Verktækni - 2019, Qupperneq 65

65

academics. This already started with the first IPMA research conference in Berlin in 2013 on "Project
management, theory meets practice." The aspirations of the project management community to
progress further on the path towards being a fully accepted profession are best seen in the UK, where
the Association for Project Management, the largest national member association of IPMA, has since
2007 aimed at achieving a chartered status for the project management profession and reached an
important milestone in that quest in April 2017, when it became the chartered body for the project
profession ("Royal Charter | APM", 2017). APM claims that all stakeholders will benefit from this. A
chartered status is an internationally recognized mark of quality and provides the profession with a
platform to raise awareness of project management skills, improve standards and develop practice. It
offers assurance to users of project management services, provides a framework for improved
performance in projects, and raises the profile and value of project management.

Evolution of project management in Iceland
The history of projects in Iceland is, of course, much longer/older than the history of project
management as a dicipline. We will divide our review of the evolution of project management in Iceland
into three categories: Practical application, Educational progress, and Organizational support.
The Development of Practical Application of Project Management in Iceland
To give a some further examples of important projects in Iceland in the 20th century, we will build on an
assessment by a the Association of Chartered Engineers in Iceland (ACEA) in 2002 of the three greatest
engineering achievements in each decade in Iceland in the 20th century (Mbl, 2002). We have also
added some more recent projects, based on the same criteria, based on suggestions from an group of
engineers who have served in leadership roles within the ACEA). It was tempting to add more projects
that we ourselves deemed as important in the context of the development of project management in
Iceland. This temptation was, however, resisted for the sake of a methodalogical clarity. Table 1 shows
examples of important projects in Iceland during the first half of the 20th century.

Table 1. Examples of important projects in Iceland in the period 1900-1960.
Project
/Programme
Year of
delivery
Brief description
Telephone line
Reykjavik -
Seyðisfjordur
1906 A telephone line between Reykjavik (the capital) and Seydisfjordur
on the east coast (Fréttablaðið, 2006). 14.000 telephone masts
were installed with a total distance end to end of 614 km and the
project was concluded in only 4 months in the summer of 1906.
This was a large project in a society that was rather
underdeveloped in comparison with its neighboring countries at
that time.
Vifilstada-
hospital
1910 A hospital for tuberculosis patients that was buikd in Vífilsstadir. It
was designed by by Rögnvaldur Ólafsson. After the decline in
tuberculosis patients in 1973, all respiratory patients began to
receive treatment at the hospital.
Cold water
distribution
system in
Reykjavik
1909 The cold water distribution system in Reykjavik started operation in
1909. ("Vatnsveitan 100 ára", 2009). Providing water to the city
from Gvendarbrunnur water reserves. The design and planning
took two years and the construction took place from the beginning
of summer 1908 until October 1909. This was the largest
construction project in Iceland at that time.