What is cost & complexity?

For the past years ShipPalette has worked for Meyer Turku shipyard providing architectural design cost & complexity -consulting services for major prototype new building projects. In this blog post we take a closer look at what cost & complexity actually is and how we help to manage the challenges related to it.

Designing a cruise ship is a process involving many fields of expertise, and it must be done in collaboration with numerous specialists hired by the cruise ship company and the shipyard experts.

First it should be noted, that when the ship contract is signed, architectural design of the interior spaces – public spaces for guests and for crew or staterooms and suites – is not ready. Instead, the architectural design of the areas is defined and developed hand in hand with the technical design of the ship.

At the time of the contract, the level of complexity (and thus cost) of the design is tied to a previously built area in an existing ship. When the architectural design is developed, different stakeholders in the process need to agree whether the design is identical to the contractual level or below or above – and by how much? This is what cost & complexity work is all about.

ShipPalette’s Role

ShipPalette’s role is to be a fair and impartial guide to ensure the process moves forward; agreements are made, and a final design intent is clarified so that the building of the areas can continue. To successfully carry out the work requires understanding of contracts, architectural design, and cruise ship interior building. Our goal is to come up with solutions that satisfy everyone around the table.

To describe the magnitude of a task of cost & complexity in one major cruise ship, here are some numbers.

For cost complexity -work of just one prototype ship, ShipPalette team has:

• viewed and commented over 10.000 architect drawings + material and furniture specifications
• collaborated with 15 architectural design companies
• collaborated with 15 turnkey contractor companies

Thank you!

Now that some of our cost & complexity projects are coming to an end, it is also a good time to look back, and with gratitude thank all our collaborators in them; designers and architects, representatives of cruise ship companies, shipyard personnel, turnkey-contractors, and material suppliers. Thank you for great collaboration amid the pandemic! For those of you continuing to make the plans into reality, we wish you strength and a great success!

Interested to hear more about our cost & complexity services? Our CEO Marjo Köykkä will gladly give more information about our services!