Good News (Defense spending, Housing, Energy, New National Memorial
to Queen Elizabeth, others), Not So Good News (Funding issues, HS2,
Road to nowhere, Spending review, Fall of the mighty), Other Project News
(Solar orbit, Solar Rail Stations), Homework, Pet Hates, Mice
and Problem Drinking!
REPORT
By Dr. Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
At this time of the year, life generally becomes less hectic as the supply of real news dries up as the nation moves towards the peak holiday period. This means major news revolves around social events such as Henley Royal Regatta, Wimbledon and Royal Ascot. Not so this year! Perhaps it is the heat (we have been through the hottest June on record) but there seems to be an unusually interesting crop of stories as I hope you enjoy those that caught my eye this month.
GOOD NEWS
We have dual interests in funding government projects. One the one hand, as Project Managers, we look forward to secure funding for the projects we manage and on the other, we are conscious that is our own money we are spending. So, a major event in our lives is formal publication of Government spending plans, in this case a long-awaited Spending Review. The result of some acrimonious negotiations between the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves MP, and the spending departments, which usually claim any reduction in funding would have unspeakable consequences.
Be that as it may, the key project related points to emerge are:
Defence spending will rise to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027 – funded by cuts to international aid. This represents an increase of about £11 billion across the review period. This includes £4.5 billion for munitions and £6 billion for nuclear submarines.
Affordable and social housing gets £39 billion building council and social homes to rent over the next decade. This money is about £3.9 billion a year and is significantly more than the £2.3 billion spent by the last government on a similar programme. Homes England gets £10 billion to help with private investment in housebuilding.
Energy and net zero did pretty well as will be seen later. The headlines are £14 billion to fund the Sizewell C nuclear power station, and another £2.5 billion to develop a new generation of smaller modular reactors. Carbon-capture and storage projects in Scotland and the east of England also receive funding, we have previously reported on both these projects. There is a lot of news about Sizewell C which we will cover next month.
National Memorial to Queen Elizabeth. A national competition to design a memorial to the late Queen Elizabeth II has been won by Foster + Partners. It is expected to include a statue of the Queen on horseback alongside the Mall. Another statue of her walking arm-in-arm with Prince Philip. The project includes a new Prince Philip Gate in St James’s Park and a translucent bridge inspired by the late Queen’s wedding tiara.
Artist’s impression of QEII memorial
Image: FOSTER + PARTNERS/PA
Other features include a wind sculpture intended to “define a space for reflection and shared experience”, and recordings of the Queen’s voice will be “ever present through audio installations”. Funding provision between £23 million and £46 million has been earmarked for the project,
Other good news concerns funding (£15 billion) for new transport projects in the north of England, plans by Amazon to invest £40 billion in UK over the next 3 years as the firm builds four robotic fulfilment centres and refurbishes Bray Film Studios in Berkshire.
More…
To read entire report, click here
How to cite this work: Shepherd, M. (2025). UK Project Management Round Up, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue VII, July. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pmwj154-Jul2025-Shepherd-UK-project-management-round-up.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/.
