The Hudson Yards is a real estate development project in the city of New York. It is a massive private project that intends to cover a diverse space of 18 million square feet. This project is currently the largest project that has ever been witnessed in the history of the city and the whole of the United States. The project will create space for both commercial businesses and residential purposes. According to the plan of the construction project, it is likely to provide space for more than 100 shops, towers for commercial offices, and numerous restaurants (Hughes, 2017).
Due to the complexity of the project and the diversity of the resources required, it is likely to cost an approximate of $20 billion. This is a high cost compared to the costs of other major construction projects that have been completed in the history of the United States. Therefore, the project cannot be financed by a single individual or a single company. The project is managed and funded by some partners from different industries. The project is aimed at extending the far west end of the New York City. The primary objectives of this mega project are to expand the metropolitan area of the New York City to accommodate growth. The project is also aimed at providing residential space for the increasing New York population. The commercial space offered in the project will even make it easy for companies and organizations in the City to put up offices. Eventually, the project is also aimed at increasing the revenue of the city through an increase in commercial and logistic activities (Tully, 2014).
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Apparently, the development and the completion of the Hudson Yards project also faces numerous risks. One of the risks is inadequate funds to complete the project. It is evident that the Hudson Yards is a massive project that covers a huge area. Financing is one of the most critical factors that would determine the completion of the project. There are numerous resources such as personnel and machinery, which are requiring financing to help finish the project. The independent budget office of the New York City has already raised concerns about the financing of the project. Based on their evaluation, they determined that the project is likely to cost $1.3 billion more than the initially projected budget (Bagli, 2004). It will be a profound blow in case the allocated budget fails to meet the construction demands of the project. This is a risk because all the stakeholders involved in the financing of the project expect their contributions to finish the project.
Another risk that faces the completion of the Hudson Yards project is the possibility of a limited ground for the construction. Most of the projections for the project were carried out by technological measures. However, there is a possibility that the actual ground to be covered by the project might be inadequate. In case complexities emerge regarding the reliability of part of the land allocated, the project might face the risk of incompletion and the project will be extended to cover most of Manhattan (Kusisto, 2013). This is a serious issue since it will compromise the overall appearance of the project upon completion contrary to the initial projection. It is also difficult to assess this risk due to the diversity of the land expected to be covered by the project.
The Hudson Yards project has a profound level of complexity. This can be measured by the design of the project to be constructed. Based on the ground to be covered by the project, it is clear that designing of the project was a sophisticated practice. The designers of the project had to generate a three-dimension structure that reflects the actual image of the project after completion. The complexity of the project also lies in the construction process. Due to the need of separating the residential and the commercial parts in the project, the contractors would have a difficult time to design project (Bagli, 2004). This aspect of complexity is also crucial to the completion of the project. It means that the teams involved in handling these complex aspects of the project must be careful to ensure that they get everything right.
The project’s level of uncertainty is also high. It is difficult to project the amount of time that will be needed to complete the project. The project involves many processes that take place depending on unpredictable factors. For instance, the work carried out in a single day depends on the reliability of the machines and the employees at the construction site. Another uncertainty in the project is observed regarding financing. Although a specific budget was projected for the completion of the project, it is still uncertain to assert that the budget would be enough to complete the project. The City’s budgeting office has already complained about the possibility of demand for extra funds to finish the project (Bagli, 2004). These uncertainties mean that numerous adjustments will be made to the project in the course of implementation.
The challenge-based learning is addressed in the project. Challenge based learning is one of the contemporary learning approaches, which is applied in different fields. It involves the use of the typical day experiences with technology to solve problems that are experienced in the society (Boud & Feletti, 2013). It is clear that the idea of this project and its implementation were based on the collective contributions of different stakeholders. Challenge – based learning applies to the development of this project for various reasons. One of the reasons is the fact that the stakeholders involved in the inception of the project sought to solve a unique problem in the society. Due to the increase in the population of the New York City, these stakeholders were faced with the challenge of creating more space for businesses and the residents of the city.
It is also clear that technology plays a significant role in the implementation of the project. The technology was essential in the designing of the outline for the structure. Technology is also used to monitor and assess the progress of the project to ensure that all the steps in the project outline are followed. However, these technology ideas were just borrowed from the daily uses of technology by professionals such as architects and engineering. Through continued practice, they deemed it appropriate to use their technical skills and develop a project that could help to resolve the increasing demographic challenges facing the community. The challenge – based learning method is likely to be applicable throughout many parts of the project. For instance, the contractors will have to use their daily technological experiences to perfect various construction stages of the project.
Organizational mindset is critical to the success and overall operations of the organization. There are two main types of corporate mindset, the fixed and the growth mindset. The growth mindset involves the desire of the firm to succeed. On the other hand, the fixed mindset applies for the organizations that focus on the provision of services rather than the amount of revenue earned by the organization. The mindset of the organization plays a significant role in determining the employee behavior. Employees tend to be motivated achieve if the organization has a growth mindset. They are pushed by the goals set by the organization to increase their input. Conversely, employees in organizations with a fixed mindset are likely to relent in the achievement of organizational objectives (Thackray, 2015).
The aspect of organizational mindset profoundly affects the implementation of the project. This can be attributed to the objectives set by the project management team and the working conditions. In case the project management team has a fixed mindset, there is a high possibility that the employees working on the project would relent in their operations. This is due to the lack of inspiration from the management team. This level of reluctance can lead to the delayed completion of the project. On the other hand, the project might be completed promptly if the project management team has a growth mindset. This implies that the team will be ready to set performance objectives at every level of operation. Eventually, the employees will be motivated by this spirit from the management team (Thackray, 20115). The mindset of the management team, therefore, determines many factors pertaining the project. It is critical for the team to evaluate the nature of the project and come up with an effective mindset that could be used to enhance prompt completion of the project.
Based on the evaluation of the Hudson Yards project, it is clear that the project has numerous uncertainties and complexities. These are probably caused by factors such as infrastructure required for the completion of the project. To reduce the project’s level of complexity, it would be critical for some changes to be made to the initial design of the project. I recommend the change in the general size of the project. The size of the project is one of the factors that is causing uncertainties about the cost and the time of completion of the project. The designers of the project should reconsider coming up with a manageable project. Apparently, the primary objective of the project is to address the demographic issues in New York City. Although the entire project could not be thrown away, it would be advisable for the designers of the project to change it so that it could be implemented in bits. This will help to improve the predictability of the project regarding the costs and the time. It will also help to make the project less complex.
The change in the size of the project could be achieved through changes in the infrastructure involved in the project. For instance, the number of buildings in the project should be reduced. I propose that the designers come up with a single design for the residential section of the project first. Once the residential section is complete, they can design the commercial section of the project. However, these factors would depend on the prioritization of the project regarding its primary objectives. These changes will ensure that a small piece of land is assessed and accounted for in a single phase of the project rather than addressing the whole project.
References
Bagli, C.V. (2004). Budget Office Warns of Risks in West Side Redevelopment Financing. The New York Times
Baud, D. & Feletti, G. (2016). The Challenge of Problem-based Learning . New York: Routledge
Hughes, C.J. (2017). Hudson Yards: A New (Far) West Side Story. The New York Times
Kusisto, L. (2013). Hudson Yards Woes Leave City on Hook. The Wall Street Journal
Thackray, V. (2015). Organisational mindset – what’s yours? Positive Change GURU . Retrieved from http://positivechangeguru.com/organisational-mindset-whats/
Tully, S. (2014). NYC’s Hudson Yards project will be an entire city — on stilts. The Fortune Magazine
