Looking Back, Good News,
Not So Good News, Other Project
News & Architects Protest
REPORT
By Dr. Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
This is certainly the season to be jolly but as with all things project related, there are some downsides to consider – my personal downside concerns my reporting imps who are away on duty helping their cousins (Santa’s elves) at the North Pole. This report may therefore be a little shorter than normal.
It is traditional at this time of the year to look both forward to the new and back at what we have just endured to put the new into perspective, so this month I have a mixture of project related matters to lay out before you. I’ll start with some of the major themes of 2025
LOOKING BACK
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a major factor in many areas of our lives this year. Although it has been with us for at least 10 years and covers a diverse field, it has become almost ubiquitous in the past 12 months – so much so that it is hardly possible to open a newspaper without some dire prediction of job losses or the end of humanity as we know it.
My point is that we have lived with AI in many forms for years and we are all infuriated or delighted by the many ‘bots out there. I can remember working on what seemed a highly advanced neural network back in the Nineties where we had a device to identify forged signatures, and a spin off that identified and rated fine wines. They were what might be called smart systems but both sank without trace for a variety of reasons but mainly due to lack on benefit analysis.
The main PM member associations have all reacted strongly to the potential of AI to support not just the PMO but the professional project manager, so the good news is that AI is not just a threat to a range of (tedious) time-consuming and error prone jobs, but a tool for the PM.
Regeneration comes in two flavours, massive construction programmes and wildlife reintroduction and/or habitat restoration. In the former category we have the major schemes such as the Liverpool Waters development that included the new football stadium, York Central with its £2 billion plan for housing and retail; and Birmingham Smithfields projects to a multitude of smaller (and here I mean £25 million or less) plans for city centre upgrades such as those at Derby, Durham, Tamworth and Leeds. Apart from the headline construction projects, most involve smaller projects, too, such as the preliminary archaeological projects that ensure early history is captured.
One factor to consider is how all these programmes and projects are funded – and the answer is the taxpayer stumps up the sopondoolies through:
More…
To read entire report, click here
How to cite this work: Shepherd, M. (2026). UK Project Management Round Up, report, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue I, January. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/pmwj160-Jan2026-Shepherd-UK-Regional-Round-Up-report.pdf
About the Author
Dr. Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Dr. 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/.
