FIDIC Consultant and Lecturer

This article examines the challenges of protracted variation management in Czech construction projects under FIDIC contracts, which cause significant delays and cost overruns due to bureaucracy and distrust. It introduces the High-Speed Variation (HSV) concept to fundamentally streamline these processes. HSV promotes a proactive approach, clear deadlines, full digitalisation, pre-approval of common changes, and a strengthened Engineer’s role, fostering mutual trust and cooperation. Utilising international examples and a practical case study from the D5507 motorway project, the paper demonstrates how HSV significantly accelerates variations. This leads to substantial time and cost savings and improved overall project efficiency. It calls upon all Czech construction stakeholders, particularly state organisations, to adopt these innovative practices for more successful and efficient projects.

Are you hindered by lengthy FIDIC variation processes? There is a faster way! This question resonates throughout the entire Czech construction industry, particularly in large-scale infrastructure projects such as motorways or railway corridors. The frustration stemming from unnecessary delays, which inflate costs and prolong construction project completion, is palpable. While designers, contractors, engineers and employers strive for smooth project execution, they frequently encounter a bureaucratic whirlwind that accumulates around even the slightest change. It is paradoxical that in an era of high-speed trains, construction processes often crawl at the pace of old steam locomotives.