game-onWith three Periods to go the big change in the top six is that Vic Roads' 'MNW' move up to 5th displacing MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' who slip from 6th to 8th. MTR's 'PPE' consolidate in top position only 67 points ahead of Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' who move up to 2nd from 3rd swapping places with Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' in 3rd but there is only two points between them. MTR's 'Synergy' hold their 4th place. Last year we had two MTR teams in the final and they travelled to Loughborough to take part coming second and third. Could we see two MTR teams again? MottMac's 'Motts of Steel' slip from 5th to 6th. At this point there are three Hong Kong teams, two UK teams and one Australian team in the top six. Still outside the top six but threatening are Aurecon's 'Invictus' but only 37 points behind, a further 8 points back are MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' so although slipped from Period 8 are by no means out of it.

The average of the % improvement was 11% so to make a relative movement teams had to do better than this. The big movers upwards were: Arup's 'It's all Ova now' up 4 places to 9th; Atkins' India's 'Sigma' up 7 to 13th on top of a rise of 5 places in Period 8 they look to be on a roll; URS's 'endeavoURS' up 8 to 14th; Arup's 'YAP up 7 to 19th; Atkins' 'The Resistors' up 5 places to 22nd; and the biggest gain of Period 9 is Atkins India's 'QUIXOTIC DESIGN INC' up 21 places to 26th. Both of the Atkins India's teams did well this Period so we may well see one in the Final matching their performance last year. They could, of course, do better and get both into the Final. Inevitably some teams moved in the other direction but they could turnround they just need to analyse the decisions that have shaped their performance and review their strategy.

With three periods to go and movements as big as 21 places it's still game on. The top six aren't secure yet. The standard deviation of the % performance improvement was 5% same as last period. We're expecting a greater variation in the performance figures as teams take more risky decisions in the run in, this could produce bigger movements than those that we've seen. Good luck to every team.


Click here to see the League table For Period 9

 

In the sponsors award, which goes to the sponsors with the best three performing teams, Mott MacDonald continue to hold the top spot, but Atkins have now climbed over Arup into the second spot.

Click here to see the Sponsors Award table

all to playThe top six remain the same with Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' and Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' swapping places as the new order of places 2 and 3. MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers' keep top spot and stretch their lead to 32 points from 5, still not a significant gap. MTR's 'Synergy' and MottMac's 'Motts of Steel' and 'Buckingham Palace' hold positions 4, 5 and 6. MottMac are putting in a strong challenge this year. But these top places are not secure only ONE point is keeping Aurecon's 'Invictus' out of the top six. Aurecon have past form as three of their teams have made the final in the past. Also hovering are Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Awesome' , Atkins' 'Methodical Chaos', Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's 'UTM-TEAM', Victoria Roads' 'Vic Roads-MNW' Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Metis', Arup's 'it's all Ova now', MottMac's 'Ronald Mott MacDonald', Aurecon's 'The Aureconquerors' and OST's 'OST Construction Management' all just a smidgen behind the top six. And there are a host of others just two smidgens adrift of the top places.

The largest percentage improvement was McAdam Design's 'The MacAdam Six' with 27% the lowest percentage increase was 2% that is a relative change of 25% which if repeated would bring the top 56 teams into contention for a top six place in ONE round and there are FOUR round to go. These last four rounds will probably see a tightening of the market, jobs more difficult to acquire, falling margins, difficulty in recruiingt the top project managers so the percentage movements in the performance scores is likely to be more variable. For the 'anoraks' amongst us the standard deviation of the improvement % was 5% in Period 8 we'll measure this to see if the performances indeed start to widen. The biggest upwards movement this time was Vinci Construction's 'Da Vinci Code' moving 19 places. There were of course teams going the other's going the other way with 26 places being the biggest drop.

It's still all to play for. Analysis, interpretation, wisdom and courage or confidence will play their part. Good luck.


Click here to see the League table For Period 8

 

In the sponsors award, which goes to the sponsors with the best three performing teams, Mott MacDonald continue to hold the top spot, but Arup have cut the lead down.

Click here to see the Sponsors Award table

rollercoasterPeriod 7 of MERIT 2014 continues to see lots of ups and downs in the top positions. While MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers' hold onto to top spot, 'Prevail' from Atkins Asia Pacific have swapped with MTR's 'Synergy' into second place, only 5 points behind, and Arup's AgRUP of MEN hold on tight to their third place.

With 5th and 6th now occupied by 'Motts of Steel' and 'Buckingham Palace', and 'MOTTS YPE 2014' also inside the top 10 with a a big 40% improvement, Mott MacDonald are starting to show their intent on taking the MERIT Sponsor's award, and regaining the MERIT most successful sponsors position which they lost to Arup last year.

Others on the move were Aurecon's LVG Construction up 10 places but Aurecon's 'Conquerors' went the other way down 7 places. Hewson's 'Don't Stress Prestress' were up 6 places whereas Hewson Graduates were down 12. There were lots of other moves up and down so there is still all to play for with 5 rounds remaining.

All these ups and downs illustrate that huge gains can be made with the right and usually courageous decisions. How courageous will you be next period?


Click here to see the League table For Period 7