based on this research, it's hardly surprising that so many projects are delayed and miss deadlines, such as the Wembley stadium project," he continued. "Until organisations embrace collaboration and provide a company culture in support of this, we will continue to see disputes, delays and disappointments."