Cost increases

4 The forecast cost of the contract was £339 million in January 2015, increasing to £449 million by January 2018, due to issues that emerged between March 2015 and January 2016 (Figure 10). Issues included revisions to the contractor's bottom up forecast and design, which led to rework and inefficiency. The 21% increase in forecast costs that occurred between March 2018 and December 2018 (£473 million to £571 million) is the result of Crossrail Ltd's efforts to accelerate the programme to meet the December 2018 end date. As figure 10 shows, this had little impact on productivity, and the prolongation of the contract once Crossrail Ltd had decided to delay the opening of the central section in August 2018. In December 2018, Crossrail Ltd also began to develop more realistic forecasts of what it would cost to complete the programme.

Notes

1 The costs given are the contractor view of forecast of total defined cost, as reported in the Crossrail's board reports each month.

2 Costs are given in cash terms.