Amy Reed-Gibbs

What makes the SMP Alliance such a successful example of a Project 13 Enterprise? Put simply, they have created an environment of integration and collaboration which has enabled people and organisations to achieve better outcomes. Right from the outset, National Highways, as part of the Smart Motorways Programme (SMP), recognised that to make a difference, they needed to transform not only what they did but how they did it. That realisation led them to Project 13 and what is now one of the most mature, class-leading examples of a Project 13 Enterprise. Together, each of the Alliance Partners, and their wider supplier community, are embarked on a journey to realise the potential of their enterprise and unlock the benefits it can deliver. Introduction National Highways connects people and places across England, supporting economic growth and making our roads safer for those using and working on them. Formed in 2020, the SMP Alliance is tasked with positively impacting safety, environment, congestion and asset condition on National Highways’ strategic road network and achieving exemplar performance in safety, cost, time and quality. To achieve these aims, National Highways set about forming an alliance as an 'Enterprise' organisation, with a focus on the outcomes required from key investment programmes (figure 2), with shared risk and reward and a programmatic approach to delivery. Comprising of seven partners, including National Highways, and a substantial supplier community, the goal of SMP Alliance is to create a step-change in the programme’s performance; the ambition is to transform the highways sector and wider industry over the next 10 years and beyond, covering Government’s Road Investment Strategy Periods 2 and 3 (RIS2 and RIS3). Why Project 13? National Highways set out with a vision for SMP Alliance “to enable a fundamental shift in the way we work with our Partners, transforming how we deliver Smart Motorways to prepare for the digital roads of the future.” At the core of this vision was the desire to pave the way for setting new benchmarks for productivity and quality, using a programmatic approach and leveraging innovation and continuous improvement techniques, as well as embedding knowledge throughout the entire organisation. Their intention was to move away from traditional approaches and move towards modern methods of construction, reflecting the imperatives of reducing time on site and improving outcomes for customers. Choosing to adopt the Project 13 model was a natural choice for National Highways. The principles of the enterprise approach aligned strongly with their ambition for the Alliance and the five pillars of Project 13 provided a clear and applicable framework. National Highways chose to procure through an Alliance model, the ‘NEC4 Alliance Contract (2018)’, comprising National Highways and six delivery partners (WSP, Jacobs, Fluor, Balfour Beatty, BAM / Morgan Sindall JV, Costain) - all seven coming together to form SMP Alliance. National Highways acknowledged the improved outcomes they had already seen working in more collaborative, integrated models. Therefore it was a natural step forward to build on the learning that already exists within the Project 13 community and apply this within the Alliance. For National Highways the Project 13 Enterprise model represented a fundamental change in the way value was understood and measured. Previous models which focused primarily on cost often led to adversarial relationships, poor quality solutions and lack of long-term value. By creating a performance-linked, integrated model within SMP Alliance, all Partners are incentivised to significantly improve on historic performance. Crucially, in contrast to ‘conventional’ procurement and delivery, where there may be winners and losers, Alliance Partners are incentivised to operate as a single, integrated team where performance is measured across the Alliance as a whole, rather than at individual partner or scheme levels. This commercial model stimulates integration and collaboration across the Alliance, sharing risk and rewarding innovation, improvement and inspiring mutual support and trust. From the outset, for both National Highways and potential SMP Alliance partners, the procurement process looked and felt different. Tenderers were required to bid individually for their roles in separate lots. During pre-tender sessions, National Highways focused on communicating their intention and desires for something different from the industry – linking concepts, plans and outcomes to the Project 13 framework. By approaching the tender process differently, the aim was drive a change in behaviours and performance through the tender period itself and in the resulting submissions. National Highways evaluated each potential Alliance Partner separately to select “best for task” Partners for each Alliance role. All tenders were evaluated against National Highways’ three imperatives of improving safety, creating a better customer experience and delivering greater efficiency. This approach was supplemented by a series of structured interviews, designed to explore each tenderers’ leadership, delivery, cultural and business alignment to Alliance objectives. The interviews were led by independent behavioural psychologists working alongside National Highways personnel and provided an insight into the way in which individual tendering organisations lived the collaborative values they described. The selected tenderers joined together to create SMP Alliance, comprising seven members: National Highways as the Client; one Production Management Partner (Fluor); two Digitally-Enabled Design Partners (WSP and Jacobs); and three On-Site Assembly Partners (Balfour Beatty, the BAM / Morgan Sindall Joint Venture and Costain). Setting up for success “We deliberately set about creating an aligned vision and mission that allows people to anchor back to what we’re here to do and why we’re doing it”. SMP Alliance has always been envisaged as a collaborative, value-based delivery model achieved through Partners and supplier network working with National Highways as a single, integrated organisation. Creating alignment to that vision and developing and communicating a common purpose were essential elements to SMP Alliance’s early success. Their intention was to create an Alliance identity, rather than adopting one of the seven Partners’ identities, recognising that there was no single, dominant party – and providing a neutral platform on which to develop. Accompanying this new identity was a cocreated vision and mission, intended to enable an understanding of what each party was there to do and, importantly, why. A key aspect to achieving successful collaboration was developing an Alliance brand which complemented the Partners’ culture. This was intended to help teams and individuals navigate across the boundaries between their own companies and the Alliance, allowing them to feel a part of something new and special. In line with Project 13 principles, the Alliance Board and Alliance Leadership Team (ALT) were formed early in the process, setting a framework across all Partners to forge strong and lasting relationships necessary to underpin the success of SMP Alliance. The Alliance Board is formed of senior representatives from all seven partner organisations, committed to being industry leading in their field of infrastructure enhancements and, importantly, committed to empowering and supporting their people to deliver the Alliance outcomes as one team. The Alliance Leadership Team is formed from the seven Partner organisations and follows the Project 13 organisational principle of integrating the required capability into a high performing collaborative team, using a ‘best for task’ approach based on assessment and interview. Enhancing collaboration through social capital Transitioning from mobilisation into business as usual created opportunities to develop and build on the foundations laid for successful collaboration during the earliest stages of the Alliance. The Alliance team, recognising the complexities around truly successful collaboration, sought to develop and build social capital across the Enterprise to maximise their organisational advantage. This investment focused across the three key elements of social capital; structural; cognitive and relational. Within each of these areas the Alliance team developed practices, supported by processes and tools, to deepen collaboration and enhance the exchange and creation of intellectual capital. Structurally, the Alliance contract and commercial model provided the density of ties and relationships needed to enable closer integration, but this was supplemented by co-locating the entire team, where possible, under the unified Alliance brand. To enhance the relational elements of the enterprise they focused on developing a tailored collaboration model, which set out how the new organisation should talk to the wider partner organisations and key stakeholders. The Alliance is a discreet part of National Highways, which is a large client organisation. Setting out communications and ways of working with key internal stakeholders, including sponsors, engineering specialists, safety specialists and operational teams, was vital. Similarly, for the other Partners, networks needed to be created which would provide ongoing support to people within the Alliance as well as a process for addressing the commercial and contractual specifics of the relationship. Investing in social capital is key to unlocking the potential of the Alliance enterprise Arguably the most critical dimension of social capital investment, cognitive, was enabled by the team creating and leading staff from the various Partner organisations on a compelling journey to a new way of working. The Alliance Leadership team recognised the tangible, people-centred approach this needed, drawing on the new brand and identity, plus demonstrating and role modelling behaviours which underpinned the emerging Alliance culture. By intentionally and proactively building internal and external networks, the way in which the emerging Alliance culture was developing to complement Partner organisations made it possible and easy for people to navigate across the boundaries. People entering the Alliance team could see first-hand how the Alliance was providing regular communications and proactive support to their home organisations as well unifying within SMP Alliance and delivering to National Highways. “You can’t underestimate how much of a change it is for people to move into a new organisation with new ways of working”. Aligning strategy into delivery Creating alignment and a common purpose were essential elements to SMP Alliance’s early success, but extending this into a productive and efficient way of working was key to sustaining that success across the longer term. The team focused on developing common, digital platforms, processes and systems which made it easy for people to interact and to work together. A governance framework was established which provided control across levels and through both the client and partner lens. Underpinning these processes and controls was an appreciation and reflection of the emerging Alliance culture, which provided a framework to test and assure that the products would add value to delivery and not constrain teams. The ambition of the Alliance Board and Alliance Leadership Team is to create clear alignment though everything the Alliance does. This alignment of strategy into delivery is yet another example of how collaboration and an outcomes focus is driven through the leadership team across all parts of the organisational culture. The SMP Alliance vision flows through the organisation, driving a clear and aligned purpose From leadership to delivery, the Alliance formed an integrated team by identifying the best person for the role. The wider supplier network is managed within the Alliance by an integrated Production Hub, deploying resources either directly appointed by National Highways or by Alliance Partners. A core function of the Production Hub is to implement a category management approach to all supplier appointments, achieving collective sourcing and contract management as part of the Alliance. Since it operates programmatically at a site level, work is allocated on a shared basis (for example, an equal share between design partners) and an equitable share across on-site assembly partners. It takes what would otherwise be a typical client programme delivery team and integrated into an Alliance delivery team with an agnostic, ‘best for candidate’ approach for the Production Hub. Integrating the wider supplier network Arguably the jewel in the crown of any Project 13 Enterprise is the ecosystem of partners and suppliers working across a wide supplier network; this is certainly the case for SMP Alliance. The Alliance boasts a significant supplier network throughout which the principles of Project 13 have been cascaded and embedded. This has been fundamental to enabling improvement and real transformation in delivery. Commercially, the Alliance model has provided suppliers with long-term, visible opportunities, incentivised towards out-performance. This, in turn, has provided suppliers with the confidence to invest in themselves, in materials, processes and, most importantly, in their people. SMP Alliance has facilitated a community feel amongst suppliers, making them feel heard, understood and part of the wider team, breaking down barriers so they feel more integrated. Communities of practice have been established to share best practice, resolve issues and review who is best placed for upcoming works. A key and enlightening aspect enabled by the Alliance is integrating suppliers at the earliest opportunity into project and programme delivery. Where there may have been a lack of engagement or a barrier to entry for these organisations to engage with traditional design organisations, this has served to open up channels of communication and allowed these teams to input very early, allowing innovations to be embraced and leading to improved outcomes, particularly in safety and efficiency. SMP Alliance is the Integrator and becomes the SMP Alliance Enterprise with its Supplier Network and Advisors Navigating challenges “New people meeting each other, in a new way and working differently – it was change cubed”. Without a doubt, the true test of any enterprise comes during periods of change, uncertainty and challenge. SMP Alliance has faced its fair share of adversity. From the outset, SMP Alliance was faced with mobilising during the emerging global pandemic, getting to grips with meeting new people, developing relationships and getting used to new ways of working, all whilst tackling the challenges of unfamiliar online platforms and tools. Whereas traditional approaches may have focused on facilitating transactional relationships, the Alliance team recognised the step changes needed in energy and effort to build something deeper. The team therefore focused on creating an environment which would nurture and enable the developing relationships. Much time and effort was put into getting to know each other, developing relationships and building trust. A key element of this was the concept of psychological safety – creating an environment where people felt heard and safe to explore new ideas, thoughts and innovations. The value of a psychologically safe environment has been felt by the team many times over since those early mobilisation days. Behaviours, trust, communication and relationships have grown and developed and, combined with the unique contractual relationship between all parties, has led to a diversity of thought and innovation which has allowed people to break across hierarchical and organisational boundaries. The Alliance Leadership Team has seen the value invested in social capital can drive improved alignment in the longer term and particularly through challenging times. Back in April 2023, following a period of uncertainty and change, the UK Government announced that no new Smart Motorways Schemes would be built, with the investment instead focussed on safety improvements. That announcement marked yet another substantial change to the scope of activities and overall work-bank the Alliance was delivering. But the nature of the enterprise itself and the investment in the culture and social capital meant that the response to change amongst the team was solutions orientated and filled with energy and resolve. The teams focused on what could still be done, on how to successfully and efficiently pivot effort and resources for the good of the enterprise, National Highways and its customers. This ‘can do’ attitude exemplifies the benefit of a behaviourally focused approach to collaboration. Despite such positivity, the effort, energy and focus required to maintain the quality of collaboration during times of adversity should not be underestimated. During times of stress, when communication and leadership can often default to autocracy and transaction, being collaborative is a much tougher ask. During these periods the Alliance Leadership Team has taken deliberate and purposeful steps to slow the pace of decision making, to seek wider views and alternative perspectives and explore different approaches. This has often resulted in transforming the actions taken and improving the outcomes for all. The changing work-bank and scope of activities National Highways is seeking to deliver has also impacted the Alliance’s ability to make longer term investments in its own future. The scale of changes has meant that the team has expended more energy in reacting to and managing that change than was initially expected. This has impacted the level of transformation that has been achieved in important areas such as digital, one of the five pillars of the Project 13 framework. Although progress has been made, most notably with the introduction of BIF (Business Integration Framework) – an integrated platform which blends a variety of data sources from across organisations – the Alliance team admits that momentum has been slowed and the benefits achieved have been lower than expected. However, despite the setbacks, the intention, enthusiasm and desire to transform remains. Sustaining value The Alliance has established a track record in delivering the required outcomes. However, Enterprise partnerships such as SMP Alliance are long-term structures set up to deliver continuous improvements in performance. Sustaining energy, avoiding fatigue and keeping motivation levels high can be a challenge, particularly, as in the case of the Alliance, when there is a significant change to the work-bank. The Alliance continues to deliver a range of strategic programmes, but the nature and timing of the programmes has changed signifciantly over the life of the alliance. Unsurprisingly, the Alliance has tackled this through focusing on the integrated team, declaring and celebrating successes and rewarding and recognising achievements. By aligning delivery to the Alliance mission and strategy through the SMP Alliance’s six outcomes, the team has been able to identify and celebrate tangible successes linked to those outcomes, in particular that of ‘Inspiring Workplaces’. Communication is largely digital and integrated across the Alliance’s c. 1,800 people. Programme updates and news articles are published on the Alliance MS Teams channel on a daily basis, a bi-weekly digest of new articles is emailed to all Alliance and supplier staff, supported by monthly all-Alliance ‘Touchpoint’ and regular ‘Let’s talk about…’ webinars, as well as a bi-annual print and digital magazine plus regular posts on the Alliance’s own LinkedIn page. The monthly Touchpoints are open to all staff and consist of presentations, updates and the opportunity for direct Q&A with the Leadership Team. Along with quarterly awards based around the Alliance outcomes and the annual 7OGETHER conference that includes suppliers, engagement at all levels is further supported by an annual series of Alliance Leadership Team Engagement Roadshows that allow the leadership to reach out in person to all scheme offices and other key offices. A direct result of feedback received from the annual Alliance Engagement Survey, the Roadshows have prompted enthusiastic dialogue and discussion, as well as opportunities for teams to hear strategic updates from Alliance leaders and to come together to celebrate successes and achievements. One of the Alliance’s biggest achievements in facilitating sustainable value is with the Alliance Learning Management System - ROU7E - an engaging, bespoke, easy to manage and cost-effective digital learning platform. This system, which has set the bar for future Alliances, provides access to onboarding and training resources including e-learning, videos and documents and is accessible across the Alliance and its supply chain. This, and other similar initiatives introduced by the Alliance’s dedicated People Team, complements parent organisation development aspects and equips colleagues with the skills they need throughout their Alliance journey, from onboarding to offboarding. SMP Alliance in numbers: · 7 partners · c.1800 people · Over 350 nominations received for quarterly awards so far · 3.1 score on Highways Excellence Lean Maturity Assessment (HELMA) in just 3 years - up from 1.7 in first year (2021) · £200m of efficiencies identified · 350+ attendees at the annual 7OGETHER conference promoting networking and celebrating individual, team and scheme agility, achievement, innovation and collaboration · 303m of innovative, carbon-friendly barrier installed per day on the M40 / M42 Interchange scheme · 2,630 tonnes of CO2 reduced through collaboration between designers and on-site assembly partners on the National Emergency Area Retrofit (NEAR) programme · £100m social value target Looking to the future “As we get that diversity of thought, in a safe way, magic seems to happen. Watching people develop, run ideas, break across hierarchical boundaries, break across traditional operating boundaries, is extremely rewarding”. For National Highways, adopting the Project 13 Enterprise approach represented significant challenge and opportunity for SMP Alliance, one which has been enthusiastically and successfully embraced by all seven partner organisations and suppliers. In seeking to do something different they have transformed their approach from a traditional, hierarchical, win/lose relationship to something integrated, value driven and truly collaborative. Despite, or perhaps because of the challenges the Alliance has faced, the journey has been much more than anyone thought it would be. It has provided more opportunity to integrate across partners, better understanding of how to drive efficiency and environmental benefits and an illustration of the power of digital tools in a learning organisation. The promise of the Project 13 framework has delivered to the Alliance long term agreements, repeatable products and incentivised outperformance. It has established a supplier network strategy that has transformed transactional supplier relationships into a rich ecosystem of long-term, strategic, value-driven partnerships. It has created an organisational construct which has enabled the transparent transfer of accountability across individuals and collectives, enabling risks to be managed and efficiencies to be realised. Most importantly though, SMP Alliance now represents a mature group of integrated organisations and individuals, who have demonstrated they are capable of delivering innovative, value-driven solutions, despite challenges and uncertainty. SMP Alliance has successfully created and sustained a Project 13 Enterprise and environment within which people can collaborate, integrate, grow, adapt, succeed and flourish to deliver better, sustainable, long-term, positive outcomes for their customers. Box-outs Relentless Safety Commitment – Operating at a high level (4) of safety maturity, safety performance is benchmarked and best practices promoted collaboratively e.g. a dedicated weekly safety forum shares any internal and external incidents openly and quickly between all partners. Half of all Highways Passport Gold holders are Alliance schemes, and the Alliance also leads two of National Highways significant risks groups (Occupational Hygiene & Plant Person Interface). Driving Efficiencies – SMP Alliance has embedded the concept and the practice of efficiency at the heart of the Alliance culture. Through creating a standardised process for logging, assuring and delivering efficiencies and a drumbeat of regular reporting to maintain consistent focus, the Alliance has logged over £200m in the efficiency register. Promoting Productivity - Ongoing regular measurement of productivity data supports the incentivised commercial model and promotes Lean ways of working. Actual productivity is measured weekly against baselines / stretch targets. This crucial, highly valuable information is recorded, reported, studied and discussed in regular meetings with key Alliance managers. Should any negative movement be identified, action plans are quickly created for corrective measures. Similarly, where higher than expected rates are achieved, lessons and best practice can also be shared quickly across other schemes. For example the Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) Retrofit programme achieved a 30% productivity improvement, while the pre-construction element of the National Emergency Area Retrofit (NEAR) programme time was reduced by 60%. Leading Lean Enterprise – SMP Alliance is at the forefront of Lean and has fully embraced and enabled a culture of sustainable continuous improvement. This has led to over £20m of Lean-enabled efficiencies which have already passed level 2 assurance, and which have been achieved at pace – a HELMA score of 3.1 has been realised in just 3 years (normally 10 years). The Alliance is now on track to obtain ISO 18404 accreditation in March 2024. Collaboration Delivers Early – Through embedding collaboration and proactive workspace management, SMP Alliance has successfully delivered ahead of schedule in a number of areas. The M40/M42 scheme opened three months early through embracing an innovative new concrete barrier solution from a key supplier together with a highly collaborative approach to roadspace management. Similar collaboration and innovation, including offsite assembly, saw the Stopped Vehicle Detection (SVD) Retrofit Programme delivered safely six months early and on budget with a 24% carbon saving. Putting Customers First – The needs of customers are central to everything National Highways does. By introducing a dedicated customer team and customer leads in each programme, the programme has achieved impressive 92% average roadworks audit scores, 83% roadspace booking accuracy and 79% correspondence timeliness. The recording for the Project 13 Early Adopter case study: SMP Alliance 10th April 2024 webinar will be posted shortly.

REGISTER HERE to attend the next of the Project 13 webinar series 10th April 2024 9am - 11am GMT What makes SMP Alliance such a successful example of a Project 13 Enterprise? Put simply, they have created an environment of integration and collaboration which has enabled people and organisations to achieve better outcomes. As part of the Smart Motorways Programme (SMP), National Highways recognised that to make a difference, they needed to transform not only what they did, but how they did it. That realisation led them to Project 13 and what is now one of the most mature, class-leading examples of a Project 13 Enterprise. Together, each of the seven members of the Alliance together with their wider supplier community, are embarked on a journey to realise the potential of their enterprise and unlock the benefits it can deliver. This insightful session will share experiences and learnings covering the background of SMP Alliance, its set up and mobilisation, how it works commercially and has overcome multiple challenges, as well as the real differences the Alliance it is making at scheme level. SPEAKERS John Grimm, Production Director, SMP Alliance John is committed to improving the performance of the infrastructure sector and passionately believes that the key to this is moving from traditional transactional models to collaborative win-win relationships that boost certainty and productivity to deliver better outcomes for all. He has broad infrastructure experience and has held a variety of senior leadership positions, including playing a central role in Anglian Water’s @one Alliance. In this role he led projects that were both referenced in the UK Government National Infrastructure plan as an excellent case study for sustainable construction, and used as a best practise case study in ICG’s Project 13 report ‘From Transactions to Enterprise’. John was a co-author and launched the ‘Alliancing Code of Practice’. It was this experience that led him to join National Highways in 2018 to lead delivery of the organisation’s first alliance and be a key figure on the SMP Alliance Leadership Team (ALT). John has ben the key architect for the Alliance and its strategy, with the goal of creating an industry leading way of working that will improve safety, the customer experience and deliver greater efficiency. Tony Slater, Managing Director, SMP Alliance Tony Slater has demonstrable history of successful project delivery and alliancing within civil engineering and infrastructure projects. He was appointed Managing Director of SMP Alliance by National Highways in April 2020, having previously been with Balfour Beatty on both motorway and rail projects. Based on Project 13 principles, SMP Alliance is a unique integrated enterprise comprising seven members together with a wider supplier network. The members are: National Highways as the client; Fluor as the production management partner; Jacobs and WSP as the digitally-enabled design partners; Balfour Beatty, bmJV (the BAM / Morgan Sindall Joint Venture) and Costain as the three on-site assembly partners. Tony’s has led SMP Alliance’s mission to be a high-performance enterprise that excels in delivering multiple major schemes nationally across the strategic road network. His experience and proven ability in transforming performance through authentic and committed leadership has been central to successfully overcoming the considerable challenge of mobilising this new enterprise in the middle of the COVID pandemic, and subsequently navigating multiple significant external challenges and change factors that have impacted on the Alliance’s programme scope. Peter Winnicott, Commercial & Procurement Director, SMP Alliance An RICS chartered QS with 33 years in civil engineering contracting, Peter began his early career in highways before spending 14 years in the water sector working with organisations on their transition away from transactional procurement towards more collaborative frameworks and programmatic delivery. Peter then worked on rail and highways projects with a further focus on delivering complex schemes through collaborative approaches, working closely with the client to ensure performance and commercial sustainability for both client and contractor. Projects included Dartford Freeflow, the Managed Motorway Programme and then Commercial Director on the first Smart Motorways Programme in RIS1 2015-2020 where he oversaw £1.2bn across three major schemes. He has been Commercial & Procurement Director since SMP Alliance was formed in 2020, bringing a passion for bringing the best out of people through opportunities, integrity in delivery and collaborative working to focus on collective success. Harriet Buffery, Senior Commercial Manager, SMP Alliance Harriet has extensive experience leading commercial teams on major infrastructure schemes, including multiple highways projects. She is a results-driven Senior Commercial Manager with a passion for implementing change and improving the way construction projects are managed through effective communication. Experienced in NEC contract management with a specific focus on supply chain procurement and management, Harriet champions collaboration and is an active mentor focusing on professional development and chartership. Her previous highways experience includes Senior QS for the M3 J2-4a works between 2014-2018 before being appointed Commercial Manager M4 structures between 2018-2021. Harriet joined SMP Alliance in 2021 as Commercial Manager for the M3 J9-14 scheme, where she led procurement and management of £70m Subcontract Packages under the NEC4 Alliance Framework with responsibility for all commercial reporting including cashflow forecasts, cost value reconciliations, applications, payments and valuations. Most recently she is Senior Commercial Manager for the National Emergency Area Retrofit (NEAR) south schemes.

ICE has opened the call for nominations to the ICE Awards 2024, including the Bev Waugh Award for productivity, which is of particular relevance to Project 13 Network members. ICE is encouraging Project 13 partners to nominate candidates for the award, which focuses on productivity, culture. It celebrates the success of a leader or an individual that brings people together, embodies teamwork, togetherness, and is value driven in mindset. About the Bev Waugh Award for Productivity The Bev Waugh Award was introduced in 2021 and aligns with ICE’s commitment to transform the productivity of civil engineering by acknowledging a leader or individual who has had a positive impact on joint teamwork. The award will specifically seek to recognise a leader or individual who quietly broadens the perspective of the team, leads with kindness, values the views of others, and constructively questions the status quo to create a people-centred ‘best for project’ culture. How to nominate Nominations for the Bev Waugh Award close on 13 February 2024 and must be submitted to the ICE via the ICE Awards website. Nominations should make the best case possible for the submitted leader or individual and should provide enough detail to give the Awards Committee a full picture of the nominee and their achievements. Note that nominations must be endorsed by an ICE member, and self-nominations will not be accepted. The awards ceremony will be held in October 2024 at ICE’s Great Hall in One Great George Street, London. It marks a fantastic occasion, and an opportunity to recognise outstanding civil engineering achievements and contributions to the profession and the institution. Find out more Visit the ICE Awards webpage. Questions about the Bev Waugh Award and how to nominate a leader or individual can be directed to knowledge@ice.org.uk.

Project 13 Collaboration for Innovation: The case of Wolsingham Sewage Treatment Works REGISTER HERE to join us at our Project 13 Capable Owner online event on 28th March 2023 9am - 10:30am GMT In our third event of the Capable Owner pillar group webinar series, we show how collaboration in line with Project 13 principles enables innovation by the ecosystem. This webinar will build on learning from our first 2 events: What does it mean to be a Capable Owner? and Changing the Capability Mix, by centering around the case study of the Wolsingham, Co. Durham Sewage Treatment Works. The Wolsingham, Co. Durham Sewage Treatment Works required significant upgrade to continue to meet customer needs. The principal partners, Northumbrian Water, Tilbury Douglas, and Wood Group, worked in the context of a 5+5 framework agreement to achieve nearly 70% off-site construction, complemented by significant budget and schedule savings. Key learning points from the case will highlight: - Collaboration does not yield innovation immediately, but requires the development of trust over time; - The importance of including representatives of operations in the innovation process; - The need for owners to set clear expectations to which the ecosystem can respond. Speakers: Andrew Page, Anglian Water (chair) Graham Winch, Manchester Business School Shane Davis, Yorkshire Water Richard Seales, Northumbrian Water Michelle Johnson, WSP

Click here to download This cross-industry code provides a structure for good practice that allows for constructive challenge, supporting effective decision-making. This will lead to better project outcomes for stakeholders, society, and the world. As an industry, we are acutely aware of the significant challenges that face us. Not least the climate crisis, but also the pressures created by a growing global population with expectations of better living standards. We must now act more effectively, and with greater urgency, to address these challenges and deliver positive outcomes not only for those sponsoring and developing projects but also for society and the world. Good governance is critical to enabling such outcomes. Led by the Project 13 Governance Pillar Development Group, and developed collaboratively by practitioners for practitioners across our industry, the Infrastructure Governance Code is structured around principles organised into six themes, to be used on a ‘comply or explain’ basis, underpinned by supporting provisions. The collaborative approach has been crucial to ensuring the code is fit for purpose and widely applicable. It provides a structured system of good practice allowing for constructive challenge that creates the right environment for effective decision-making – which, in turn, will lead to better outcomes. The code has been formally endorsed by: The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) The Association for Project Management (APM The Major Projects Association (MPA)

Watch the second in the Project 13 Capable Owner Pillar series of events to hear how broadening the talent pool can aid collaborative working at an enterprise level and across individual projects. Three Project 13 Adopters joined the event to share their experiences and perspectives on how their organisation is mobilising a broader mix of diverse talent to achieve its aims, hosted by Andrew Page, Co-Chair of Project 13 Capable Owner Development Group. Speakers · John Grimm - Smart Motorways Programme (SMP) Alliance Deputy Director at National Highways · Stewart Craigie, Technical Director at Sweco on behalf of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) · Jo Theobald, Performance Director at Public Sewer Services for Anglian Water Alliances You can watch the video of the event here: “A Capable Owner must identify opportunities.” John Grimm kicked off the discussion by providing the background to National Highways and the vastness of the smart motorways project which has an efficiency target of £2.3bn. “Although we have followed and adopted a lot of the Project 13 ‘thinking’ for many years, we have only recently become an official Project 13 adopter and joined the wider community. One of the key drivers behind this is the scale and scope of the smart motorway delivery targets. To achieve our objectives, we needed to move away from transactional delivery models to improve productivity, and to make the highways sector a more attractive proposition for the supply chain. Through adopting an integrated delivery model and establishing collaborative relationships across our supplier community, we’re able to collectively increase capability and capacity across the wider sector.” This SMP Alliance has been created with the sole intention to deliver the government’s smart motorway project over the next 10 years. The vision is to make road networks safer, greener, and more efficient. “We’ve created a delivery model that is led by National Highways and our six delivery partners. The smart motorways program will be delivered by a single integrated team operating under a single contract with shared outcomes, these outcomes are aligned with all parties under a one, common commercial and performance framework. The fundamental of this approach means that all risks and reward are shared.” John continued to explore the key attributes that a capable owner must embody: Recruiting, building, and retaining talent - Understanding the value proposition and the capabilities and skills that are required to support delivery. In addition, recruiting from the supply chain is a valuable strategy particularly on a long-term project like the SMP as there is plenty of opportunity to upskill throughout the project journey. Value Driven Mindset - A capable owner must support the alliance in its key functions, particularly with governance, defining output and defining operations and the voice of the customer. A capable owner must also work alongside delivery partners as an enabler to support delivery outcomes. Creating Opportunity - The capable owner must identify products and processes that can be used efficiently across the alliance. It must draw value through logistics and develop new ways of working, it must also develop data use so that intelligence can be garnered and utilised. This ties neatly into digital requirements – this is a skillset that capable owners must nurture and harness to drive organisational value across the enterprise. “We need two kilograms of innovation please.” Up next was Stuart Craigie from BAM / Sweco. Stuart discussed a fascinating project on behalf of the British Antarctic Survey. The project is the construction of an international airport in Antarctica, but the scope of works goes much further. It includes marine works, operations and science buildings, runway enhancements, accommodation buildings and hangars. This diverse portfolio of projects would be challenging under any circumstances, but as the team can only be onsite seasonally for four to five months, there are many other factors at play. Of course, the broad diversity of projects insists on a broad range of skills to support delivery. “Due to the complexity of the project, we had to open our eyes and welcome a collaborative model and enterprise delivery route. We adopted a four-pronged approach that can be summarised under four simple questions.” Where do we find our innovation? “The scale and diversity of this project is huge. It is also incredibly unique due to its environment, which means we have to offer continual insight and innovation. Our approach is to steer away from simple ‘asking / telling’ people to do things, and rather inform people of what outcomes we need. This breeds a culture of trust and opens the doors for new ways of working and creating new solutions to old problems.” How do we engage innovation? “We use a range of tools, including Government Soft Landings which allows us to outline what we’re trying to achieve and how we are going to track it. We also use Information Management tools, yes BIM is integral to this but it’s the project management aspect and process mapping that steers us towards outcome related planning. We also created a Modern Methods of Construction guide that sets out our key drivers and our identified parameters and outcomes.” How do we create collaboration? “We have created a project directorate to develop strategy and a high-level responsibility matrix that project managers can breakdown and distribute across teams to create engagement. It’s also important to note that innovation isn’t something we can just ask for at any point. Innovation needs to be nurtured through understanding and collaboration and drawn upon at the right times throughout a project. By working together, we can assess capability and create a culture that works for each other, rather than for an organisation.” “Courage to Challenge.” Lastly, Jo Theobald drives home the need for ‘people persons’ and looking across sectors for transferrable skills and characteristics. As Performance Director at Anglian Water Alliance’s Public Sewer Services, Jo started her career in the banking sector and moved on to direct high performing teams. The contrast from banking to the drainage sector is stark, but Jo stressed how certain skills, temperament and character can suit many sectors, no matter how different. “The core Project 13 principles of innovation, collaboration and transformation are vital in informing how we behave as a business, it informs our culture and impacts our sector. As a wider industry we are all faced with the same challenges – we have a skills gap. However, we must look outside of the box and have the faith and belief that non-industry skills can be of huge benefit to an organisation. The days of blinkered recruitment are over, we must look at those with different experience so that we can learn from each other. Enabling their leap of faith. “An example of embracing alternative sectors is reflected in our decision to look at ex-army personnel. We have a gentleman in our business that had a HGV license and safety training. After practical training with our delivery teams, it was clear that he was a natural leader with a keen eye for processes and continuous improvement. Now, he is a senior leader of our Alliance." “A further example, which may be considered a curveball, is a gentleman from the aviation industry. We recognised that we needed somebody that was used to working in harsh environments, able to remain calm under pressure and possess an unwavering focus on equipment and operational safety. The aviation sector was a natural place for our investigation because the individuals would possess the mindset we required.” These are just two examples Jo presented, but two that highlight the importance of characteristics and mindset, rather than specific qualifications or experience. Jo expressed the need to look further afield for transferrable skills and have the ‘power not to discount’ any individual when fishing in a different talent pool. Following the speaker’s presentations further questions were raised about broadening the talent pool, agile leadership and the challenges encountered when moving away from traditional recruitment and operational models. If you would like to learn more about Project 13 and how we are supporting change in infrastructure, sign up to the Project 13 Network. You can watch the first event in the series: What does it mean to be a Capable Owner? here.

Register here to join us at our Project 13 Capable Owner online event on 20th September 2022 at 9am BST. Following the success of our first event, ‘What does it mean to be a Capable Owner?’, the Project 13 Capable Owner Pillar team are now delving deeper into the ideal makeup of a Capable Owner team at their next event on 20th September 2022 at 9am BST. With a wide range of perspectives, we’ll be exploring how an organisation can mobilise a broader mix of diverse talent to achieve its aims based on the matrix of individual capabilities. Join us to hear some direct experiences from: · John Grimm, National Highways Smart Motorways Programme with the Project 13 Enterprise team perspective, will share the journey of the latest Project 13 Adopter to create the enabling environment to attract and retain individuals with the right capabilities. · Stewart Craigie, part of the British Antarctic Society’s supplier ecosystem, with a supplier’s perspective, including exploring how the supplier can bring innovation earlier in the process. · Jo Theobald, Public Sewer Services, will bring an individual’s perspective on how curveball talent can make an impact from someone with a non-traditional background. You can find out more about the Project 13 Pillars: Capable Owner, Governance, Organisations, Integration and Digital Transformation in the Project 13 Network - a vibrant, knowledge-sharing community for all those interested in delivering infrastructure differently. Speakers: Andrew Page (Co-chair) Lucy Howard (Co-chair) John Grimm Stewart Craigie Joanne Theobald

Register here to join us at our Project 13 Capable Owner online event on 20th September 2022 at 9am BST. Following the success of our first event, ‘What does it mean to be a Capable Owner?’, the Project 13 Capable Owner Pillar team are now delving deeper into the ideal makeup of a Capable Owner team at their next event on 20th September 2022 at 9am BST. With a wide range of perspectives, we’ll be exploring how an organisation can mobilise a broader mix of diverse talent to achieve its aims based on the matrix of individual capabilities. Join us to hear some direct experiences from: · John Grimm, National Highways Smart Motorways Programme with the Project 13 Enterprise team perspective, will share the journey of the latest Project 13 Adopter to create the enabling environment to attract and retain individuals with the right capabilities. · Stewart Craigie, part of the British Antarctic Society’s supplier ecosystem, with a supplier’s perspective, including exploring how the supplier can bring innovation earlier in the process. · Jo Theobald, Public Sewer Services, will bring an individual’s perspective on how curveball talent can make an impact from someone with a non-traditional background. You can find out more about the Project 13 Pillars: Capable Owner, Governance, Organisations, Integration and Digital Transformation in the Project 13 Network - a vibrant, knowledge-sharing community for all those interested in delivering infrastructure differently. Speakers: Andrew Page (Co-chair) Lucy Howard (Co-chair) John Grimm Stewart Craigie Joanne Theobald

7th April 2022 9-10:30am Register here Join us at our Project 13 Capable Owner event to explore the key steps and desired individual skillsets to becoming a Capable Owner in your projects. With expert research and industry examples from Project 13 adopters, we will discover how to adopt Capable Ownership into your organisation to effectively deliver better outcomes. The Capable Owner pillar is one of five Project 13 pillar’s that come together to create an enterprise model for infrastructure delivery. This model brings together owners, partners, advisers and suppliers, working in more integrated and collaborative arrangements, underpinned by long term relationships. This is the first of a series of events around the Project 13 pillar groups: Capable Owner, Organisation, Governance, Integration and Digital Transformation. We will be hearing from Andrew Page on his research into the six key steps to being a capable owner and how Anglian Water are following alternative routes for financing, designing, building, and operating assets that their customers rely on in their daily lives. This will be followed by industry examples from Project 13 adopters, Sellafield and Scottish Water, where we will learn about their journeys in adopting the Project 13 model and how they overcame any challenges whilst doing so. Background: As part of its wider role, the Capable Owner develops sustainable enterprises built on long term business to business (b2b) relationships. Traditional hierarchical relationships are replaced with aligned and collaborative b2b relationships, with a collective focus on delivering the outcomes required. The right partners are selected based on capability and behaviours and work within incentivised value-based arrangements. Enterprises are brought together to deliver the outcomes required (customer and societal) and to enable business performance. The focus on outcomes provides a back-to-back alignment through all parts of the Enterprise. Capable Owners can articulate the required outcomes, with processes in place to ensure these outcomes effectively represent the requirements of customers, community and society. A capable owner will be able to describe the asset performance required to achieve these outcomes and will engage with partners and stakeholders in delivering outcomes and asset performance. Through best practice assembly and exchange, community engagement through this portal, and opportunities to get involved in the debate, the Capable Owner pillar explores the following key areas of capable ownership to maximise the potential of their infrastructure systems: Articulating the voice of the customer. Being value driven in mindset. Articulating the voice of operations. Relating to the supply chain. Creating complex systems. Recruiting, building and retaining talent. Join the Project 13 community and the Capable Owner team to find out more. Speakers: Lucy Howard Andrew Page Richard Lennard Paul Sexton

7th April 2022 9-10:30am BST Register here Join the Project 13 Capable Owner Pillar to explore the key steps and desired individual skillsets to becoming a Capable Owner in your projects. With expert research and industry examples from Project 13 Adopters, you will discover how to adopt Capable Ownership into your organisation to effectively deliver better outcomes. The Capable Owner pillar is one of five Project 13 Pillar’s that come together to create an enterprise model for infrastructure delivery. This model brings together owners, partners, advisers and suppliers, working in more integrated and collaborative arrangements, underpinned by long term relationships. This is the first of a series of Project 13 Network events around the Project 13 Pillar Groups: Capable Owner, Organisation, Governance, Integration and Digital Transformation. We will be hearing from Andrew Page on his research into the six key steps to being a capable owner and how Anglian Water are following alternative routes for financing, designing, building, and operating assets that their customers rely on in their daily lives. This will be followed by industry examples from Project 13 adopters, Sellafield and Scottish Water, where we will learn about their journeys in adopting the Project 13 model and how they overcame any challenges whilst doing so. Background: As part of its wider role, the Capable Owner develops sustainable enterprises built on long term business to business (b2b) relationships. Traditional hierarchical relationships are replaced with aligned and collaborative b2b relationships, with a collective focus on delivering the outcomes required. The right partners are selected based on capability and behaviours and work within incentivised value-based arrangements. Enterprises are brought together to deliver the outcomes required (customer and societal) and to enable business performance. The focus on outcomes provides a back-to-back alignment through all parts of the Enterprise. Capable Owners can articulate the required outcomes, with processes in place to ensure these outcomes effectively represent the requirements of customers, community and society. A capable owner will be able to describe the asset performance required to achieve these outcomes and will engage with partners and stakeholders in delivering outcomes and asset performance. Through best practice assembly and exchange, community engagement through the Project 13 Network , and opportunities to get involved in the debate, the Capable Owner pillar explores the following key areas of capable ownership to maximise the potential of their infrastructure systems: Articulating the voice of the customer. Being value driven in mindset. Articulating the voice of operations. Relating to the supply chain. Creating complex systems. Recruiting, building and retaining talent. Sign up to the Project 13 Network and the Capable Owner team to find out more. Speakers: @Lucy Howard @Andrew Page @Richard Lennard @Paul Sexton

Author: Mark Berg, A14 Integrated Delivery Team and Costain senior project director More than 14,000 people have worked together as one team over the past five years to transform 21 miles of strategic A-road network connecting the Midlands with ports in the East of England. Jim O’Sullivan, CEO of Highways England was proud to declare that the A14 is the only £bn+ project in Europe that has been delivered ahead of programme (eight months) and on budget. The first phase of the Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme was completed a year ahead of schedule, and the second eight months early with £196m in efficiencies realised against the client target of £108m. One of the questions I’m often asked is ‘how?’. More than meets the eye You see a road project, We see data driving success watch video This complex scheme involved widening the existing road to a three and four-lane dual carriageway and improvements to over 20 miles of local road network. It was delivered by a Costain, Skanska and Balfour Beatty contractor joint-venture, working alongside designers Atkins and Jacobs, as an Integrated Delivery Team (IDT) with client, Highways England, supported by various strategic supply chain partners. From the start, the IDT wanted to set a new standard for major project delivery, and to do that, we’d need to foster a high performing culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and innovation. In this article, I’ll explain how we used data and digital tools to help us achieve this, and how we built trust - in the information and in each other - to deliver on budget, ahead of time, and with a strong safety record. Mark Berg with Grant Shapps, Secretary of State Identifying the optimum pavement solution With the largest pavement package of its time to be awarded, the IDT needed to identify the optimum commercial pavement solution, with efficiency and sustainability at heart. Tendering pavement contractors were provided with all available data from the outset and tasked with value engineering the pavement design to use local sources and minimise impact on the surrounding communities. The winning solution would lead to c.£5m cost saving efficiencies. Creating a collaborative environment We knew that one of our most significant challenges would be bringing together five delivery partners, our client Highways England and suppliers, and enabling people to work effectively - on site and remotely. Our solution was to create environments that supported collaboration. From the outset we set-up system access for all site offices to be the same, so people could move seamlessly from one physical space to another, without the hassle of accessing unknown systems. Consistency also helped us build a ‘one team' mentality. But the scale of the project meant we had to go further to strengthen people’s connections with each other. At the commencement of work on site in 2016, the Office 365 tools many of us rely on now were just being released to the market. We worked with Microsoft to maximise the benefits of them so people could work from anywhere and still share information and ideas. Agreeing strong leadership and common ways of working To ensure we had a high performing, Integrated Delivery Management Team (IDMT), a competency framework was developed and used to select the right person for the right role, with a strong focus on collaborative skills, behaviours and leadership qualities as well as technical expertise. This behaviours-led methodology was extended across the project and incorporated into supply chain procurement. Every organisation involved in the project had its own way of working, so our next step was to develop a shared vision, values, culture and quality management system, or integrated management system as we called it, that established clear and consistent processes to guide our work. To do this, we drew on best practice from all joint venture partners. The initiative, which was led by the work streams rather than a central team, created a common way of working for the project - ‘the A14 way’ - that people could relate to. Establishing a single source of truth As a leadership team, we had to make timely decisions on behalf of Highways England. We also wanted to be open with our client, partners and suppliers about our progress and performance in key areas. To achieve this, we created a cloud-based platform to hold project data and act as a single source of truth. We then spent six to 12 months working with our client to refine the content and frequency of the reports that would be generated from it. We established what we referred to as a ‘rhythm’ to ensure we could deliver on the commitments we made. Beginning with the end of month report that was aligned to Highways England’s objectives, we asked ourselves what data was required to produce that document. We then put a schedule in place to ensure the information would be available in time. Making data accessible Building trust in the data that helped us build trust in each other To build trust in the single source of truth, we started by encouraging people to move data from spreadsheets to our cloud-based platform, so we could unlock the value of the data that was held within individual, digital tools such as Oracle’s Primavera P6, Business Collaborator, Mosaic and EnterpriseOne – systems which normally don’t talk to each other. But in doing so, we were also asking people to embrace a more collaborative and open approach – and that took time to develop. At first, some people feared the data would be used to point out where they might be under-delivering, and – understandably – they were reluctant to share information. We worked hard to drive change from the top down. As a leadership team, we demonstrated the trust we’d developed in each other, and shared data to promote transparency and keep people informed. Having robust data to hand built our client’s and colleagues’ trust, enabled us to take an objective view of performance and identify areas of work that would benefit from receiving greater support. Then, when it was clear the data was being used to inform and empower colleagues, people embraced it. Within six months, many realised its value, and a year on, they wanted to contribute even more. We also made sure that information was accessible - to our partners, colleagues and supply chain. The data was brought to life through dashboards that were displayed on 79 digital signs installed at three main compounds, two sub compounds and permanent welfare facilities across the 35km site. Democratising data to enhance productivity, safety and innovation Instead of asking colleagues to take a leap of faith, it was important to demonstrate the benefits of data – that is, provide the information they needed to respond to challenges or opportunities. Several examples are below. Productivity The IDT developed an app called Andon, which enabled our surfacing works partner, Aggregate Industries and our slipform partner PJ Davidson, to monitor in real time when work on site was either ongoing, had paused or stopped, using digital signage in the construction operations office just like a control room. On a project of this scale, if someone is unable to start work because of delays in another area, it can have a significant impact on the schedule. Having access to up-to-date data enabled us to boost surfacing productivity by 50%, Cement Bound Granular Material (CBGM) pavement by 50% and slip barrier and drainage by 30%. Health, Safety and Wellbeing Safety observation cards provide valuable insight into safety culture. But when we introduced our Observation app, the number of safety observations increased from around 500 to more than 4,000 per month. More importantly, the data we collated demonstrated that as the number of positive observations increased, negative ones decreased, and the number of incidents reduced. That showed us how important it is to recognise the right behaviours. Making the data visible helped us maintain our positive approach. Innovation A team called the ‘Red Team’ was set up to reach out to the wider workforce when we needed help to solve difficult problems. The digital signs in the offices were used to share people’s good ideas and demonstrate how they were making an impact. In one case, we were struggling to find a way to build two bridges over the existing A14 without significantly impacting drivers or our schedule. Inspired by a solution he’d seen on YouTube, a young engineer responded to our call for suggestions. He put forward a plan to construct the bridges off-site, transport them to the area, and lift them into position. We worked with the engineer to develop the idea and conducted a digital rehearsal to demonstrate to our client that the innovative approach could work. The result was two bridges were installed in one weekend, which meant we avoided 80 night-time full closures of the A14. Having a consistent and reliable data source also enabled us to explore the potential of predictive technologies. As work on the scheme progressed we worked with Highways England and Microsoft on a pilot study into the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to understand how 140 different factors influenced the risk to workers, for example, working time, incidents and observations, ratios of supervisors to different operational roles and schedule activities. The information was shared with our safety teams, who could carefully monitor the situation on site. The pilot achieved 75 percent accuracy, which reduced to 65 percent after rollout, due to a decrease in incidents. The technology proved to be more than 160 percent accurate compared with a statistically random guess. Sharing data and lessons learned The cultural and digital initiatives the IDT implemented on the A14 improvement scheme helped us build people’s trust in each other and in the data. The digital solutions and real time reporting enabled the project to stay on programme and be handed over early. It’s worth noting that less than one percent of the total budget was allocated to these digital initiatives. Our team won the prestigious Digital Initiative of the Year award (Civils) and Overall Initiative of the Year award at the British Construction Industry Awards in 2019 and was the first project to achieve 44001 collaborative accreditation. The hope is that the cultural methodology, digital approach and data leveraged on this project will help the many projects that follow. Costain has evolved many of the digital tools developed on the A14 such as the Power BI dashboards, Safety Observation and Andon Apps as part of our own smart delivery platform (SDP). The SDP will soon enable data to be the fulcrum on all complex programmes in a similar way. In addition, we’ve leveraged our experience to help create the Intelligent Infrastructure Control Centre (IICC) which federates data at project, framework and enterprise level. Through tools such as these, data’s power to make infrastructure delivery safer, faster, greener and more efficient can be grown exponentially