Infrastructure Perspectives
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ANKURA’S 2021 UK INFRASTRUCTURE OUTLOOK SURVEY
Executive Summary
FOREWORD BY JONATHAN ROE
Infrastructure plays an essential role in shaping the world around us. It connects people and communities; it underpins modern life as we know it; it creates opportunity and transforms lives. And its role has never been more important. As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be vital to our nation’s economic recovery and will be critical in delivering a more sustainable future for generations to come.
In Infrastructure Perspectives, our inaugural infrastructure outlook survey, we’ve spoken to the leaders behind some of the UK’s largest and most important infrastructure programmes. We’ve asked them about the state of the sector that they’ve devoted their careers to, the challenges it faces and their perspectives on its future. We’ve explored the major disruptors, the opportunities that lie ahead and how the sector needs to transform to seize those opportunities.
...we’ve spoken to the leaders behind some of the UK’s largest and most important infrastructure programmes.”
Findings in brief
The sector has responded to the challenge presented by the COVID-19 pandemic better than anticipated, showing a level of resilience that surpassed expectations.
A bolder approach to planning, investment and risk will be necessary to get projects off the drawing board more quickly and into the execution phase to accelerate the UK’s economic recovery.
Carbon, digital and modular are the undisputed and fundamental opportunities that the sector needs to respond to, but it has a long way to go.
The medium- to long-term picture is less positive, with concern over issues, as yet unsurfaced, that may carry significant and
far-reaching consequences.
Grasping these opportunities will require a significant rethink of the way that the sector operates.
Leaders are focusing on rebuilding core delivery capability and turning their attention on the human and cultural dimensions of projects.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has touched every corner of society and industry, devastating lives and bringing entire sectors to their knees. Unsurprisingly, responding to the pandemic was a major area of focus of our survey participants over the previous 12 months, with many reporting that it was likely to continue to dominate the boardroom agenda well into 2021.
However, what is perhaps more surprising is the speed at which the sector adapted and the resilience that it has shown since, with a similar response pattern reported by the majority of participants: An initial period of disruption and reduced productivity, primarily as a result of material supply issues, conflicting government messaging in the early phases of the pandemic and uncertainty as organisations grappled with the implications of the virus on their operations, followed by a relatively prompt return to more normal operations.
Covid has been a central challenge, but the sector has responded better than anticipated, showing a level of resilience that surpassed expectations.
Year in review
Andrew Kidd
Outcomes Director, Lower Thames Crossing
We’ve been able to keep things going and the market welcomed the stability and confidence.”
Participants put the likely reason for this response down to the sector’s approach to health and safety, which is heavily rules-based and has been engrained into the DNA of site operations over many decades. Covid-secure measures were a relatively straightforward extension to a regime that is already familiar. As a consequence, levels of compliance were generally high with few outbreaks.
The nature of engineering as a discipline also inevitably helped. Engineering is fundamentally about the application of ingenuity to solve big problems. Engineers operate in a world of constraint. In many respects COVID-19 was no different to any other constraint within which creative solutions were required.
Ben Wheeldon
Programme Director, HS2 Euston Station project
A key challenge will be creating a new working environment that retains the best aspects of what we’ve learnt.”
The pandemic has also brought benefits from unexpected quarters. Greater levels of collaboration between clients and their supply chains, the rapid introduction of new standards and a host of technological innovations to solve specific delivery challenges have all been put in place in record time.
The challenge that many acknowledge is how to make the “good bits stick” and continue to push the boundaries of innovation when there is no longer a burning platform.
Andy Mitchell CBE
CEO, Tideway & co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council
COVID-19 shifted the way we need to engage with our teams. But it’s not about turning up the volume. We have to think more imaginatively about how we create a sense of belonging.”
Whilst the transition to remote working for project support and back office functions has been swift and effective, the longer-term impacts are less clear and are driving unease amongst our leaders.
The medium- to long-term picture is less positive, with concern over issues, as yet unsurfaced, that may carry significant and far-reaching consequences.
Outlook
Wellbeing is front of mind for many of our survey’s participants, with particular concern around the mental health implications of working under multiple and sustained lockdowns. Leaders have shifted their approach to communicating with teams, being creative in the way that they engage and building virtual support communities.
There is recognition that it’s the quality of conversations, not the quantity of them that matters most. There has been considerable focus on raising awareness of mental and physical health and wellbeing, yet it is often an invisible issue, exacerbated further by widespread remote working.
John Bentley
Capital Delivery Director, Thames Water
My concern is that the latent impact of remote working isn’t really understood.”
There is also suspicion that we may still see a deferred impact of COVID-19 on our largest and most complex infrastructure programmes, where the full consequences of disruption earlier in the year and in 2020 have yet to fully crystallise.
With the cycles of lockdown continuing into 2021, it could be some time before there is clarity on the true impact of the virus on the sector and there will likely be an uptick in contractual disputes as clients and their supply chains try to work out who should bear the cost of these impacts.
Ian Parker
Programme Delivery Director, East West Rail
The process of teambuilding and getting to know each other is important and it hasn’t happened in the normal way, but we are fortunate that technology has allowed a strong team culture to build in what’s become a virtual world.”
Looking further ahead, there is a realisation that many players in the sector will need to transform to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly reduced the size of the market in certain infrastructure sectors, at least in the medium-term and perhaps forever. Aviation was hit fastest and hardest, with major infrastructure upgrades being suspended and demobilised almost immediately, but there is also a level of unease around major transport and commercial real estate projects, the business cases for which are predicated on the world as we previously knew it.
There is a sense that a reprioritisation of our future infrastructure needs could be on the horizon given the pace at which the pandemic has brought the future forward. Contractors will need to refocus or resize to adapt to a changing pipeline of projects, or risk becoming irrelevant.
The focus of many of our leaders is also on taking back control of their own capability, strengthening the skills and capacity of their teams. There has been a “hollowing out” of client-side delivery capability over a number of years and a sense that many infrastructure clients have become too reliant on outside assistance in areas that are core to their purpose. Our participants share concerns around a lack of depth and vulnerability that has come as a result.
Whilst outsourcing has undoubtedly helped manage peaks and troughs and can appear cost effective when seen through a lens of individual projects, it has come at long-term expense. Knowledge retention has suffered, with critical know-how and asset information flowing out the door too freely.
COVID-19 aside, leaders are focusing on rebuilding core delivery capability and turning their attention on the human and cultural dimensions of projects.
Leaders' Focus
3 in 4
See culture and skills as a key challenge.
Andrew Kidd
Outcomes Director, Lower Thames Crossing
We need more diversity of thought in the industry – and to attract a wider pool of people.”
A concern of several participants was that the age of the collective workforce is increasing, which will compound these issues further. Experienced hands are retiring and fewer are coming into the industry to learn from them and ultimately replace them. There was agreement that infrastructure needs an image boost and the perception of the sector needs to change from one that is associated with “boots and hard hats in muddy fields” to one that is at the vanguard of solving society’s biggest and most important problems.
Tim Jones
Chief Executive & project director
We ignore culture at our peril.”
On the topic of people, our leaders are increasingly turning their attention to the culture within their organisations. This is not only to attract and retain the very best talent, but also in recognition of the link between culture and productivity.
There is a sense that the sector needs to break away from its historic focus on tasks and invest more in looking after its people. This goes much further beyond physical wellbeing; leaders are looking to build cultures that are kind, supportive and more diverse, where people feel looked after and valued.
An area of near-universal consensus amongst participants was the difficulty they face in getting major projects off the ground. Business case processes are unwieldy and the planning process is often slow and protracted. Many argue that it has not been subject to any real analysis and an overhaul is long overdue.
A bolder approach to planning, investment and risk will be necessary to get projects off the drawing board more quickly and accelerate the UK’s economic recovery.
The Big Challenges
Ben Wheeldon
Programme Director, HS2 Euston Station project
Pace is undoubtedly an issue. We need to protect rights, but we also need to move on from re-examining the same arguments again and again.”
The Government’s recent review of the Green Book, the findings of which were published during the interview stages of this survey, provided some optimism that change could be on the horizon. However, these are tweaks to the existing process rather than a wholesale and fundamental overhaul.
Several participants expressed a need to go far beyond the process itself and address one of the driving causes of the lack of tempo in the initiation of big projects: an aversion to risk in the public sector. Many of our leaders commented that the risk culture at the heart of public sector investment decisions promotes an abundance of caution at the expense of decisiveness and pace.
It also hampers innovation. Big technological leaps are rarely born from an aversion to risk. The COVID-19 vaccination programme is a case in point: vaccines would never have been developed and approved at such speed had the UK Government not taken a risk, placing large orders before there was any certainty of their efficacy or likelihood of approval.
Major General David Southall CBE
Director of Army Basing & Infrastructure, British Army
Infrastructure delivery is ripe for transformation; our processes can feel cumbersome and we risk constraining delivery with bureaucracy and administration. We need to upgrade, swapping our current ‘peddle bike’ process for something much faster and leaner.”
Dr Tim Stone CBE
Chairman, Nuclear Industry Association
Risk aversion is a major challenge, particularly in the public sector. There are no rewards for getting it right, but plenty criticism for getting it wrong.”
Our approach to infrastructure is almost opposite, with decisions being laboured over for years, capital costs pared to the bone and funding only released when uncertainty is minimal.
Whilst there is a logical rationale to this – public money is at stake after all – it fails to account for the loss of opportunity and the impact on technological progress, not to mention the vast analytical cost associated with study upon study.
A balance needs to be struck. Many of our participants share the view that crisis enables brilliance and we need to apply some of that mindset to the way that we think about infrastructure.
Andy Clarke
Head of Aviation, Costain
We almost need a crisis mindset in our approach to infrastructure – to keep us focused on the bigger picture.”
Not all of the fault can be laid at the centre, however. Our leaders acknowledge that more needs to be done to improve systemic underestimating that can be so damaging to the reputation of infrastructure projects. Solving these challenges has never been more important given the instrumental role that infrastructure delivery will play in the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery.
90%
See a need to address the political/regulatory environment in which infrastructure projects are procured and delivered.
3 in 5
Recognise that the sector needs to improve its performance and productivity.
Andy Mitchell CBE
CEO, Tideway & co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council
We need to be clearer and more ambitious, arguably audacious, about what we want to achieve.”
Views of our leaders were mixed on whether criticism of the sector for its productivity levels and innovation is fair. There was, however, alignment on the big issues that need to be addressed, the scale of both the challenge and opportunity and the need to be ambitious.
Carbon, digital and modular are the undisputed and fundamental opportunities that the sector needs to respond to, but it has a long way to go.
The Big Opportunities
Climate change and net zero were top of the list. Our leaders are clear that the sector has a major responsibility, not just in terms of how infrastructure is built, but how it is ultimately used too. The issues are too big to be solved by any particular organisation and will require a concerted effort by government, clients and their supply chains of designers and contractors too.
Digital and data is also a major challenge. Clients need to develop a mastery of their data and truly understand it to unlock opportunities and insight.
Tim Wood
Northern Powerhouse Rail Director
We need to see more collaboration, particularly around carbon reduction.”
How our leaders rank the big opportunities
Clients need to move beyond capturing data for compliance purposes and get much better at integrating and interpreting disparate data sets.
Embracing machine learning, artificial intelligence and simulation techniques will be key for infrastructure developers and their supply chains alike. To do all of these things will require the sector to acquire new skills.
Data scientists will need to work alongside engineers and project managers. Infrastructure clients will need to invest: lone hobbyists won’t spark the digital revolution. Culture will also be important in attracting new skill sets and creating the conditions in which they are able to thrive.
Andy Clarke
Head of Aviation, Costain
The skill and intelligence in the construction programme of tomorrow will be about the modelling, sequencing and design, not how fast we can pour concrete.”
Douglas Oakervee CBE
Former chair, High Speed 2 and Crossrail
We’ve got to get standardisation into the organisation in order to get the benefits of offsite.”
Modular is the final piece of the jigsaw – factories are the future. Our leaders see offsite manufacturing – production in environments that are safer and easier to control – as key to unlocking greater levels of efficiency and predictability in the delivery of major infrastructure.
Infrastructure is arguably one of the most difficult aspects of the built environment to modularise – megaprojects tend to be bespoke – but despite this, participants see the big opportunity in the shift to componentisation, standardisation and open source.
Julia Prescot
National Infrastructure Commission
A key issue is how much the sector uses technology – to improve productivity, we need to collect the right data and get better at understanding it.”
The mega projects of the future will be built from a kit of parts, not hand-crafted in-situ. Digital and data, of course, will be key in enabling this transformation and leaders are watching other segments of the built environment with interest.
2 in 3
See the relationship between clients and their supply chains as a critical enabler of innovation.
Key to achieving this dynamic will be a move away from transactional relationships in favour of longer-term and more closely integrated partnerships. These are much more commonplace in the aerospace, automotive and technology sectors, but are rarely found in construction, where the rate of supplier churn is far higher and the focus is short-term.
Longer-term supplier relationships allow for much closer alignment of long-term interests and more effective risk sharing. They also enable clients and their supply chains to work innovatively together.
Madalina Ursu
Head of Infrastructure, Greater London Authority
There’s a need to align interests better between contractors and clients, to move away from low margins and reward innovation.”
Our leaders identified three critical and interdependent enablers to unlock innovation and allow the sector to take bigger and bolder leaps forwards.
Leaders see the need for a shift in the relationship between clients and their supply chains to unlock innovation. Much closer and more genuine collaboration is needed, with a different attitude taken by clients and suppliers alike. Clients need to “cherish their supply chains” more, but suppliers also need to be more commercially robust with clients.
Grasping the opportunities will require a significant rethink of the way that the sector operates.
Enablers
Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson
Managing Director of Nuclear Development, EDF
We need to take a long-term view with our suppliers, working with them to build capability, strengthen margins and allocate risk sensibly. Only then will we be able to drive the efficiencies, productivity and innovation that the sector needs.”
Improving the supply chain’s profit margins is also seen as crucial by a significant number of our participants, not only to bolster stability but also to provide suppliers with the capacity to invest. Profit isn’t a bad thing and there is a clear and consistent view that the race to the bottom is harmful, counter to the sector’s broader objectives and must come to an end.
Major General David Southall CBE
Director of Army Basing, British Army
Our national infrastructure sector feels somewhat anchored in an industrial age. Too readily we default to lowest initial cost at the expense of securing true long term value. To address this requires change in approach and mindset; we must strive to invest better; to innovate and build smarter and greener.”
Underpinning all of these is a requirement to redefine value in our procurement philosophy. The public sector – regulators included – has a leadership role to play here, broadening and aligning its principles to the sustainability and productivity outcomes that the sector needs to achieve. Put simply, the sector’s potential will remain an aspiration while infrastructure projects are procured discretely, carved up and served to the lowest bidder, in an environment that is overabundantly cautious.
Phil Wilbraham
Former head of Heathrow expansion and non-executive director
If we’re going to wake up in 10 years’ time and have made a difference, we have to accelerate Digital, Modular and Net Zero, but if it’s not pulled by the public sector, it’s hard to see how it will become mainstream.”
The interviews explored the key issues that participants have faced in the previous 12 months, their outlook for the 12 months ahead and their longer-term perspectives.
Interviews were conducted between September 2020 and January 2021.
We conducted interviews with 22 senior leaders across a range of infrastructure sectors.
About the Survey
Participants
Suzy Firkin
John Bentley
Humphrey
Cadoux-Hudson
Andy Clarke
Andrew Kidd
Tim Jones
Huw James
Mark Hansford
Douglas Oakervee CBE
Andy Mitchell CBE
Dr David Marsh
Niall Lindsay
Major General
David Southall CBE
Julia Prescot
Ian Parker
Graham Olver
Ben Wheeldon
Madalina Ursu
Yasushi Umemura
Dr Tim Stone CBE
Phil Wilbraham
Tim Wood
About The Author
About Ankura
Jonathan Roe is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura. He helps organisations understand, navigate and resolve complex issues across their most important capital projects and infrastructure assets. A Chartered Engineer by background, he has provided strategic advice to some of the largest and most iconic projects in the UK and internationally, helping delivery bodies to set them up for success and turn around performance.
Ankura is a global firm of experts and advisors, uniquely built to tackle each challenge or need by effectively combining the right expertise.
We are a trusted advisor to companies, governments, law firms and institutions around the world.
Our collaborative culture brings together industry leading experts and technology-enabled solutions to solve highly complex and high-stakes issues for our clients.
ankura.com
About AnKura
Executive Summary
Year in Review
Outlook
Leaders' Focus
The Big Challenges
The Big Opportunities
About the Survey
Enablers
About Ankura
Digital
82%
Carbon
73%
Standardisation
41%
Capital Delivery Director at Thames Water
John Bentley
In a career spanning 30 years, John has managed numerous multi-£bn capital investment programmes. As Capital Delivery Director, John is leading Thames Water’s transition to a new operating model.
He previously led the strategy, development and delivery of Severn Trent’s £1.5bn capital investment and oversaw Thames Water’s interest the eight2O alliance, which was responsible for the delivery of Thames Water’s £1.75bn capital investment programme between 2015-2020.
Humphrey is the overall leader of the Sizewell C programme, the proposed nuclear power station that will be built on the Suffolk coast.
Humphrey was formerly an Executive Director at EDF before becoming Chief Financial Officer of EDF in the UK. In 2009 Humphrey was appointed Managing Director of Nuclear New Build leading the team that gained approval of the EPR design in the UK, and achieved the Final Investment Decision (FID) of the Hinkley Point C project with EDF and Chinese partners CGN in 2016 and full mobilisation of construction.
Managing Director for Nuclear Development at EDF in the UK
Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson
An experienced leader in major infrastructure projects, Andy has extensive experience in collaborative construction contracts across the Highways and Rail Sector delivering projects for Network Rail, London Underground and Highways England.
He also previously led Costain’s work winning function across the Rail, Highways, Aviation, Energy, Defence and Water sectors.
Head of Aviation at Costain
Andy Clarke
Suzy is a principal associate at community interest company WISE. In her role at WISE she enables and energises people in business, industry and education to increase the participation, contribution and success of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Suzy has worked as an independent Business Development Advisor and Business Coach via her own consultancy practice and is a chartered chemical engineer with 30 years’ experience in the engineering and technology sectors.
Principal Associate at WISE
Suzy Firkin
Mark was formerly editor of New Civil Engineer magazine. A fellow of the ICE, Mark is renowned for producing content on both future trends and the challenges facing the profession, as well as best practice from the cutting edge of civil engineering.
Director of Engineering Knowledge at the Institution of Civil Engineers
Mark Hansford
Huw originally qualified as an electronics engineer and has held many Board and senior roles throughout the Defence and Rail Infrastructure sectors. In addition to his Master’s Degree in Business Leadership, his experience spans from programme leadership of leading edge safety critical systems design and delivery in Land, Sea and Air environments, including nuclear submarine/weapon systems and business improvement programmes across global companies.
Huw is currently the Managing Director Infrastructure Projects at Network Rail having worked for the Company for 11 years leading programme management, programme controls, planning and systems engineering.
Managing Director, Infrastructure Projects at Network Rail
Huw James
Tim has an extensive track record in the civil engineering and transportation sectors and was formerly Project Director of the £7bn Lower Thames Crossing when the programme was in the development phase. He is the former Chief Executive of Connect Plus, the organisation responsible for managing the £6bn M25 DBFO contract, and Infrastructure Director for Balfour Beatty Plc. He is currently Chief Executive of Syrius Consulting and advising on a number of major transport projects in the UK, Australia and Canada.
Chief Executive and Project Director
Tim Jones
Andrew is responsible for the definition and realisation of social, environmental and economic value for the Lower Thames Crossing Programme, the largest investment in the UK’s road network for a generation.
He was formerly the programme’s Commercial Director, where he led Highways England’s team of commercial specialists responsible for defining and executing the delivery model. He has also held a variety of leadership roles at Heathrow Airport, where he was involved in the development and delivery of Heathrow’s multi-£bn capital investment programme.
Outcomes Director of the Lower Thames Crossing programme
Andrew Kidd
As the project lead for the Northern Line Extension and new Battersea Underground Station within the Battersea Power Station estate, Niall has responsibility for all Northern Line Extension interfaces with the Over Site Development Phases.
Niall was formerly Head of Oversite Development at Crossrail and Chief Executive of Thurrock Thames Gateway Development Corporation.
Head of Infrastructure and Northern Line Extension at Battersea Power Station Development Company
Niall Lindsay
David has been with the MOD for 30 years and has held previous appointments in a range of major project, programme and operational delivery leadership roles.
He also has wider responsibilities as the MOD Head of Profession for Portfolio, Programme and Project Management, responsible for professional standards and people development, a role he has held for 15 years.
Director of Major Programmes and Projects at the Defence Infrastructure Organisation
Dr David Marsh
Andy was previously Programme Director and board member at Crossrail. Andy has managed a number of high-profile projects both in the United Kingdom and overseas. After 12 years working in the United Arab Emirates, France and South Africa and on major developments such as Hong Kong Airport and the Hong Kong West Rail, he joined Network Rail in 2001. He was Project Director for Network Rail’s Southern Power Upgrade project and was also the Major Programme Director of the Thameslink Programme.
Andy is a fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, former Chair of the Infrastructure Industry Innovation Platform (i3P), and the Infrastructure Client Group (ICG) and since 2018 has been Co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC). He was awarded the CBE for his services to Civil Engineering.
Chief Executive Officer of Tideway Limited and Co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council
Andy Mitchell CBE
Douglas was the 139th president of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was awarded the CBE in the 2010 Birthday Honours for his contributions to civil engineering.
In a career that has spanned 60 years, he has led the delivery of some of the largest infrastructure assets globally. He was the Project Director for the Hong Kong International Airport project, the Chief Tunnel Engineer on the Hong Kong mass transit railway project and former Non-Executive Chairman of Laing O’Rourke Construction in the Far East. More recently he led the review of HS2 on behalf of the Prime Minister.
Former chair of HS2 and Crossrail
Douglas Oakervee CBE
Graham was formerly Chief Strategy Officer and has spent his career developing critical infrastructure assets around the world. He has held board and executive level roles across a range of infrastructure and professional services organisations including WYG Plc, Skanska Infrastructure Development, Thames Water and GEC Alsthom.
Chief Executive Officer of London Luton Airport Ltd.
Graham Olver
A Chartered Civil Engineer with extensive senior management experience in international consultancy and project management businesses and with infrastructure client organisations, Ian is responsible for the development and delivery of the new rail link connecting Oxford and Cambridge.
Ian was formerly Managing Director of Costain’s transportation division, which provides construction and technology services to clients in highways and rail, and a director of Mace Group, where he led the firm’s highways business. Between 2012 and 2017, Ian was seconded into Highways England to undertake a succession of senior programme management roles including the leadership of the smart motorways programme.
Programme Delivery Director of East West Rail
Ian Parker
Julia is a co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of global investor and asset manager Meridiam SAS and a Commissioner at the UK’s National Infrastructure Commission. She is a non-executive director on the board of the Port of Tyne and P4G, a multilateral early stage investment organisation based in Washington D.C. and is a member of the Advisory Panel of Glennmont Partners, a fund focussed on renewable energy. She is an Honorary Professor at the Bartlett School, University College London.
Julia also sat on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure, contributes to the Brookings Institute Initiative on Urban Accessibility and is currently involved with the OECD Blended Finance Initiative. She was also the co-founder of the Women Leaders in Infrastructure Group.
Julia Prescot
Commissioner of the National Infrastructure Commission
David graduated from Imperial College in 1989, commissioning into the Sappers in 1990. His 30 years of service has ranged across Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Africa and the Middle East including multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He commanded the Royal School of Military Engineering Group, directing the Army’s largest Public Private Partnership and more recently, as Chief of Staff Home Command and Standing Joint Command (UK), delivering Army recruiting, training and all UK based resilience operations. He currently serves as the Army's Director Basing and Infrastructure with full responsibility for the Army's built estate and Defence's training estate.
Major General David Southall CBE
Director of Army Basing & Infrastructure within the British Army
Tim has a wealth of experience in infrastructure, nuclear power and finance, with several years’ experience working closely with government and industry in a variety of roles. He is a non-executive director of both the Arup Group board and Horizon Nuclear Power.
Until 2013, Tim was the Expert Chair of the Office for Nuclear Development in DECC and the Senior Advisor to successive Secretaries of State responsible for energy. He has been awarded the Hinton Prize by the Nuclear Institute for outstanding contributions to the nuclear industry.
Dr Tim Stone CBE
Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association
Yasushi has extensive experience in managing renewable energy companies in Europe, ranging from biomass production in Germany, onshore wind development in Netherlands, offshore transmission in the UK, and now serves as CEO of Diamond Generating Europe, which owns 4 offshore wind farms and other renewable assets throughout Europe.
He has BA in Law from Keio University, Japan.
Yasushi Umemura
CEO of Diamond Generating Europe, part of the Mitsubishi Corporation
After joining the Greater London Authority (GLA) in 2013, Madalina delivered London’s first long-term infrastructure plan. The team now performs both a policy and delivery function with an increased focus on data sharing and improved coordination.
Prior to joining the GLA, Madalina worked at J.P. Morgan Chase in the Debt Capital Markets division advising corporates and financial institutions.
Madalina Ursu
Head of Infrastructure at the Greater London Authority
Ben started his career with Railtrack/Network Rail, including development and delivery of the Crossrail On Network Works as Programme Sponsor and Programme Director.
Subsequently, he has held leadership roles on multiple mega-projects, including interim Delivery Director for the Palace of Westminster Restoration & Renewal, Project Services Director for Heathrow Airport and now leads the HS2 Euston Station project for MaceDragados.
Ben Wheeldon
Programme Director leading the HS2 Euston Station project
Tim has over 25 years’ experience in railway design and delivery and is Northern Powerhouse Rail Director at Transport for the North. He has previously held two rail director positions in the private sector and is known for early development of Rail PPP schemes, as well as partner and stakeholder management.
Tim’s current role is to drive transformational economic change within the pan-northern area of the rail system, with a primary focus on improving connectivity between the six major city regions in the North.
Tim Wood
Northern Powerhouse Rail Director for Transport for the North
Phil has spent his career to date in major programme and project leadership, design management and civil engineering design. He led Heathrow’s expansion programme and the delivery of the Terminal 2 programme, and was integral to the Terminal 5 programme.
He is a Non-Executive Director at Keltbray Group and Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. He is also a trustee of the Building Research Establishment, Co-Chair of Constructing Excellence and was Co-Chair of the Infrastructure Innovation Portal.
Phil Wilbraham
Former head of Heathrow Expansion and non-executive director
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Concerns around the long-term professional development implications of sustained remote working were also raised by a number of participants. This is seen as an issue that could disproportionately impact those who are earlier in career, much of whose technical and interpersonal development derives from observing and interacting with more seasoned and experienced colleagues on a day-to-day basis. The solutions to this particular challenge are unclear, but several participants recognised the need address it.
Leaders of programmes in early gestation also share an additional and unique challenge compared to those that are well established: that of building a team without the usual means of doing so. The logistics of establishing a remote work force is arguably the easy bit; far harder is to forge the bonds and culture that enable a team to perform and thrive.
Andy Clarke
Head of Aviation, Costain
It’s not about having more conversations, it’s about the richness of those conversations.”
Connect on LinkedIn
Executive Summary
Year in Review
Outlook
Leaders' Focus
The Big Challenges
The Big Opportunities
Enablers
About the Survey
About Ankura
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