150th Report: Not so good news (project delays, impact of external factors,
cyber attack, politics US-style), Odds & Ends (Electric cars, Digital ID),
Good news (The Stirling Prize, Nuclear news, Overseas investments),
Other Project news (Northern Lights, H2Teeside, Project legitimacy,
Stonehenge SPD), Red Squirrels and Pine Martins
REPORT
By Dr. Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
This is an auspicious report – at least for me! This is the 150th report I have written for PM World Journal. The first hit screens around the world in August 2012 and covered the London Olympics, professional society news and a major conference.
This month follows a similar pattern but as is now usual, covers the good the bad and the ugly of the project world with news of a major political split on competing major projects, further examples of red tape impact on projects, the results of the Stirling Prize, new nuclear developments and last but not least, the fallout from the Trump visit. I close with some news of wildlife projects and a puzzling restoration project. As you can see, my Honest Serving Men are more like those of Kipling’s “person small” who “keeps ten million serving-men, who get no rest at all!“ If you are unfamiliar with this, check out Just So Stories or https://www.greatexpectations.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/lp/curiosity/Poems%20for%20Curiosity.pdf
NOT SO GOOD NEWS
- Project Planning Delay
This is a little like shooting fish in a barrel. First, we learn that the pace of house building is “not acceptable” according to the Housing Secretary Steve Reed. He only recently assumed this “job” and promised to improve the promised delivery of houses. Then we hear that some 80,390 projects were submitted for approval in the period April – June. This is 5% less than in the same period last year and the second lowest in the past decade. Despite the jingoistic turn of phrase, no action has been proposed. Clearly, house building is not the priority as George Weston, who runs Associated British Food highlighted a case where a proposal for 1000 new homes to be built on a brown field site near York was lodged in 2007. It gained full clearance in February 2025!
The military are also suffering from red tape as Elf & Safety is preventing the testing of autonomous boats in British waters. Only remote-controlled vessels can be tested. Clearly AI is not impressing the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. Details were reported in The Times and indicate trials would need dedicated teams which would need up to 6 months to complete the paperwork needed for drones so how much time would be needed to deal with autonomous sea-going vessels. (Image: Royal Air Force)
- Impact of external factors
Projects are always at the mercy of external factors and there are plenty of examples this month. One you might not have thought of is the impact of the issues faced by the Office of National Statistics (see my report for February this year). A number of factors combined to undermine the reliability of many labour related statistics. Just what has this got to do with projects you might wonder? Well, it turns out that it impacts on the Government’s ability to fund its major projects portfolio. This is manifested in the ability of the Bank of England to provide accurate forecasts and so threatens funding decisions.
The cyber-attack at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) also has an unexpected impact. While production is badly affected, there is also a major impact on the supply chain. The wide-spread adoption of Japanese planning approaches, most notably the Just in Time supply chain hits in both directions when production stops. The Cyber Monitoring Centre estimates that JLR, its supply chain and local businesses have taken a £2.1 billion hit. Similar attacks at Marks and Spencers (a major retail chain) and Co-op (a supermarket and grocery supplier) cost in the region of £400 million.
More…
To read entire report, click here
How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2025). UK Project Management Roundup, report, PM World Journal, Vol. XIV, Issue VI, June. Available online at https://pmworldlibrary.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/pmwj158-Nov2025-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/.
