Meet the APM Project Management Awards 2021 winners…

The breadth of projects winning accolades this year are testament to the amazing efforts of professionals working across every sector, from government to UK plc. With such a testing year behind us, it’s time to celebrate the successes we showcase here and give every professional involved in these innovative projects the acknowledgement they deserve.

From keeping the very fabric of society together to pioneering new technology and ways of working, it’s been a year of courage, hard work and excellence. Every project, every programme, has had to be steered through another tumultuous year of the pandemic – and some were born from it. Read on to find out more about the innovations project professionals have been embracing, from ground‑breaking AI technology to assist the diagnosis of strokes, and helping to prove the case for hydrogen‑powered domestic heating to helping organisations move towards more responsive and agile ways of working that allow every worker to share their knowledge and lift their teams higher. The year 2021 has been about innovation and collaboration, so let’s celebrate such well‑deserved success…

Technology Project of the Year and Overall Project of the Year

Introducing AI into the teleradiology workflow, Medica Reporting Ltd
Teleradiology is the transmission of radiological patient images, such as X‑rays, CTs and MRIs, from one location to another for the purposes of sharing studies with other radiologists and physicians. Teleradiology allows highly trained clinical specialists to provide expert radiology reports even if thousands of miles away from the originating hospital, and Medica Reporting Ltd provides hospital radiology departments with independent capacity reporting.

Initiating this ground‑breaking project, Medica intended to become the first company in the UK to use AI to identify patients suffering from an intracranial haemorrhage, and use this information to support prioritisation within its clinical reporting processes. One of the key factors that can minimise the harm caused by a stroke is the speed of clinical response. Medica believed that the adoption of a specific algorithm (qER) would streamline workflows, enhance efficiency and support the delivery of an even faster diagnostic service.

The three primary objectives were to: deliver significant service transformation; deliver recognisable and valuable clinical improvements; and support Medica’s stated strategic ambition for future growth and market consolidation as the leader in technical innovation in teleradiology.

As a result of this project, Medica is now confident it has the data required to actively prioritise studies that are likely to contain an intracranial haemorrhage, thus ensuring they are reported on and returned to the client even more quickly. Its current turnaround times for acute studies is now 23 minutes. The project has delivered positive benefits to patients and has also provided a valuable learning experience to the wider organisation in terms of the implementation of augmented intelligence. It has enabled Medica to become the first teleradiology company in the UK to actively deploy the qER algorithm within its live workflows.

The holistic approach to this life‑saving project really impressed the judges, who felt the iterative lessons learned process clearly helped the project to continuously improve as it progressed. When deciding on a winner for the Overall Project of the Year award, they were looking for an outstanding project that has been well executed and delivers significant, meaningful benefits both now and in the future – this project ticked all these boxes. The judges felt this was an overwhelmingly vital project for healthcare and were inspired by the passionate response to the project shown by the team.

Contribution to Project Management: Not‑for‑profit

Essex County Council
Essex County Council (ECC) is one of the largest local authorities in England, serving a population of more than 1.4m. Effective delivery of change is fundamental to Essex achieving its strategic aims, not least with ongoing financial pressures and the multitude of challenges, including the pandemic. The range of transformation projects in ECC is vast and supporting this portfolio of change is Transformation Delivery and Support (TDS), home for around 100 project professionals.

One of ECC’s key innovations is the set of Project, Programme and Portfolio Books that have been developed in‑house. The Project Book is an Excel‑based toolkit that automates the production of project documentation at the click of a button, and facilitates a project health check. The development of the Books comes through the innovative thinking of ECC’s project management community. Its recent launch of a new Programme Book incorporates functionality to roll up project information from individual Project Books to the Programme Level.

Having experienced project managers and project management tools in place was critical in ECC’s emergency response to COVID-19. Response efforts included collaborating with partners to deliver initiatives such as test and trace, vaccinations and emergency mortuaries. ECC had to quickly deploy project management professionals to respond, and having the Project Book meant project managers were equipped to hit the ground running.

Described by the judges as a “really great entry with fantastic project management principles”, TDS was a clear winner, recognised for its commitment to continuous improvement, and its considerable positive impact on ECC and the wider community through a professional, efficient and effective project and business change capability.

Contribution to Project Management: Company or Consultancy

Balfour Beatty
Engineering and construction business Balfour Beatty has 1,300 members in its UK project management community. Under the sponsorship of its executive committee, Balfour Beatty has established the Project Management Leadership Group (PMLG), which has clear, defined objectives around developing and communicating best practice, talent development, improving project controls and increasing diversity.

Launched in 2020 and supporting the PMLG is the Shadow PMLG (SPMLG), a nominated group of project managers who bring a diversity of thought from across the business to deliver organisational change and development projects. Sponsoring both the PMLG and the SPMLG is the Project Directors Council, which strives for excellence across the full Balfour Beatty project management community and raises the status of project management across the business.

In 2018, Balfour Beatty launched ‘My Contribution’, a Yammer‑based engagement tool for employees to share innovations. Anyone with an idea writes a post on any Yammer page with the hashtag #idea, which triggers a chatbot to message the author of the post. The ideas are reviewed by expert panels, which decide whether or not to implement it more widely and put a team in place to support the delivery. More than 7,600 ideas have been submitted, and 1,268 developed into projects delivering cost savings of more than £31m.

The judges were impressed by the company’s commitment to improving project management, with a good description of the cultural change approach, beneficial use of digital tools and a solid best practice framework.

Contribution to Project Management: Small to Medium Enterprise

Sponsored by Ministry of Defence DE&S

P2 Consulting
When P2 was established, the consultancy was tasked with not only delivering clients’ most challenging projects, but also providing the expertise to help radically transform their own project management capability. For P2, success is leaving a client organisation more capable than when it arrived – and being an excellent project manager is no longer just about classic project delivery but a wide range of technical and soft skills, as well as knowledge of the end‑to‑end delivery cycle and a strong grasp of digital techniques, such as automation and predictive analytics.

To enable this, P2 uses the ‘T‑shaped’ consultant model – the vertical line represents the broad base of project management knowledge and core skills, such as business analysis, PMO and testing. The horizontal line represents expertise in areas such as problem-solving, team management and conflict resolution. P2 promotes a holistic approach, with project managers being multi‑skilled and able to support and coach team members, alongside assuring all aspects of delivery. All P2 team members are trained in agile and waterfall methodologies (including Prince2 and MSP), and some specialist agile project managers also have Scaled Agile certification.

The judges found P2 to be a well‑structured company with a clear commitment to the development of its people and clients, and specifically saw great value in the use of tools to ensure learning is shared and used on future assignments.

PMO of the Year

BT’s Client Services PMO
The Client Services PMO is a portfolio, programme and project management office supporting the delivery of complex programmes for BT’s Enterprise customers. Since being established in the summer of 2019, the PMO has been on a radical transformation to launch new services and dramatically increase its maturity. It has established a robust methodology, launched an industry-leading tool, set up strong governance and reporting arrangements, improved the likelihood of successful delivery and now manages the assignment of 850 professionals. This has led to the improvement of key business metrics, including successful project delivery and customer satisfaction.

The judges found the winner provided a strong and clear presentation of a PMO driving improvement and were impressed by its use of best practice for both delivery and people.

Programme of the Year

Sponsored by GCHQ

Hy4Heat, Arup
Heating homes contributes to about a third of all carbon emissions in the UK. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Hy4Heat programme’s overall objective was to provide the technical, performance, usability and safety evidence to de‑risk the use of hydrogen in homes and lay the groundwork for a community trial. Leading the £25m programme, launched in 2017, was Arup+, a team that brought together Arup’s programme management expertise, with leaders in energy and hydrogen. Overcoming widespread scepticism in the gas industry about the technical and commercial viability of hydrogen technology, the evidence‑based, stakeholder‑led approach resulted in a shift in industry mindset and established the foundations for a community trial.

The key deliverable of the programme was a final report that provides the technical, performance, usability and safety evidence to demonstrate whether hydrogen can be used for heat in buildings. The outcomes and benefits of the programme were broader and more significant than expected at the start as there’s been a transformation in the mindset of industry towards a hydrogen future. This has enabled the government to commit to a hydrogen village by 2025 in its Ten‑Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution (2020).

By adopting an evidence‑based, stakeholder‑led approach, Arup+ mobilised manufacturers, supply chains and academic partners to collaborate on developing the boilers, meters, cookers, heaters and other appliances that will be central to a community‑level trial that it is a priority for the UK government. In a short time, the programme has moved UK hydrogen heating technology to commercial market readiness.

The judges described this as “a truly fantastic programme”, finding the programme management principles applied as “very good indeed”. There was clear evidence that a logical and pragmatic approach had been used to extract the best out of the innovative process and manage challenges as part of the mission plan.

Shell Health, Safety, Security and Environmental (HSSE) Award

Sponsored by Shell

Safety Task Force, Network Rail
The Safety Task Force (STF) was formed to improve the safety of Network Rail’s track workers. Some 13,000 workers are on track every day and their families expect them to come home every day. But since July 2019, it has lost four track colleagues and Network Rail was determined nobody would be next. It is reducing risk by providing improved planning methods, track safety equipment and training.

The STF’s biggest achievement so far is the reduction in lookout working. Since track workers naturally trust the teammate who’s looking out for them, the STF team has used data from analysis of near‑miss and operational close‑call events, and encouraged colleagues to understand and trust the track safety equipment. Lookout working used to account for around 25 per cent of all work, yet nearly 70 per cent of near misses. Lookout working has been reduced by 83 per cent and now comprises just four per cent of work undertaken, with plans in place to eliminate this by December 2021.

For the STF’s route teams it was clear that organisational stories needed to be busted around a number of things, including ‘lookout working is the safest way of working’. The STF carried out hundreds of visits and employed innovative communications approaches, such as sending messages in their paper payslips.

The judges were impressed by the innovative solution in response to a clear recognition for change to improve health and safety, and were encouraged by the positive way the solution was put forward, where input was sought and gained across the whole of Network Rail.

Transformation Project of the Year

Sponsored by Qinetiq

London City Airport Digital Tower, NATS
London City Airport (LCA) is the first major commercial airport in the UK to transfer Air Traffic operations from a traditional, on‑site function to a purpose‑built digital facility 80 miles away. Following four years of development, the London City Digital Tower entered live operations in January 2021 with the air traffic controllers relocated to the NATS Control Centre in Hampshire, from where they manage every flight using live images presented on a panoramic video wall.

From the airport’s perspective, the key benefits were to recover valuable real estate at the airport, support their terminal development plans and enable a 360-degree view of the airport to be presented remotely. From a NATS perspective, the Air Traffic Control operation would benefit from increased visibility of airport and surroundings, and increased situational awareness and safety enhancement. This also presented an opportunity to create a showcase for digital towers in the UK and secure NATS’ international reputation.

The project comprised the delivery of a new 50m mast with secure, resilient equipment rooms for the critical assets required by LCA and NATS to provide the remote service; the delivery and integration of equipment and services required at the airport to support the Digital Tower; the delivery and integration of all equipment and services needed for a new remote digital tower operations room in Hampshire; and a staff relocation programme.

The innovative design and delivery of this transformational project got the judges’ attention. Particularly impressive was the adaptability of the project, which was delivered successfully despite increasing complexity as the project progressed. It was clear that lessons learned had been applied effectively throughout the project to adapt project management delivery tools and techniques.

Social Project of the Year

Sponsored by Citi

Managed Quarantine Service, Department of Health and Social Care
The Managed Quarantine Service (MQS) was rapidly established to protect UK Borders from health security risks arising from the pandemic. A minimum viable product was delivered from a standing start two and a half weeks after the Prime Minister’s announcement in January 2021. Within four months the project had scaled to successfully match growing demand, extending to 60 hotels accommodating around 19,000 passengers at any one time. It was a complex project encompassing changes in legislation and digital delivery.

The judges felt this project stood out as a fantastic example of a project successfully responding to an urgent and evolving need, and by implementing an ongoing lessons learned process, the project delivered what it planned to do. With an interesting mix of customer and stakeholder, the delivery plan included very good project management and showed a clear ability to manage a changing requirement. The examples of communication, rapid feedback and adaptation were exemplary.

A recent IPA review also noted that the project was: “an astonishing feat. The MQS team has worked furiously hard with a strong sense of purpose to create an effective hotel quarantine service for countries classed as Red by Ministers… Some two to three per cent of the quarantined guests have Covid or a variant: people who would otherwise have entered the population at large”.

The system has scaled massively and faced numerous challenges but delivered what it set out to do. The most innovative action taken from a project management perspective was the appointment of a full‑time SRO (who are a rarity in government). This has paid dividends in ensuring due time was given to managing through the complexity, allowing the team to deliver at pace. The IPA has highlighted a keenness to use MQS as a case study for future major projects in government.

Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Project of the Year

Boston Barrier Project – Tidal Barrier, Environment Agency and Turner & Townsend
The town of Boston has a history of tidal flooding (most recently in 2013) and is at significant risk from further events. The Environment Agency (EA) responded with the £110m Boston Barrier project, which is set to reduce the tidal flood risk from a one in 50 to one in 300 chance of occurring in any given year. The project comprises the construction of a 25m‑wide tidal rising sector gate in the Haven, along with associated control facilities and land‑based flood-risk management structures that tie into the barrier structure. The project scope includes the replacement of the Port of Boston’s wet dock entrance mitre gates with a new set of vertical sector gates to increase flood resilience.

The project was identified as a national priority project in the UK government’s 2014 Autumn Statement, forming part of a programme to reduce the risk of flooding to 300,000 homes by 2021. Construction work commenced on-site in early 2018 and is due to be completed in 2022. The project delivery within the EA’s framework agreements was a key factor of success as it enabled long-term partnerships to be forged within the supply chain and skills and knowledge to be retained. The team followed the PRINCE2 Project Management methodology, which is used for the delivery of capital projects within the EA. Although the project has not yet been completed, more than 13,000 properties are already better protected, due to the primary barrier installation and handover for operation in December 2020.

The clear context for the project, along with a sound project management method and good risk management and assurance, made it a stand‑out winner, with the judges impressed by the development of the team, especially the open culture created by project leadership to promote innovation.

Innovation in Project Management

Sponsored by Provek

Accelerating innovation in the rail industry, PA Consulting and Network Rail
PA Consulting and Network Rail are revolutionising the railway through the delivery of the Accelerated Innovation programme by employing agile ways of working and a bespoke delivery framework to test ideas from the front line, enabling the business to deliver benefits faster and progress ideas to a prototype concept in weeks rather than years. It has the potential to deliver benefits in excess of £231m.

The rail industry has a culture of safety and efficiency with the entire operating model focused on delivering value for money for passengers and freight. However, that is not enough to deliver the transformational performance improvement the industry needs. The rail regulator and Network Rail determined that R&D and Innovation were an important tool to deliver the performance improvement and granted Network Rail £245m to deliver an ambitious R&D portfolio.

Network Rail and PA Consulting came together to design the Accelerated Innovation programme, which identifies and progresses ideas to a prototype concept in weeks, and consists of a five‑stage agile‑based delivery framework.

The judges were looking for examples of progressive, diverse and innovative approaches to project delivery, including techniques, processes or methods that directly contributed to successful project outcomes. This programme did not disappoint. They felt that this has clearly been a successful programme that has challenged the traditional approach to change through the introduction of agile techniques. One judge particularly wished to champion the introduction of agile working, describing it as being implemented “almost by stealth to a very waterfall industry”.

Project Professional of the Year

Jacob Bould, Rolls-Royce plc
To pioneer the jet engines of the future you need world-leading testing capability. That’s why, after 4.5 years of design and construction, and £90m of investment, Rolls‑Royce Plc has transformed a car park in Derby into the biggest, smartest aero engine test facility in the world. Working with a global team, project manager Bould led this project to successful delivery on time, to budget and to quality, overcoming the challenges presented by the pandemic.

The facility will serve as a base for testing UltraFan, Rolls-Royce’s engine for the future. Project completion has also enabled the business to execute a strategic exercise of global site consolidation, reducing the number of testing facilities utilised – in particular those externally owned, reducing costs and increasing flexibility. The project is a key enabler for the company commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

The judges were impressed by Bould’s delivery of a clearly significant project that offered some great benefits to the organisation and wider stakeholders. They found him to demonstrate many examples of good engagement with his team, which served as an inspiration to other projects. Bould’s clarity about the project management techniques he used, as well as his great team approach, made him the clear winner.

Young Project Professional of the Year

Sponsored by QA

Jess Tray, Gate One
The pandemic disproportionately affected Londoners from minority ethnic communities and those experiencing inequalities. To address this, Good Thinking (a digital NHS mental health service) sought to produce specific content to help those communities access support. Tray joined the team in December 2020, with the initial brief to engage with three faith communities and develop three pieces of culturally relatable content, as well as a reusable faith engagement methodology. By March 2021, she’d engaged more than 30 organisations and produced over 40 pieces of content – significantly exceeding the brief and delivering to time and budget.

She designed a process with two different engagement approaches: a faster‑moving faith‑based approach and a slower‑moving population‑based one. This enabled her to engage communities with the highest level of inequalities, while working with established faith organisations to rapidly reach diverse audiences. Taking an agile project management approach, Tray designed a visual pipeline showcasing where organisations were along this six‑step process, meaning she could flex her approach with each organisation and manage asynchronous delivery, while presenting a concise view of the evolving status to the core team.

She launched a new faith and belief communities section and ‘Five Ways to Good Mental Wellbeing & Islam’. By combining data analysis, project management and creativity, Tray designed an innovative approach that looked beyond the boundaries of the brief and brought together stakeholders across mental health and faith in a way that’s not been done before. The approach and resources have been shared widely, including with the Public Health Mental Health Network, vaccination leads, interfaith organisations, social‑prescribing link workers and primary care networks.

Tray’s innovative approach to this highly impactful project made her stand out to the judges, who were impressed by her energy and enthusiasm. They felt she went above and beyond to demonstrate excellent stakeholder management and a strong capability for building effective relationships.

Special Recognition Award

NHS Charities Together
In 2021, APM chose to give a Special Recognition Award to NHS Charities Together, for its swift and effective response to the pandemic. This included delivering an urgent Covid‑19 response appeal that raised more than £150m, and ensuring that funding was allocated to those who needed it most in the NHS. In 2020, Captain Sir Tom Moore provided a £33m legacy by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday; NHS Charities Together has been instrumental in making sure that funding was used for projects to support NHS workers focus on their life-saving work more effectively at a time of immense pressure.

“We are delighted to have won this award, which recognises the efforts of our small and dedicated team during the pandemic,” says Ellie Orton OBE, chief executive of NHS Charities Together. “With our 240 member charities, we worked together to ensure the funds raised went to where they were needed most – benefitting NHS staff, patients and volunteers in every corner of the UK. I would like to thank every person who supported the Covid‑19 Appeal and helped us raise such a huge amount of money.

“We’re still here to support the people of the NHS in every part the country, every day of the week. Because the pandemic’s impact is expected to last for many years, partnerships between the NHS and NHS charities are now more vital than ever. Together, we can provide the extra support needed in hospitals, ambulance teams, community and mental health services, and help the NHS go further for everyone – now and in the future.”

Outstanding Achievement Award

John McNamee
There are no formal criteria for this award but the expectation is clearly that the individual needs to have delivered something extra special for the profession. The winner of this highly prized accolade is debated and decided by the APM Board of Trustees. This year, they unanimously agreed to recommend the project manager behind the successful NASA JPL Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover mission, John McNamee, who delivered such a positive project during a time of great adversity and challenge, and that went a long way to lift the spirits of the public worldwide – giving everyone hope for future progress.

Says McNamee, “I am incredibly humbled and appreciative to accept this award, but I receive it on the backs of the thousands of individuals involved in making the project happen. It has been a privilege to lead such a committed group of people, especially during such unprecedented times, and I will ensure that they are all aware of this honour in recognition of everything they have achieved.”

APM Awards 2021 On Demand