Promenade - Megathread

[NoTail]

11 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

It is indeed, though it's in the 'taster' article, so that all it says is: It’s an award that might raise a few eyebrows among the residents and businesses who have endured the Prom redevelopment saga. Find out who’s praised the horse tram scheme.

This turns out to not actually be winning, but being Highly Commended in something called the 2019 Global Light Rail Awards which actually took place on 2 October (so you can see that IOM Newspapers are keeping up with their usual standards of topicality).  Specifically  the 'renovation' of "well-loved tourist icon, the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway" were the runners up in the Project of the Year Under €50m category. 

The winners were the Newcastle Light Railway in New South Wales, Australia, who were being rewarded for a project that had actually been completed (apparently both ahead of time[1] and under budget) rather than just sort of started and fannied about with.

To be kind to the awards organisers, the citation seems to be as much about relief that they were keeping the trams as anything else.  To be even kinder there may have only been two projects submitted, so runner-up means last.  Interestingly the shindig seems to have been a DoI-free zone, with "The award [being] collected by Alistair Burroughs of Isle of Man contractor Burroughs Stewart Associates".  Presumably they were either aware of how bad it would look or they were told they would have to pay something towards going.

 

[1]  There were quite a lot of delays at the planning stage - not itself a problem if they are used to get the strategy and details right rather than just throw hissy fits because you're not getting your own way - but construction of an entirely new line "commenced in September 2017 and the line was opened on 17 February 2019 ... Construction of the light rail was completed by the end of September 2018".  The line is slightly longer than the DBHT and includes six stations.  And surfboard racks.

 

How do they know it will be under €50m?

[Roger Mexico]

2 hours ago, Nellie said:

It really is time, that Nick Black’s head was displayed on a spike, outside Ellerslie Depot. 

To be fair to Nick Black he has done exactly what he was appointed to do.  Which was to be as weak and ineffectual as possible while letting the managers underneath him get away with doing whatever they wanted, no matter how ridiculous, expensive and ineffective.  As some of us pointed out on his appointment, it's how Longworth treated him at DCCL (where he had been spectacularly useless) and clearly this made all the exiting DoI bosses keen to get the same treatment.

[Roger Mexico]

4 minutes ago, NoTail said:

How do they know it will be under €50m?

I thought I'd let people make that joke themselves. 

To be technical I suppose they could just claim that the tramway part was still under EUR 50 million whatever the final overall cost.  In the rare cases that anyone ever bothers to do any cost allocation in IOMG, the figures always say what is convenient rather than realistic.

Incidentally it was revealing that the citation mentions the 'project' "paves the way for potential extension to the Island’s electric tramway service", something of course it wasn't supposed to do.  They also made a thing about it being "sustainable, using rails from the UK's cancelled Merseytram project" but of course we know that has been a lot of the problem.

[Ham_N_Eggs]

59 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Incidentally it was revealing that the citation mentions the 'project' "paves the way for potential extension to the Island’s electric tramway service", something of course it wasn't supposed to do. 

Something we also know the concrete won't be able to take.

[Derek Flint]

Help is on the way.

https://www.jobtrain.co.uk//iomgovjobs/DisplayJob.aspx?JobId=10211

[Non-Believer]

40 minutes ago, Derek Flint said:

Help is on the way.

https://www.jobtrain.co.uk//iomgovjobs/DisplayJob.aspx?JobId=10211

Jebus. Just reading through that - those are surely basic requirements  that should be bread and butter and in place from the word "Go". For everybody concerned. As everybody's responsibility.

Not subject to a new recruitment at another £40k pa.

[Numbnuts]

3 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Jebus. Just reading through that - those are surely basic requirements  that should be bread and butter and in place from the word "Go". For everybody concerned. As everybody's responsibility.

Not subject to a new recruitment at another £40k pa.

You are so correct. Mind blowing when you think how much money they are responsible for and all the projects there involved in . Seems nobody has been responsible for quality control , which explains lots ! So what do the high paid managers do...clearly nothing and zero responsibility . 

[Roger Mexico]

13 hours ago, The Orgozoid said:

Yes it’s an award that turns out to be not an award at all. I should have read the story more closely. 

Oh the award was real enough - they got a slab of plastic and all that.  It's the successful project that is imaginary.

3 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

Jebus. Just reading through that - those are surely basic requirements  that should be bread and butter and in place from the word "Go". For everybody concerned. As everybody's responsibility.

Not subject to a new recruitment at another £40k pa.

Actually if you read it in detail it's even more depressing than that.  This is about taking "day to day responsibility for ensuring systems and procedures are fit for purpose"  and being someone who will "manage and coordinate document control as part of a Quality Management System in compliance with recognised ISO standards".  In other word it's entirely about paperwork.  Who cares what is actually happening on (or in) the ground, providing all the right boxes are ticked?

[Twitch]

5 hours ago, Derek Flint said:

Help is on the way.

https://www.jobtrain.co.uk//iomgovjobs/DisplayJob.aspx?JobId=10211

I wonder if this is a new role or if the incumbent has been transferred to another position? (no sackings in the Civil Service of course).

[Numbnuts]

Reading about this intended appointment. Just reads like a further diluted management level to further deflect responsibility again. Why don't they just make people responsible for ideas and schemes that they come up with instead. Like in the real world. ! What are they getting paid for in the first place ?!!! With there inflated salaries . Mind blowing .

Edited December 24, 2019 by Numbnuts

[finlo]

It can only be a junior/minor role at that level of remuneration, some year's ago they were advertising DOI roles at £130,000 PA!

[Derek Flint]

1 hour ago, Twitch said:

I wonder if this is a new role or if the incumbent has been transferred to another position? (no sackings in the Civil Service of course).

I see there is a relocation allowance for this job, so that would suggest they will be looking for off-island expertise, strongly suggesting that it doesn't exist here. 

It also suggests that ISO standards aren't currently in existence. 

[Non-Believer]

1 hour ago, Derek Flint said:

It also suggests that ISO standards aren't currently in existence. 

Are there any standards in existence on this job...?

[WTF]

2 hours ago, Derek Flint said:

I see there is a relocation allowance for this job, so that would suggest they will be looking for off-island expertise, strongly suggesting that it doesn't exist here. 

It also suggests that ISO standards aren't currently in existence. 

they want someone that can actually lay tarmac to come and help please.

[Roger Mexico]

4 hours ago, Twitch said:

I wonder if this is a new role or if the incumbent has been transferred to another position? (no sackings in the Civil Service of course).

Given how disastrously the project has gone so far, I would imagine they've been promoted.

Actually this job is specified more generally and permanently and may be unconnected with the Prom.  But it illustrates one of the problem when you privatise highway works.  You need to employ people to closely monitor and document the way every job is done, so that if there is any dispute with contractors, you will have all the details for arbitration or litigation.  Obviously the contractors will be doing the same, so the extra cost of the process can be considerable.

Of course some documentation is essential - we've already seen how poorly even recent works on the Prom have been recorded.  But this doesn't seem to cover this - it's all "systems and procedures".