SPONSORS

SPONSORS

November 2022 UK Project Management Round Up

 

Bond Street Station opens, The Stirling Prize announced,

APM news, PMI UK events, IPA Project Start Up Toolkit,

New OIL, Project Budgets, Language matters,

wildlife projects and terraforming

 

REPORT

By Miles Shepherd

Executive Advisor & International Correspondent

Salisbury, England, UK


INTRODUCTION

On re-reading last month’s report, I noticed a certain repetition in the macro-events in UK.  I went on a brief holiday north of the border and found that on arrival in the whisky capital of the world, we had changed Leaders.  This is worthy of comment so I’ll come back to this shortly.  This also remined me that we have whisky in UK and in some other parts of the world we have whiskey which set me off on a semantic trail that might aid PMs so read on as such linguistic differences impact PM (and OIL).

GOOD NEWS

First up in the Good News section is that Bond Street Station is finally open!  Passengers on the new Elizabeth Line in London were only able to stare at the deserted and unfinished station as trains passed though until the second half of October, while the rest of the line opened 5 months earlier.

Image courtesy Tunnel Talk

As the graphic shows, the Station is a complex structure.  It is open 4 years late and £500 million over budget.

While this opening just about finishes the major work on Crossrail, many in the North of England are questioning the £666 million cost on a single station while they have seen the cancellation of the Leeds link and no funding for the Trans Pennine Rail link (Liverpool to Hull via Manchester).

Interestingly, The Times writes about cost escalation on the Station stating that Project managers made late changes, adding an eastern ticket hall…” Oh that we had such power!  We could sort out many projects suffering from poor scope.  I mention this as it is the first time I have seen Project Managers publicly blamed for project problems.  Let us hope someone has corrected this calumnious statement!

Autumn in UK lends itself to cosy dinners and gatherings round the table to catch up with friends and colleagues so it is a good time to hold award ceremonies and institutional dinners.  One of the most prestigious of those related to the Project World is the Stirling Prize, awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects RIBA). The prize is presented to “the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to the evolution of architecture in the past year”. The entrants must be RIBA members and the building must be in UK.  This year, the shortlist comprised:

  • 100 Liverpool Street, London (Hopkins Architects): a net zero development encompassing a dramatic renovation and extension of a 1980s office block to create a suite of offices and commercial and public spaces in the heart of London’s financial district.
  • Orchard Gardens, Elephant Park, London (Panter Hudspith Architects): a playful cluster of buildings forming a new city block of 228 new homes and retail spaces wrapped around a communal garden – a major element of Elephant and Castle’s regeneration programme.
  • Sands End Arts and Community Centre, London (Mæ Architects): a welcoming, fully accessible single-storey building arranged around a disused lodge comprising flexible activity spaces and a community café.
  • The New Library, Magdalene College, Cambridge (Niall McLaughlin Architects): an exquisitely detailed timber-framed library and study space, designed to replace that previously gifted by Samuel Pepys and projected to survive for another 400 years.

The links above take you to full descriptions of the finalists.  The winner, announced on 13 October, is…

More…

To read entire report, click here

How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2021).  November 2022 UK Project Management Round up, regional report, PM World Journal, Vol. XI, Issue XI, November. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/PMWJ123-Nov2022-Shepherd-UK-Regional-Report-for-November-2022.pdf


About the Author


Miles Shepherd

Salisbury, England, 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.  Past Chair, Vice President 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 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.  Miles is Chair of the British Standards Institute’s Committee on Project, Programme and Portfolio Management and has been involved in the development of Uk’s BSI 6079 for more than 25 years.  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/.