Major Projects Association

Every major project encourages an unwavering focus on successful delivery. Whilst this has the advantage of generating continual forward momentum and progress, it carries with it a real risk: the creation of an echo chamber. In an echo chamber we remain fixed in our own limited bubble, unhearing or sceptical of any voices from 'outside our group' who may be advocating a different approach, questio...

In the latest episode from our podcast series spun out of the Association events programme, Andy Murray interviews James Stewart from Agilia Infrastructure Partners, Paul Innes from Grant Thornton, and Stewart Westgate of Boston Consulting Group. In their discussion of how to make major projects investable they explore the wide range of contractual models that have emerged over the last 30 years a...

In the second of this Two-Part podcast, based on the Major Project Association seminar "Systems Thinking, Systems Leading", Andy Murray interviews David Parkin, Project Director of Hynet North West who gives an insight into how one enterprise has sought to manage the system complexity that comes with the challenge of decarbonisation. HyNet is not a legal entity, but rather a collaboration through...

"As projects become more complex, their success or failure is increasingly determined by the interactions between new and pre-existing natural, built and digital systems, and the critical role of people in making these interactions work. As such, project outputs should not be viewed in isolation but as part of a system of systems".  In the first of this Two-Part podcast, based on the Major Project...

In the summer of 2020, the UK Government launched its Project Speed initiative, with the promise to review every part of the project lifecycle in pursuit of faster, better and greener delivery.  In this latest podcast episode, drawing on the ideas and the panellists from the Major Projects Association's recent Pace of Pace seminar in Manchester, Andy Murray, Executive Director of the Association,...

Professor Stephen Wearne joined Manchester University in the early 1960s and became part of a group of researchers, people such as Peter Thompson, Martin Barnes, Peter Morris, John Perry and others, who framed how we see the management of complex projects today. In this interview with Professor Graham Winch, to celebrate 40 years of the Major Projects Association, Stephen, recalls how it all start...

There are hundreds of different ways of looking at innovation in major projects but for the purpose of our most recent Bookclub session, we limited these to just six.  Dale Sinclair, Head of Digital Innovation at WSP, provided our bookclubbers with his take on seven books looking at the theme of innovation (the original six plus a bonus book). These were:  The Nature of Technology by W. Brian Arth...

The scale of changes needed for climate repair and to meet Net Zero targets mean they cannot be delivered through incremental change alone or at their current pace. We need to transform fundamental aspects of industry and society and therefore we need major projects to deliver - and quickly. But how do we deliver these major projects without adding to the carbon challenge or biodiversity loss? Thi...

The scale of changes needed for climate repair and to meet Net Zero targets mean they cannot be delivered through incremental change alone or at their current pace. We need to transform fundamental aspects of industry and society and therefore we need major projects to deliver - and quickly. But how do we deliver these major projects without adding to the carbon challenge or biodiversity loss? Thi...

Our first podcast of 2022 picks up the theme of an upcoming Major Projects Association event and looks at the next generation of skills we'll need for delivery in 2030 and beyond, and the generation of project Rising Stars who will be charged with the task. Thank you to Alfie Chimedza, Nichols Group; Jamie Gray, RAF; Joel Evans, Moorhouse; Paul Morris, Palace of Westminster R&R Programme; Tolu Ola...

In the third of our series of Race Matters podcasts, Major Projects Association Director, Andy Murray is joined by Gary Young, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, author, broadcaster and, previously, Editor at Large for the Guardian. Gary and Andy grew up at the same time, in the same town, the big difference in their subsequent life experience is that Gary is black and Andy is...

Andy Murray, Executive Director of the Major Projects Association, is on location at the Projects Data Hackathon in October 2021. He records his impression of the two-day live event and explores what a data hackathon sounds like and what it means in terms of the productivity, value and success of major projects. Along the way, he chats to the founder of the Project Data Hackathon, Martin Paver, al...

The second of two podcasts recorded for the Major Projects Association on the subject of 'race matters'.

The first of two podcasts recorded for the Major Projects Association on the subject of race matters.  

Ed Merrow, Founder and President of Independent Project Analysis, is your engaging guide in this 20 minute tour of the value and pitfalls of mega project benchmarking. Expertly interviewed by Andrew Crudgington, Ed opens with the distinction between benchmarking capability & benchmarking performance, before explaining what a different approach to benchmarking offers for mega-projects