Construction Infrastructure Project Cost Overrun and Cost Control/Management Techniques.

Purpose of this paper
The construction industry is distinct and different from other industries due to its multifaceted nature and the unpredictability it meets. Despite advancements in construction project management throughout the decades, cost overrun as proved to be a significant challenge for the industry with most of the construction and infrastructure projects encounter cost and schedule overruns due to challenges caused by inadequate cost management during the design and implementation stages. Hence, this research is set to identify and rate the elements that influence cost overruns and evaluate the cost management techniques in the UK construction sector.

Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out using primary research, which takes the form of quantitative data collected through a questionnaire. This provides the required data for analysing cost overruns and determining the most effective cost management strategy. The Relative Importance Index (RII) rated the components.

Findings
Findings from the research show that erroneous estimating, unsuitable planned design standards, and information are the main militating factors influencing cost overruns in construction infrastructure projects (CIPs) with a relative important index (RII) of 0.938462 whilst budgeting ranked highest for all participants as a cost-control approach.

Original/value of paper.
This is to gauge the position of middle management on the various challenges posed by cost overrun and delays. It was deduced from the research outcome that an experience professional should oversee complex or mega project and innovative design technology can be used to enhance design consideration right from the outline design stages.