Risk Management Planning for Arctic Infrastructure Construction Projects

Abstract

Arctic construction projects face unique challenges such as ice-rich aggregates, severe weather, and limited resources. This project creates an Arctic-specific risk management system for Alaska Arctic Constructors (AAC), featuring a tailored Risk Register, Lessons Learned Archives, Past Performance Register with historical costs and production rates, and ongoing management of these tools. These scalable tools mitigate risk and enhance planning capabilities. Estimating and management teams gain sharper awareness of threats and opportunities for optimization. Leveraging expertise from knowledgeable key stakeholders via surveys and interviews (designers, government professionals, contractors) plays a critical role in developing these tools while addressing threats inherent to Arctic construction projects (e.g. weather, logistics, resources limitations) and will create the early stages of a risk program. This system boosts AAC’s effectiveness and profitability in this competitive market and challenging environment by enabling precise evaluation of exposure, vulnerabilities, and impacts on cost, schedule, and quality. Successfully planning and executing large construction projects in this region requires calibrated risk management planning tools, and integrating stakeholder knowledge with methodology from Hillson, Barkley, and Lam provides the toolbox.