Levelling up: Project and Programme Management
Simon Bevis
Simon Bevis, the Towns Fund Delivery Partner’s Programme and Project Management (PPM) Lead, shares his views on how towns need to integrate risk management and effective project assurance to successfully deliver their projects.
Levelling Up is about delivering better outcomes for our communities across the country. With government providing much-needed funding and policy changes and levelling up being high on the agenda across Whitehall, there are increasing opportunities for places which have lacked investment and growth to start to change the pattern. But, in order for places to deliver -- in particular, many Towns which have not received large investments in recent history -- they need the skills in project and programme management to turn the government's funding and initiative into real and lasting change.
Since the start of 2022, the project delivery environment in the UK has become even more challenging. On top of supply chain and material supply issues following Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic, global economic uncertainty and rising energy prices have added further inflationary pressures.
Savills’ research on construction predicts a 9% increase in building costs by the end of 2022, and does not include the impact of recent geo-political events[1]. This means that projects are likely to cost more, take longer to deliver, and will be harder to secure resources than when Town Investment Plans and project business cases were drawn up. But, with effective programme and risk management, Towns teams have tools to help minimise the impact on their projects and adjust where needed.
Through my role leading the TFDP PPM programme, I have heard first-hand from towns already feeling these impacts and have supported them in trying to overcome them.
We are seeing evidence of inflation-driven cost escalation, resulting in the need for Project Adjustments, and it is likely that there will be more of these requests in the coming months. Whilst change is an evitable part of projects, there are things we can be doing and putting in place now to help smooth the project delivery journey.
In addition to the five top tips on I shared in my previous TFDP blog (https://townsfund.org.uk/blog-collection/how-to-keep-your-project-rolling-top-tips-for-project-managers), my advice to those involved in the delivery of projects is that they need to have an even greater focus on risk management and seek to implement effective project assurance.
Before going further, here’s a quick reminder of the top tips from my previous blog post:
Take your time on the initiation stage
Evolve the team (capabilities and capacity) as the project progresses
Keep the outcomes and objectives in sight
Involve the supply chain early
Encourage honest conversations
Risk management
As your projects transition from the business case stage into project delivery, it is important to expand on the high-level risks contained in the business case and build a comprehensive risk register that takes a broader view of the risks a project is exposed to.
Working collaboratively with stakeholders through risk workshops is the best way to initially identify, capture, assess and plan responses to each risk and opportunity. Based on the discussions I have had with individuals involved in the delivery of towns fund projects, I advise the following:
· Review the current programme and project risk registers to ensure that they capture and accurately reflect the strategic, programme and project level risks facing the project.
Validate the ongoing applicability of mitigation plans, including who is best placed to own the risk and who is leading the risk mitigation actions.
Challenge the adequacy and timings associated with current mitigation plans. For example, to tackle the risk that cost inflation results in the project no longer being affordable, rather than waiting to receive formal tenders from contractors further down the track, consider what can be done now sooner to increase cost certainty and delivery confidence?
Ensure programme and project level risks are frequently monitored and the risk register is maintained to give an authoritative single version of the project’s risks.
Communicate risks with the project team, Town Deal Board and other senior stakeholders (e.g., section 151 officer and CLGU Area Lead) in line with local governance and reporting processes.
Project assurance
For most Towns Fund projects, attaining high levels of delivery confidence against the ‘agreed’ scope, cost and schedule will not be achieved until long after Town Deal funding offer and completion of business case summary documents. Given the current economic climate and uncertainty, SROs should therefore be seeking periodic assurance throughout the project lifecycle that outputs, outcomes, and benefits remain achievable. At the very least, this should happen prior to stage gates.
Periodic independent assurance reviews will provide a snapshot of the project’s progress and an estimate of outturn performance at a point in time. These are not to be thought of as a substitute for robust governance and project management arrangements, instead independent assurance aims to help the team identify the potential risks facing the team that the internal team may not have visibility of. Due consideration should be given to assurance review recommendations and action plans implemented.
Concluding thoughts
To ensure that the vision and projects set out to deliver generational changes in Town Investment Plans can be realised, project leaders and managers will need to successfully navigate delivery risks and cost inflation. Our project managers play an important part in turning levelling up into a reality across the Towns Fund. Increasing their focus on risk management, building open and honest project cultures that proactively lean into risk, and implementing effective independent assurance regime will be fundamental.
[1] https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/328377/commercial-property/how-high-will-building-costs-go-.aspx ].