Cost, Time and Quality | The Golden Triangle in Construction
- Structures Insider Exclusive
- Apr 12, 2021
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 21

Project Failure (Cost, Time and Quality)
In all developed projects, a balance between cost and value must be established (CIOB, 2014). The nature of the project would be influential in determining the prioritised objective of time, cost or quality/performance. As outlined in the publication by the Society of Construction Law (CIOB, 2014), the most common causes that result in a project failure, where the lack of clear links between the project and the client’s organisation key strategic priorities with a misunderstanding on the agreed measures of success were the causes of projects not achieving the promised deliverables.
Recent researched into major projects by (Dalton, 2008) as shown in Table 1 found that 75-80% of the causes of projects failing were due to procurement, the definition of project requirements and the client’s management capabilities.

Table 1 - Top 10 risk sources of infrastructure projects failure (Dalton, 2008)
Procurement Models
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