MPA Executive Director, Andy Murray, talks to project data/AI specialist Lawrence Rowland on the latest updates to ChatGPT and how major projects can use Generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Co-Pilot and Google Bard. Lawrence describes himself as someone who sits in the intersection of exploring project management practices and the …

In this episode, Andy Murray, Executive Director of Major Projects Association, chats to Andy Taylor about the session he runs for the professional development programme Challenge of Major Projects. Andy Taylor is Managing Director of People Deliver Projects and he explains what the full-day experiential session called The Junction is all about and…

Emerging markets for major projects can take many forms, including new geographies, new economic models, and new technologies. In this podcast, drawing on the ideas from the recent Association Seminar, Emerging Markets - Opportunities and Threats for Major Projects, Andy Murray is in conversation with Stephen Beatty of KPMG, Dr. Zeynep Kurban of GH…

In this wide-ranging podcast episode ahead of the Association seminar of the same name, Andy Murray from the Major Projects Association is in conversation with Carol Deveney of the consultancy See Change International. Together, they discuss: the lack of practical guidance for aspiring new sponsors diversity and different personalities and approach…

Tony Slater is Managing Director of SMP Alliance, the collaborative organisation set up by National Highways, Jacobs, WSP, BMJV, Balfour Beatty, Costain and Fluor, to deliver the smart motorways programme. In conversation with Al Simmonite from Advance Consultancy, Tony tells the story of the Alliance and the challenge of creating an integrated, si…

In this podcast episode on the topic of change and delivery at pace, Andy Murray interviews project delivery experts from the pharmaceutical industry: Denise Moody of the Pharmaceutical Industry Project Management Group, Fraser MacFarlane from GSK, and Danie Du Plessis of Kyowa Kirin International. During their conversation, we learn: the imperativ…

Gareth Parkes, Head of Data and Analytics at Sir Robert MacAlpine, interviews Ed Burns, CCO at Mafic, Luis Lattuf and Yixue Shen, both researchers at WMG, to help us understand where project data analytics is going and what are the practical applications, obstacles and opportunities presented by the fast moving technology. During their conversation…

Join Andy Murray, Executive Director of the Major Projects Association; Jenni MacKenzie, Commonwealth Games Senior Programme Manager; Mark Russell, Chief Executive of The Children's Society , Dr Simon Addyman, Associate Professor at UCL; and Deirdre Fox, Non-Executive Director at Advance Consultancy as they explore collaboration and leadership in m…

Professor David Clutterbuck recently celebrated his 75th birthday (and published his 75th book). In this wide-ranging Masterclass he shares his good humoured and razor sharp insights from nearly 50 years of coaching and mentoring. a range of models such as The Diversity Awareness Ladder, the five different levels of interaction we have with other p…

In the second part of our Annual Conference podcast, Andy Murray interviews Nick Smallwood, CEO of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority, on how to change the way people think about delivery to make what you do 'nothing less than world class'. In a wide-ranging interview, they discuss topics such as benchmarking, project and programme leadershi…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Over the last two years we've learned the hard way how often lean and 'immediate' supply chains hold up in the face of major disruption: the Covid19 pandemic and associated lockdowns and shortages. Alongside this global shock, the challenges caused by EU Exit, the move to Net Zero and war in Ukraine have taught us that volatility and strategic risk…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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