Good news (BREXIT, CCUS, CC Technology),
Not so good news (Orsted & Hornsea wind farm in the North Sea),
A Tale of 110 Trees, Judgement of Benefits, Cricket in USA,
and Scottish Osprey sighted in Barbados
REPORT
By Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
If we were on the cusp of Spring at my last report, we are well and truly spring now. Spring flowers are blooming everywhere with splendid splashes of yellow in hedgerows and roadside verges. Somehow this is appropriate as the economy is looking a little jaundiced just now and that forms a backdrop for this month’s lessons for Project Managers. [stakeholders, risk appetite, benefits judgement…]
GOOD NEWS
- Top of the list again is the BREXIT situation. Last month, I reported the tortuously negotiated agreement over the treatment of produce coming into and out of Northern Ireland. Apart from any macro-economic significance, there were (and still are) even more important political issues to consider. This is not the place to consider such politics except to note their overwhelming significance and last month the Nation was poised on the edge of its collective chair to see how the agreement would fare in a vote in the Hose of Parliament. The good news is that it did very well and easily passed the vote in London.
Photo by Christopher Furling/Getty Images
There remains some opposition in Belfast and how that will be handled remains to be seen but for now, the Country can get back to building a healthy and mutually respectful relationship with Europe. I sincerely hope 22 March will go down in history as the end of BREXIT.
- Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) policy recently announced by the Government is another event of major importance not just to UK but to the world. It comes with the announcement of £20 billion funding for carbon capture projects around the United Kingdom. Trailed in early March as part of the Chancellor of the exchequer’s Spring Budget statement, the Government has committed (I think, it is always hard to know precisely what politicians mean with their vague announcements on major policy issues) to a mixed programme based on half a dozen carbon capture and storage projects around the east coast and Merseyside. Sites are expected to include Keadby 3 gas fired power station in Lincolnshire (see my reports last year) and HyNet hydrogen power scheme in Liverpool Bay. Ministers have been mulling the technology for more than 20 years and, according to press reports, are now under increasing pressure to act, with the UK off-track to hit its legally binding net-zero targets. Some observers will feel this view is just the Press blowing smoke but the joint statements by the
Department for Energy Security & Net Zero and Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/uk-carbon-capture-and-storage-government-funding-and-support ) in 2019 set the scene and detail this year has continued the theme, although press views vary between wild enthusiasm and implied criticism as funding is not all give away and will come in part from energy bill levees on consumer bills.
- CC Technology There are four main types of CC technology:
-
- Carbon sinks – are well known natural forms of CCS. Most are vast spaces where the natural habitats capture CO2 from the atmosphere and are mostly forests, oceans, grasslands and wetlands. Scientists, as well as environmental and conservation experts, claim that the preservation and cultivation of these carbon sinks could increase the amount of carbon taken from our atmosphere in the shortest space of time.
More…
To read entire report, click here
How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2023). Project Management Roundup from the UK, report, PM World Journal, Vol. XII, Issue IV, April. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/pmwj128-Apr2023-Shepherd-UK-project-management-roundup-report.pdf
About the Author
Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 30 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. His consulting work has taken him to Japan, Taiwan, USA and Russia. Past Chair and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was, for seven years, a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is immediate past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. He is currently Chairman of the British Standards Institute project management committee. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
